Re: Google Summer of Code -- 3 Org projects for our first participation!

[Thorsten <quintfall@googlemail.com>]

Ian Barton <lists@wilkesley.net> writes:

>> Bugpile - a bugtracker for GNU Emacs Org-mode written in Elisp and
>> Org-mode (Thorsten)
>>
>>    The Bugpile project has two goals: 1. Develop a bugtracker (called
>>    Bugpile) for GNU Emacs Org-mode, using Elisp, Elnode, Org-mode, and a
>>    dVCS. 2. As part of the engineering process, abstract out a
>>    web-framework (called iOrg) based on these GNU Emacs technologies. A
>>    web-framework written in Elisp, with Org files used for database
>>    functionality, is a new approach that enables interactive web
>>    applications built on top of GNU Emacs. Bugpile is an example
>>    application, but useful in itself.
>>
>
> Great news!
>
> For the dim witted (me) can you explain if Bugpile is meant to be a
> bug tracker specifically for tracking bugs in Emacs and org, or can it
> be used as a generic bug tracker for any project.

Thats a very interesting question, since there are two somehow
conflicting goals involved. 

The original project idea was to extend Org-mode for a more interactive
kind of web-programming, i.e. having buttons and forms on your webpages
and a kind of database in the background that stores changing state, and
some logic that reacts to user action (instead of just publishing static
web content).

Bugpile is kind of a (useful) pilot project for this idea, and during its
development an Emacs/Org-mode based web-framework (iOrg=interactive Org)
should emerge. 

Because this is about interactive web programming, bugpile should be
rather generic and accessible for anybody - they don't need Emacs, they
can use the web UI. A web-based bugtracker is nothing new, one could
just choose one out of several free tools on the market. The exciting
thing is being able to write one based on Org-mode and other Emacs
libraries like Elnode, i.e. developing the web-frameworg iOrg. 

On the other hand, Emacs user don't like to use web-interfaces, they
want to use Emacs to interact with the application. Thus the USP of
bugpile could be that it is not only written on top of Emacs, but can be
efficiently used from inside Emacs. 

Since time is limited, the main goal of the project is to develop the
iOrg webframework and the generic webbased bugtracker bugpile as a
tangible pilot project/ proof of concept. An optional, but highly
desirable additional output would be a Magit-like bugpile-mode for
Emacs. But I would prefer to keep it optional to limit the scope of my
GSoC project. 

This is still not defined, I would be happy about some community
feedback, and will of course discuss with my mentor(s).

-- 
cheers,
Thorsten