[op-sepp] SEPP features and future development

[Frank Thommen]

[crossposted to sepp at lists.ee.ethz.ch and op-sepp at lists.oetiker.ch]


Dear (OP-)SEPP users and developers,

I've implemented SEPP - based on version 1.4.2 - at our site quite some 
time ago and it has become an indispensable tool in managing all our 
software packages.

In the meantime several customizations have accumulated.  I wonder in 
which direction SEPP/OP-SEPP are going and how/if I can contribute to it.


Things that I have changed at our site are
------------------------------------------

  * completely removed all hardcoded /usr/sepp and replaced
    by the appropriate variables from %DIR.
    --> This settings could become configurable through sepp.conf

  * removed the packager extension, as it doesn't make any
    sense in our environment.
    --> This setting could become configurable through sepp.conf


  * made webbuild much more efficient by getting the list of
    binaries only once when rebuilding the webpages for
    several packages

  * added blockquote and other formatting for README

  * external links open in new tab/window

  * added an additional index with the list of commands/
    binaries

  * shortened error messages (duplicate file) to oneliners,
    which makes the error output much better readable

  * removed restriction to have an index.html in doc directory

  * Expanded the list of categories and other small changes



Things that I plan to do and/or which I'd like to see in future versions 
of SEPP/OP-SEPP
--------------------------------------------------------------

  * Make the packager extension configurable (sepp.conf: packager yes|no)

  * Move styles from internal styles to CSS

  * Get rid of frames and use CSS instead (configurable via sepp.conf?)

  * Move from uppercase HTML tages to xhtml

  * Make the target for external links configurable (sepp.conf)

  * When changing the default version of a package, webbuild
    should automatically also recreate the webpages of the
    previous default version

  * Check dependencies also when removing (!) an application (as
    to avoid the removal of a package that is a dependency of an
    other package)

  * Make all the settings from seppadm::ReadMETA configurable through
    sepp.conf (length of strings, software categories etc. etc.)

  * Possibility of forcing a package to have the version extension
    (Background: In our environment we have several packages which
    share command names.  When a package looses it's "default" status,
    this is not always also true for the individual commands which
    leads to irritation and confusion)

  * Integration of modules (http://modules.sourceforge.net/) or hooks
    for external programs (having to type the version extension each
    time is not always handy and practicable)


Cheers

     frank


-- 
Frank Thommen - Structures IT Management and Support - EMBL Heidelberg
frank.thommen at embl-heidelberg.de - +49 6221 387 8353