[Kolab-devel] Extending Kolab

[Alain Spineux]

On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 1:22 PM, Gunnar Wrobel <wrobel at pardus.de> wrote:
>
> Bernhard Reiter <bernhard at intevation.de> writes:
>
>  > On Thursday 24 April 2008 13:05, Alain Spineux wrote:
>  >> >  If you mean the webinterface:
>  >> >  The webinterface mainly shows what is in the directory service.
>  >> >  So just putting in another form usually is not enough as this will
>  >> >  only have the credentials of the user.
>  >>
>  >> the user ? The user can be a domain admin or the manger with enough right
>  >> to update the LDAP db.
>  >
>  > Yes, by default any user can change some values in the ldap. :)
>  > I mentioned it, because this is different from what many people think
>  > how to build a webinterface for systemadministration. It is more secure,
>  > but also more involved.
>  >
>  >> Also use of shell scrip and SUDO could help for
>  >> more. This is the responsibility of the plugins developer to make the
>  >> best choice and make the thinks work.
>  >
>  > This would strip the current configuration system of its beauty,
>  > so I am unsure if I would want to promote such hacks.
>  > Better would be to promote helping to do the right thing.
>  >
>  >> > Yes, we could add hooks where they are useful. :)
>  >> >
>  >> >  >  - add some free attributes to the ldapschema like
>  >> >  > "kolabFreeAttribute" where  addon can store
>  >> >  > value like "postgrey:enable" or "postgrey_delay:300"
>  >> >
>  >> >  This sounds like abusing the directory service a bit.
>  >>
>  >> Yes this is a HACK !
>  >>
>  >> >  If you are happy to add something, why not add real attributes to your
>  >> > ldap scheme. I believe the hard part here is to grok the involved
>  >> > technologies (LDAP is a beast, IMO).
>  >>
>  >> Extend the ldap schema is not easy for non experimented user.
>  >> Also register new attribute or object OID is even more difficult.
>  >
>  > Registration of your private oid is very painless and involves sending an
>  > email. Also if you are just doing private modifications you could abuse
>  > any oid.
>  >
>  >> But the plugin developer is free to define its own attributes or not.
>  >> Likewise The kolab team can help him for a better integration, providing
>  >> him dedicated attribute from inside the kolab OIDs.
>  >
>  > We could think about defining a "playground" OID subtree, if there is none
>  > in the OID scheme already. (Does something know out of the top of their head?)
>  > Before this I would want to document the use of Kolab's privat OIDs.
>  > I have already the start
>  > http://wiki.kolab.org/index.php/Directory_Service_Schema
>
>  Is there any specific reason for having new OIDs for such
>  configuration variables? This seems extremely cumbersome as it always
>  requires a schema change for any application we might wish to
>  configure over the LDAP tree.

Extend the LDAP schema is very easy, just add your new attributes in
the schema file and restart ldap. No need of a dump/restore.

>
>  I'd be in favor of creating something simple like "kolabVariable" that
>  holds string entries like "postgrey_delay=300". I'm not an LDAP expert
>  so there might be reasons against this but we had similar suggestions
>  before and declaring oids seems to be a little bit too much overhead.

First, why not provide "helper" for both solution to the plugin developers ?
Second, it depend the "variable" usage ! If this for use in file like
"/kolab/etc/postfix/ldaptransport.cf" then yes, new OID could be helpfull


>
>  Cheers,
>
>  Gunnar
>
>
>  >
>  >> >  Alain, I appreciate your insight.
>  >>
>  >> We are all living in the same world, trying to make things better and
>  >> quicker.
>  >
>  > Yep, the question is often: What do improve next. ;)
>  > Bernhard
>  >
>  > --
>  > Managing Director - Owner: www.intevation.net       (Free Software Company)
>  > Germany Coordinator: fsfeurope.org. Coordinator: www.Kolab-Konsortium.com.
>  > Intevation GmbH, Osnabrück, DE; Amtsgericht Osnabrück, HRB 18998
>  > Geschäftsführer Frank Koormann, Bernhard Reiter, Dr. Jan-Oliver Wagner
>
> > _______________________________________________
>  > Kolab-devel mailing list
>  > Kolab-devel at kolab.org
>  > https://kolab.org/mailman/listinfo/kolab-devel
>
>  --
>
> ______ http://kdab.com _______________ http://kolab-konsortium.com _
>
>  p at rdus Kolab work is funded in part by KDAB and the Kolab Konsortium
>
>  ____ http://www.pardus.de _________________ http://gunnarwrobel.de _
>  E-mail : p at rdus.de                                 Dr. Gunnar Wrobel
>  Tel.   : +49 700 6245 0000                          Bundesstrasse 29
>  Fax    : +49 721 1513 52322                          D-20146 Hamburg
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>    >> Mail at ease - Rent a kolab groupware server at p at rdus <<
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>  _______________________________________________
>
>
> Kolab-devel mailing list
>  Kolab-devel at kolab.org
>  https://kolab.org/mailman/listinfo/kolab-devel



-- 
Alain Spineux
aspineux gmail com
May the sources be with you