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Setting Up Unit21.ca

· From the 2010–2013 blog

So this post is a little bit more of a toolset breakdown. I mostly just wanted to keep a record of what is installed and why I chose which tools. so here goes.

Web Serving

  • Options: Apache, Lighttpd
  • Implemented: Lighttpd

I just like lighty. it works well, its easy to setup, and for me at least, its less daunting than apache.

CMS for unit21.ca

  • Options: Radiant, Flat files
  • Implemented: Flat files

Ok. So radiant blows. it looks nice and all, but its soooo fragile, and the documentation is sooo shitty that I just couldnt deploy it in the way I wanted to, it wouldn't play nice with fast-cgi from lighttpd. it just sucked. so in the end I whiped together a couple fo flat html & php files and away we went.

Mail for unit21.ca

  • Options: Google mail, something where I would have to do work
  • Implemented: Google mail

Google mail rocks. it does everything for me, i don't worry about spam, it just works. which is cool, and lets me focus on the things that aren't as easy.

Directory Service

  • Options: OpenLDAP, like 100 others
  • Implemented: OpenLDAP

I didn't really look into the other options here either. I wanted to unify users and logins, and this was the easiest way I could find to do that. and it really wasn't so bad to set up, a couple stupid issues, but nothing major.

Issue Tracker

  • Options: Trac, Redmine, Fogbugz
  • Implemented: Redmine

I implemented redmine because I have never had much luck in python web land, and I didnt want to shell out for fogbugz. I ahve used fogbugz and its great, but im crossing my fingers that redmine is close enough.

Wiki

  • Options: MediaWiki, DokuWiki, WikkaWiki
  • Implemented: MediaWiki

I wanted to stay in PHP land here, which limited my picks but left me with the best and most used software (in my opinion). In the end I implemented mediawiki because of the userbase and extensions, and then locked it up below a lighty ldap auth.

Rolodex

  • Options: Fullblown CRM like Sugar, PHP address book software
  • Implemented: PHP address book software

I didnt want to take the plunge into full blown CRM software yet. its just too much. all I really wanted was a unified list of the google contacts for everyone involved. in the end I implemented a simple php address book and then hacked in a "sync with google" option.

Revision Control

  • Options: csv, svn git
  • Implemented: git for sure!

Git rocks! its just better than all the other ones.

GitWeb

  • Options: gitweb, php clone, ruby clone
  • Implemented: phpclone

Instead of hacking on perl I implemented one of the php clones of gitweb. so far its been working great, and other than a setup issue with the bin path it was almost zero work.

Document Management System

  • Options: owl, knowledgetree
  • Implemented: knowledgetree

Knowledgetree kicks ass. it looks good, has great options, integrates with ldap. then only thing, is its a memory WHORE. its the only problem app I have on the webserver and before too long its gonna have me upping my slice. which sucks. but I don't think I would use anything else after playing with it.

Google Docs & Waves

  • Options: nothing
  • Implemented: homebrew

So I wanted a way to unify google docs and waves in a central, accessible by the group, place. there isnt anything that does this right now, so I hacked together a little viewer, ranker, lister php app. I want to add some backend scripts to sync better with google, but for right now, you add a link to a doc or wave, and it will list it.

ERP Style Parts System

  • Options: Full blown ERP like compiere, aligni
  • Implemented: (partially) homebrew

I want opensource aligni - its perfect! but I cant rock a license right now, and I want my data on something where I can touch it. so I'm trying to clone their site, of course adding the extras that I want. hopefully I can have something that psudo works done in not too many more hours.