Topic: Help needed for making a contrib..

[ichat]

ive been testing the sme server for a few days now,
and there are a few considerations for me, that id want to look at.

im a windows it pro,
but in my home network i have my linux based laptops, i use linux because they giv me more control and use less resources than windows does), and a few windows desktops,   

all goes well but i need a central home server, - i've been working wil  win2003 (a vlk i borrowed from work) but it doens't run very well on my athlon xp server) -  ive also looked into  Freenas (bsd) - and amahi (fedora based),
from freenas i can say thats it nice if you just want a file server, -  but if you want more, its just not the way to go.

amahi is great - but its a bit inmature (it would serriously grately improve it if it took a example from the sme server).

sme server im looking in to now is far better designed than others, but to be honnest i laks a whole lot of features.

of which i hope - that they will be adressed in sme v8. 

--- one of them i will describe here:  in the hopes that somewone will be so helpfull as to explain me how to get it working properly... and than releasing it to the comunity ... i have to warn upfront though... im verry bad at coding.. so please ... please help me....
______________________________________
the contrib :

im looking for a contrib for  sane  (scaner acces now easy), 

for ubuntu expearence i know that there are grafical (web based) management tools for sane.
im now looking for a pre-build contrib that when installed lets you run and manage all ataced scanner devices.

it should consist of:   

• a scan-management control panel in: http://[sme-server]/server-manager  :  to setup and configure the scanners
• a contrib (i-bay) in  http://[sme-server]/scaners/ :  a webgui to sane like for example  phpSANE : to scan a document from any device in your network
• the right config for saned so that you can mount the scanner in your os (via xsane in linux or  twain2sane for windows

[cactus]

I suggest you first start with a howto to install all the required components and testdrive them. Someone who is more experienced can then perhaps code things for you.

This forum is not for commercial contacts but I am curious to know if you are willing to pay for getting the work done.

[ichat]

cactus

id be willing to install and testdrive it all,
but as this still is a home server, i think that i would not pay for it,
i think that for non-commercial use i also shouldn't ....

> because i dont have a creditcard or paypall account to be able to,
> and because its no new code or application

IF however there are other ways to 'pay' for it,  in say for example, spending time to document things, or helping other people with things that i am good at.. - i'd be very pleased to help in any way i can...

meaning that i would be willing to pay in 'effort spend'  yet not in Cash$ - unless:

A: its for commercial use
or B:  its such a mayor effort that in my opinion it could not be done without funding,

while in the later case i'd donate to the project's funds rather than to the programmer 

In this case, i think that implementing this, will benefit others, (especially commercial users (like in small offices), a great deal more than me, thus i dont feal obligated to fund it other than with 'helping in getting it done'

with upmost regards,
Ichat

[Stefano]

> and because its no new code or application

I'm sorry but I don't understand this sentence.. can you please explain it? thank you

[ichat]

Hi stefano,

im meant to say that, since this 'feature'  would be more like porting and installing existing tools and packages,
rather than creating a entire new piece of software.   i think that it can 'survive' as request without having to pay cash to convince someone to do this. the work is imho to trivial, and not important enought to require funding,
and i think that the idea is such a good idea that it deserves atention 'just because it can make sme-serve better'
without a Whole lot of work...

as to conclude:

i will be spending time on trying to get this up and running -
or at least pointing out all the tools that would be required to get it working,

im not a linux guru like the most of you guys probably are.
so dont go mad if i cant get it to work properly... 

[cactus]

Since there is no new code involved according to you I suggest you write up a howto detailing the whole process, so others can do it as well. For hints on the bowels of SME Server you can have a read through the SME Server Development Guide linked in the wiki. It contains accurate and extensive information on how SME Server works internally.
I do not think many people are willing to code for you for free, since there might be more involved than you might think. I for one have more to do than to code for free, certainly if the feature does not benefit me in any way. The (other) core developers are also dedicating their free time to SME Server and have a huge pile of bugs to work on.... so without any stimulation I am afraid they will not do your work either.

[janet]

ichat

Lesson number 1 is to learn to search/read the wiki Contribs and Howtos.

http://wiki.contribs.org/SANE

See the links at the top of the Forum page. The only one missing is a direct link to Contribs
http://wiki.contribs.org/Category:Contrib
but you can find a link to these by going to the Wiki homepage first.

On the Wiki home page (at upper left) is a link to search the whole Wiki, and a search on sane would have found the contrib article.

Another useful search tool is to do advanced seaches of the Forum. Click on the little magnifying glass icon (at top right of forum page), and then type in your search criteria in the advanced search window.
Don't bother with anything less than advanced searches as the results seem to be limited to the forum you are viewing, and often many existing entries will not be found.

Thirdly do a search at Bugzilla, Bugs link also at top of forum.

If you have searched all of those and not found anything, then post to the forums.

[ichat]

first of all, i said it would cost near to no code,
there's allways the porting of code and the creating the - i-bay as you call it,
to be honnest - they hostile way in wich you try to address this matter (sorry if i'm missunderstanding here),
however does not invite me in any way to contribute findings and howto's in any case,

im even sorry to say that if sutch would be true, it would even be more worth it to take SME could an port it to other redhat based projects (in witch case the amounth of work actually probably would qualify for funding )...

but than again,  i (in a way) understand that people may think that Opensource sotware is not freeware. wich ofcaurse is a valid point, - than again, good advice should neither be free,  and you dont see me charging cash for any bugg i find or any advice i give on a feature that may probably serve the whole userbase.  - to make it worse - i know for a fact that about  40% the system admins running mixed networks probably even didnt know that there is such a thing as saned and   twain4sane  - let alone that you can share scan devices over ip that way...

- like i said befor, - i'll see if i can whipe up a decent set of guidelines to get saned up and running,  just dont expect awhole lot more with attitudes like this... 

im sorry if this post offends you in any way, - its merely the truth as how i see it....

------

@mary ...  i did a forum search wich didn't realy find anything, maybe because as you said i didn't use the advanced search thing (sorry for that),  -  as to the wiki i only found out about the 'contribs' stuf,  and really didn't notice the wiki is searcheble, (google sme-server + sane didn't give me anything to work with). 

even stranger is that when posting this i got a reply that seamed - as if indead there's no sane contrib...

again i appoligize for not finding it myself...   -  as to if that contrib will suite the needs of any sysadmin - ill have to look in to it...

- this topic btw should be closed, before ill address other issues, ... 

[cactus]

- like i said befor, - i'll see if i can whipe up a decent set of guidelines to get saned up and running,

Please do so, in the spirit of collaboration and open source.

just dont expect awhole lot more with attitudes like this... 

If you feel offended, please reassess as this was not my intention, but stating you are not a very good coder, have only been testing SME Server for a few days, gives you little ground IMHO to state that this would not take up to much coding. I am curious to know if you have already taken a look at the Developers Guide and the inner mechanisms that make SME Server such an easy to administrate and 'sit-in-your-cupboard-while-you-forget-me' machine.

I only gave you the facts and the current situation SME Server is in. We have a very limited development team and are already in over our head in the work we do in our spare time. If you would have taken a look at the bugtracker you would have seen that there are hundreds of bugs, among which a lot of feature requests.

i know for a fact that about  40% the system admins running mixed networks probably even didnt know that there is such a thing as saned and   twain4sane  - let alone that you can share scan devices over ip that way...

I am aware of what sane can and can't do for you, but not to be a pain in the you know what, but if you are stating such figures you'd need to be prepared to back this up.

[cactus]

id be willing to install and testdrive it all,
but as this still is a home server, i think that i would not pay for it,
i think that for non-commercial use i also shouldn't ....

That's OK.

If you are looking for options to volunteer or donate on other methods than funds have a look here: http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server:Volunteering , you do not necessarily need to pay, I was just curious to know as you did not state in your opening post what was the context your request/desire/itch was coming from. But offering a reward might lure in someone who is willing to help you as I still think you are underestimating the time/effort it takes to make this in a proper contrib that is stable, well supported and valuable for the community.

[janet]

ichat
 

to be honnest - they hostile way in wich you try to address this matter (sorry if i'm missunderstanding here).... 
im sorry if this post offends you in any way, - its merely the truth as how i see it....

Be careful using the word truth. What you believe is your opinion, and opinions can be very much tainted and in no way resemble what is actually true.

I'd suggest you are the one coming to these forums with an aggressive attitude, one which has no place here. So please reassess your attitude when making forum posts and replies.

It is very apparent that your knowledge of sme server is minimal, so I suggest you drop your seemingly "all knowing" attitude.
ie to port sme server to another distribution is a MASSIVE undertaking that would require hundreds if not thousands of hours of development time. To say it would be easier doing that than setting up a contrib to run in an ibay, is sheer nonsense and displays your gross misunderstanding of what is involved in doing both.

The suggestion made about funding a project is a common enough occurrence around here. There are MANY requests from people who see the task as a simple few hours work and expect others to do it for them for free "upon demand". Paying for a project to be carried out is a guaranteed way of getting it to happen, compared to it never neccesarily happening due to lack of free volunteer time for a specific project.

As has been said/implied to you, there are requests for probably thousands of hours of free development work time ie New Feature Requests (NFR), and it is simply not possible to do all of those.

Please temper down your responses in these forums, as your attitude is less than welcome here. It seems you have a lot to learn about sme generally, so please do not bite the tongues of those who give you sme (in all it's totality), without really understanding the huge amount of work that people freely give to make it all happen.

[janet]

ichat

...google sme-server + sane didn't give me anything to work with...

Well I just tried a Google search on
sme server sane
and seperately on
sme-server sane
and in both cases the wiki SANE article was the very first result, followed by a number of other contribs.org posts, that would have led me to the Sane implementation for sme server.

I think you may need to improve your search skills 

even stranger is that when posting this i got a reply that seamed - as if indead there's no sane contrib...

There are so many contribs and howtos now, it's difficult to remember or be aware of them all. I don't use it but remembered seeing SANE previously, and when I looked, there it was !

[chris burnat]

(google sme-server + sane didn't give me anything to work with). 

Code: [Select]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sme+server+sane
and:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sme-server%2Bsane

Ichat, time for a cup of tea and a break I think, please take it easy. 

[Agent86]

Hi, ichat

As you noticed you may experience some rudeness in these forums, you will learn to disregard much of it as time goes on

Anyhow, regarding your project:

the contrib :

im looking for a contrib for  sane  (scaner acces now easy),

for ubuntu expearence i know that there are grafical (web based) management tools for sane.
im now looking for a pre-build contrib that when installed lets you run and manage all ataced scanner devices.

it should consist of:   

    * a scan-management control panel in: http://[sme-server]/server-manager  :  to setup and configure the scanners
    * a contrib (i-bay) in  http://[sme-server]/scaners/ :  a webgui to sane like for example  phpSANE : to scan a document from any device in your network
    * the right config for saned so that you can mount the scanner in your os (via xsane in linux or  twain2sane for windows

Although I don't know PHP programming so I won't be much help to you on that subject I"m sorry to say

I do know there is SANE in the contribs section found here:
http://wiki.contribs.org/SANE

And Xsane can surely handle the clients scanning ability.

But making it web accessible is likely going to much more tricky then just setting up your xsane to access these SANE networked devices

Also looks like PHPSANE is for PHP5 So I don't think SME has that yet ?

Anyhow, not much help I know, but if I could program PHP I would do it myself; and it does sound like a good idea too.

PHPSane sounds nice enough, I'll read some documents on that to see how hard it is to install

Happy Hacking



 

[ichat]

thanx for the reply, i got sane workin  nicely -  and found out that - if you install php5 as cgi (also used for  Egroupware),  - can do the trick (even though i managed to get myself into some trouble - i still need to solve)

im looking to see if its possible to install php4 AND php5 both as  apache mods to solve this,   
but when you do that you should find a way to 'switch between php4 and 5 per directory - based on .htacces...
witch is hardly preferable (if even possible).  - setting up php in sme- seems harder because these snipsets seem still rather complicated to me... -   im still trying to understand if i could  change php.ini  on a per webapp scalle. 

-  however phpsane does work (sometimes)...