Thank you both for your insightful responses. Sounds like the best approach is to submit to the author (Mitel) in the form of modified RPMs and hope for adoption. I have an idea already on making them optional, move most directory info (everything except first and last names) to a separate panel. I will do that once 5.1 goes gold so I know that it is on the latest codebase.
I do not like the idea of making them available separately (except for testing and feedback) as I would think even a blade update, and almost definitely a system upgrade, will overwrite the modified panels and scripts. Thanks, JP ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charlie Brady" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Darrell May" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "John Powell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2002 10:07 AM Subject: Re: [e-smith-devinfo] Extending core features was > > On Wed, 2 Jan 2002, Darrell May wrote: > > > John Powell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > > > > > But on that note, I am interested in some advice on the correct (or at > > > least "lesser of evils" approach) to modifying and/or extending > > > existing SME features in areas that are not templated. Here is what I > > > am considering doing: > > > > IMHO if you have an idea for improving something you should open your ideas > > for discussion either on devinfo or with the author directly. Pretty much > > what this community is all about. > > John has already done so, directly with me. > > > Most likely you'll find the author will be happy to incorporate your > > improvements. > > Where it is a user visible feature which will affect everyone this can't > always be the case. > > > If they are more specific and don't fit everyone's needs then > > there almost always is a way to build a seperate contrib that keeps the > > current rpm and files intact and extends the existing features to meet your > > needs. > > There are currently no mechanisms for extending web panels. There are > really only two choices - replace the existing one, or add a new one which > has the extended functionality. The first approach is likely to be less > confusing to the user. > > Assuming that we agree that the existing panel should be replaced, we can > now discuss mechanisms. One way is to provide a new RPM which contains > only the new code. The problem with this approach is that the new RPM will > need to be installed using the --force option to RPM, because it contains > files which already exist in other already installed RPMs. The other > approach is to make a branch to the RPMs which contain the original files. > In John's case, I think this is e-smith-base and e-smith-ldap. So John > could produce e-smith-ldap-4.4.0-08jp1 from e-smith-ldap-4.4.0-08 and > e-smith-base-4.6.1-21jp1 from e-smith-base-4.6.1-21, and make them > available. > > He will then hope that Mitel is keen to make use of his changes, and rolls > them into the maintstream at some time in the future. If he (or somebody > else) can find a way to make the changed behaviour optional, then the > chances of adoption are increased. > > -- > Charlie Brady [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Lead Product Developer > Network Server Solutions Group http://www.e-smith.com/ > Mitel Networks Corporation http://www.mitel.com/ > Phone: +1 (613) 368 4376 or 564 8000 Fax: +1 (613) 564 7739 > > > > -- > Please report bugs to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Please mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] (only) to discuss security issues > Support for registered customers and partners to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Archives by mail and http://www.mail-archive.com/devinfo%40lists.e-smith.org > > > -- Please report bugs to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] (only) to discuss security issues Support for registered customers and partners to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives by mail and http://www.mail-archive.com/devinfo%40lists.e-smith.org
