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

[Neil Smithline]

This is way cool! Recently I have been deeply irritated by the lack of a 
functional server for Emacs Org Mode.

I've run into this problem dealing with the weak presentation of Org 
Mode files on Github. Github uses the Ruby gem org-ruby 
(https://github.com/bdewey/org-ruby) to convert .org files to HTML. I've 
added a feature or two to org-ruby but really feel that trying to 
completely re-implement Org Mode in a Ruby gem is a losing battle.

If I understand the project correctly, a working iOrg could be used to 
support Github's rendering of .org files. Github could just drop the use 
of org-ruby and use iOrg as an external converter for formatting .org files.

At the risk of being flamed to a cinder, I'll say that I think that 
using iOrg to support .org files on Github would be a better pilot 
project than Bugpile.

Besides my personal interest in better Github support for .org, I think 
that the Github project will be generally useful.

Also, from the tone of postings, it sounds like the Bugpile project is 
not well specified. Being that Thorsten only has a summer to do the 
work, I think it will be hard to create a Bugpile specification and 
implementation and an iOrg specification and implementation in just one 
summer.

As Github already has a specification for external markup converters 
(see https://github.com/github/markup), there is no need for writing any 
spec. For the first release of iOrg (ie: this summer's work), the iOrg 
implementation can be simplified to providing .org support for Github.

If things go well, I imagine that Thorsten would be very happy to finish 
the summer with his iOrg a part of Github.

Just my two cents,

Neil

PS: And the answer is "Yes. I am aware that vehemently suggesting a 
project is equivalent to offering to help with it." :-D

I can help with the .org/Github side of the project though I'm sure 
others know more about the implementation of Org Mode than me. If 
needed, I could also help manage interactions between Thorsten and 
Github as I'm sure that Github will have some requirements before they 
accept a pull request into their repository.

As far as Emacs internals, it's been 25 years since I last looked at the 
C source for Emacs so there must be better folk than I. In any case, any 
Emacs internal work that must be done for iOrg existed prior to my 
suggestion. In other words, it ain't my problem ;-)


Neil Smithline
http://www.neilsmithline.com
Proud GNU Emacs user since 1986, v. 18.24.


On 4/24 04:12 , Thorsten wrote:
> Ian Barton <address@hidden> 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).