Mon, 15 Dec 2008

10:30 PM - egroupware

I've been playing around with egroupware.  It's a kitchen sink PHP app that does everything but blogging.  Aside from insane php.ini customization, a ridiculous PEAR dependancy list, and a 35 Euro manual, it's just so so.  Actually, the manual is the biggest problem.  I'm all for open source projects making money on detailed books, but paying 35 Euro for a PDF install manual is silly.  I figured out the installation myself, but developing a simple module is another matter.  Without proper documentation, it's a matter of looking at existing modules and determining the minimum to get one running.  After some mailing lists posts, and viewing code, I got a simple module loading without templates and SQL access.  The ACL table is particularly vague.  What's the difference between -1 and 6?  Way to use meaningful constants.  I don't see how someone could use egroupware and other PHP apps on the same server without a jail environment.  The php.ini settings conflict with phpMyAdmin and Squirrelmail.  While one can argue the latter is not needed with it, the former is quite handy.  

I could see the app as a useful environment for some folks with integrated authentication (LDAP, mysql, AD, etc) and wiki + email client.  

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