Re: [xwiki-devs] [Brainstorming] XWiki Flavors

On Feb 7, 2013, at 5:38 PM, Eduard Moraru&lt;enygma2002(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: > On Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 6:31 PM, Vincent Massol&lt;vincent(a)massol.net&gt; wrote: >> Hi Caty, >> >> On Feb 7, 2013, at 5:08 PM, "Ecaterina Moraru (Valica)"< valicac(a)gmail.com&gt; >> wrote: >> >>> Hi, >>> >>> XWiki Flavors are a set of predefined extensions having a specific use >>> case in mind. XWiki Flavors can be considered specializations of XWiki >>> instances suited for different purposes like public websites, >>> intranets, content sharing, project management, community status, >>> business intelligence, etc. >>> >>> Scenario: You want to install XWiki. The installer will propose >>> different 'flavors' and will install automatically all required >>> extensions. This way you will have a product close to your initial >>> needs. You can later refine it by installing / uninstalling other >>> extensions. >>> >>> So when I first thought about the process of installing a Flavor I >>> imagined that I could customize what I wanted from the Flavor and >>> select just the things I need. Actually for me Flavors were like >>> categories with subcategories, and more of a classification system, >>> than a packaging one. >>> >>> http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/Flavours/custo… >>> Also another difference in my vision is that I had a Base Package that >>> contains the common denominator for all Flavors. The Base Package >>> should contain basic mechanics for managing content and users. >>> Selecting no flavor will still result in having basic wiki features >>> (page creation, attachments, history, users, etc.). >>> >>> After some discussions with Eduard I understood that Flavors could be >>> defined as extensions and they could contain just a list of >>> dependencies on other extensions. The Extension Manager will install >>> the 'exact' list it gets from the definition without the ability to >>> exclude some dependencies. >> Indeed. >> >>> I've watched the 'recent' mails about XWiki Flavors [1] [2] [3] [4] >>> and for me the conclusion is clear: we will never agree on what >>> starting features are the best and that will solve everybody's >>> problems. But that is ok and normal and the strength of XWiki is it's >>> extensibility. >>> >>> So the next idea was to have a Flavor Creator that will allow users to >>> create their own collections of extensions. This collection should be >>> then published to extensions.xwiki.org and could appear in the >>> installer list as suggestions. >> Some thoughts: >> >> * Yes, the idea is that anyone can contribute a flavor on xwiki.org, >> since it's an extension like any other (it would just have a new type, >> called "flavor" since we don't have this ATM). The DW will list all flavors >> it can find from e.x.o. This is where we need some ways to bring the best >> flavors to the top. My idea was to add ratings to the Repository app for >> that >> > I agree with this. IMO, we should bring back the idea of extension types > (including this new "flavour" type) and, as you`ve mentioned, add things > like ratings. Not sure we're talking about the same thing. There are already extension types (they correspond to the maven<packaging> element). Currently AFAIK the EM has implementations for XAR and JAR. We need to add either support for "POM" or create a new Maven packaging but that's probably unnecessary, supporting POM is enough.