I have been working on an experimental refactoring of Webware that addresses most of the issues currently on the WishList and ToDo list. It is near feature complete, but needs extensive testing.
The CVS repository is available at http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=41909.
Here's a link to the README file, which has alot more information.
-- TavisRudd - 14 Jan 2002
JayLove has also been working on a 'mulitApplication' version of WebKit. It has slightly different aims than this, but is definitely worth looking at if you're interested in how Webware could and should be evolving. I've lost the link, so send Jay an email if you're interested. -- TavisRudd - 27 Feb 2002
There's a few of us working on it behind the scenes, but when/if the actual code merge takes place is up to Chuck. Personally, I feel that it's much easier to test the experimental code and tidy up the few holes remaining than it would be to implement all the items on the WishList/Todo using the Webware 0.6 codebase. That said, Chuck has an obligation as Webware's Benevolent Dictator to review all the changes in the experimental code, before we merge and cut a release. Either he has to do a manual code walkthrough/review or I and the other people working on experimental code have to make the automated test suite comprehensive enough to mitigate the need for a tedious manual review by Chuck. Either way, an _official_ merge is at least a few months away.
Chuck wants to cut an official release in Feb. I agree with him that we should keep the official releases flowing with whatever we've got rather than waiting for the next big thing. Whether the release in Feb is called 0.7 is up to him.
In the meantime, I'm going to continue testing the experimental code, encouraging people to join in on the testing, mirroring any new additions to the official codebase, and backporting the smaller changes in the experimental code to the official codebase wherever possible.
Geoff has pointed out that the experimental code will only be ready for serious consideration once we have some of the larger existing applications running on it. With that in mind, here's what people can do to help out:
download the cvs version of the code
read the README and see if what I've written makes sense.
follow the installation instructions and report any problems
run the automated test suite on their platform ... reporting any problems or further documentation needed along the way
create a small test application, or try porting their existing applications ... reporting any problems or further documentation needed along the way
add more test cases to the automated test suite. This is very easy.
manually review the code and/or search for any ToDo comments that begin with @@.
tackle items on the ToDo/WishList on the Wiki site or in the experimental code's README file.
Write documentation/howtos
There's two mailing lists set up for the experimental code: one for reporting problems and discussing issues and another for automated CVS notifications. http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=41909. Please report bugs and direct questions to expwebware-devel@lists.sf.net rather than to the regular webware email lists. Sending stuff to the regular lists will just confuse people who aren't aware of this refactoring effort.
For those people who want to get their feet wet with the code, send me a message if you want CVS write access or send patches to the expwebware-devel email list.
-- TavisRudd - 14 Jan 2002