Projects wanted! Do you run a SF.net project? We want to improve your project website! See below.
December 4th, 2006
Quoting my project news release:
"Bitmeta 0.7.4, 0.7.5, 0.7.6, 0.7.7, 0.7.8. Released": 5 builds of Bitmeta have just been released, culminating in 0.7.8, our second stable build. With these releases come two major bug fixes which correct and enable user registration and, more importantly, Bitmeta installation. Further integration with the theme system is now present as well. See the changelog here for the complete list.
So, what does this mean? We are incapable of fixing a bug without five minor releases in the process? (Look on the bright side, it was fixed in a couple of hours :D) (Actually, it's not really fixed yet, we have to reintroduce some functionality in 0.7.9 which we got rid of for diagnostics) In reality, development is being fast tracked to get a stable product out the door to encourage contribution. We will then work on our module system; the simple methods we use for adding and removing functionality to Bitmeta.
And in other news, 0.7.9 was just released :)
-- Draicone
December 2nd, 2006
Change of plan. Bitmeta will now slowly continue development till version 1.0, expected in a matter of days. However, in the meantime, the project is now aiming to develop a specialised CMS for projects hosted right here on SourceForge.
This CMS will be designed to give projects a head start, a web presence and a way to connect the world with development. We are aiming to make it lightweight yet powerful, possibly include a WYSIWYG editor for non-developers managing project web space to use for content management, aggregrate news and downloads directly from SourceForge (with caching, of course! Imagine the load of 1000 project websites grabbing RSS feeds 100 times a second...) and more.
To begin with, the CMS is being planned out from the ground up. Bitmeta provides an excellent code base for such a project (or will by version 1, at least) and we are planning feasability studies for the various proposed features. Project admins will be contacted for input; on what scale we will conduct this research is still unclear.
If you are a project admin, or are interested in using this CMS for the website of a project you contribute to, please do contact us. You can email scythereal@bitmeta.org for a prompt response.
-- Draicone
November 19th, 2006
At a minor expense for DNS management, Bitmeta.org is now fully hosted at Sourceforge (email is provided by Gmail, however). We are aiming for the project to be in full swing within the next two weeks; expect significant development to happen in this time.
Again, we are now looking for all positions in the project. If you feel you can help out, please apply by emailing draicone@users.sourceforge.net, applicants will be chosen based on skills and presentation, with the only requirement being to somehow come across this page.
Just to remind everyone, Bitmeta was not designed to be a CMS. However, a side project to build a specialisd CMS based on Bitmeta is under consideration.
-- Draicone
November 15th, 2006
With the recent release of 0.6.9, we're working our way towards a stable product fairly soon. A few major changes have been introduced, especially the constantly available $udata array unique per user (0.6.7 - see README), a bug fix so that registration actually works now (*gasp*) and a general cleanup of code. User banning will be soon implemented as part of the main users table to eliminate an entire table in the database, and the mailing functions may be revised (or eliminated).
On another note, we've got to the stage where we need project publicity, and while some SF.net front page news would be a dream (if this happens, we'll probably drop everything and code like we've never coded before so that we have a really good product for people to try), submission to some basic link directories and advertising on forums is probably more realistic. Please tell your friends, submit Bitmeta to link directories (please do not submit it to software repositories, as we like to keep track of these so that we can update them as we release new versions - rather, email me at draicone@users.sourceforge.net about the site), do whatever to get the word out.
In other news, I've now added the domain bitmeta.org to our collection, redirecting to http://bitmeta.sf.net (most likely the site you are viewing right now). In future, the entire site may be moved over to seperate hosting for bitmeta.org (or, if someone can teach us how, we'll point the domain at SF's servers - email me if interested).
-- Draicone
November 6th, 2006
0.6.6 has just been released, hot off the press (IDE?) after 0.6.5 (~12 hours - new SF.net release cycle record?). A few major changes since 0.6.4 are present, along with the decentralization of the registration process (still $session reliant though - working on this). Documentation has been reorganized, and a seperate directory along with all the relevant legal code will be present in the next release (which may, time permitting, be in about half an hour).
A couple of extra settings are available in constants.php (soon to be renamed config.php), notably an option to disable the debug time option ('Script executed in .. seconds' feature now present). A few minor bugs have been fixed and function+class use is being cut down to save overheads.
We are now informally seeking expressions of interest for the position of documentation manager, the only prerequisite being that you somehow make your way to this notice and bother to read all the way down to here. The position will be open until further notice, so email draicone@users.sourceforge.net if interested.
-- Draicone
October 26th, 2006
Following the largely unnoticed release of 0.6.3, I've just released 0.6.4 through the SF.net file release system. With this revision comes a whole new theme (a light version of the one you see here), and 30kb less, moving further towards our aim of a lightweight framework.
A little work has been done on the code base too, and a decentralized form handling system will soon be implemented. The ease of use of one form handler is great, but it means you have to keep going back to it each time, and it requires one extra page load (to process.php as form handler, with header() redirects back to the referer - nice idea, JP). In 0.6.5 we hope that we can move form handlers back to their respective pages and make process.php logout.php (logout is its default non-form function anyway). Watch this space!
-- Draicone
October 19th, 2006
Project has just been registered with sourceforge. Hopefully this will increase uptake and reduce the strain on our old host (if they qualify as a hosting company). Beta code will be uploaded shortly if possible, still ironing out some bugs.
We'll call for anyone interested in helping out soon, a project manager to keep the project running would certainly help. Please express your interest if you wish. The positions will be advertised through the SF.net help wanted system as well.
A roadmap is being established, and long term goals include possible availability of a set of scripts adapted for the system that effectively turn Bitmeta into a CMS (article management, content management, user contribution, polls etc.). However, these changes will not be merged into the main build, rather released as a patch, to fulfill the original purpose of Bitmeta (if demand oustrips the demand for the original version, we'll make the default build the CMS and create a patch to change it back :D).
-- Draicone
