Countdown to Release One

The RoadMap

As of April 2008 there is only one major feature of Andromeda that is still under development, which is the "Extended Desktop" user interface, which we called "x4" in earlier documents. When this interface is is finished we will have completed all major elements of Andromeda and it will be time to finish off the documentation, clean up the code, and start to consider making a public Release one.

The list below details the items we have been tracking in our countdown to release one.

• New Website (Complete Fall 2007). The new website makes it easier to keep the docs up-to-date, especially pages like this one.
• Adopt SVN Source Control (Complete Jan 2008). We are now using SVN for Andromeda itself, and will no longer use Andromeda's built in source control.
• Adopt SVN for publishing and upgrades (Complete Feb 2008). We need to modify Andromeda's application updating process to pull from SVN instead of its own deprecated source control system.
• Documentation: All Guides and Walk-throughs. There should be simple and concise guides to all of Andromeda's features.
• Documentation: Reference. All reference docs need to be updated and completed. Any omissions need to be filled in.
• Documentation: Purge The documentation contains many pages, notably in the API reference, documenting functions that are going to be tossed out.
• Code Cleanup. Any lingering inconsistencies in file naming, function naming, and so on should be cleaned up.
• Code Purge. A very large portion of androLib.php will be moved over to androLibDeprecated.php. This library will be available for backward compatibility, but will not be loaded by default by the framework.
• Explicit Install Instructions For All Major Platforms. (Partially Complete). There should be very explicit instructions on installing on all major platforms including separate details for servers and workstations, Linux and Windows.

After Release One

The items below were under consideration for Release one originally, but all of them represent modifications of existing functionality. Release one will be the reference implementation of Andromeda concepts, and the items listed below will be enhancements to that reference implementation.

• MYSQL Hackathon. This is the big one, we want Andromeda to use MySQL. There is a special entry on this below.
• Go To Components Model. Right now Andromeda is monolithic. We want to break it up into components, like the builder, the x4 interface, one or more various security packages, and so on.
• Eliminate Node Manager. The Node Manager is a relic of the environment Ken was in when he dreamed up Andromeda. Experience has shown it gets in the way more than it helps.
• Installation Packages. Now that the installer has been debugged and is known to be pretty strong, we want to have a debian package and a windows installer.

The MySQL Hackathon

After Release One, we want to do a Hackathon to get MySQL Support built into Andromeda. After that it will support both Postgres and MySQL. For more information join our mailing list and join in the discussion.

Major Components

Once we have broken Andromeda up into components, the conversation about Release 1 is really about which components will go into it and how to make them ready. The draft list of components is here:

Table of Contents