[Kolab-devel] Extending Kolab

Gunnar Wrobel wrobel at pardus.de
Fri May 2 14:51:13 CEST 2008


"Alain Spineux" <aspineux at gmail.com> writes:

> 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 was thinking of adding new attributes in the Kolab schema that gets
delivered with the default distribution. Meaning changes within Kolab
CVS and this takes more effort. For local hacks this is of course
easy.

Cheers,

Gunnar

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