From: "Hal E. Fulton" <hal9000@...>
Date: 2001-05-02T09:41:05+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:14519] Re: RAA

----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Tomson <ptkwt@shell1.aracnet.com>
To: ruby-talk ML <ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org>; <ruby-talk@netlab.co.jp>
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 4:10 PM
Subject: [ruby-talk:14517] RAA


>
> I notice something about the RAA (Ruby Application Archive) that is a bit
> worrisome.  All of the applications there are just links to other sites,
> usually websites run by creators of the particular application or module,
> so that if you want to download the app you actually are getting it from
> some other website - usually connected with someone's personal homepage.
>
> Now don't get me wrong, its great to have the RAA and the links and the
> organization.  What is a bit worrisome is that websites have a tendancy to
> go down (especially personal ones) and pages (and even ISPs) have a
> tendency to disappear. Would it be better to move toward a central archive
with
> mirrors like CPAN is for Perl?  That way we could be sure that all of
> our Ruby applications and modules are available in a central place and
> that central place would be mirrored for safety sake.
>
> I just wanted to throw this out for discussion...
>

I agree, Phil... what is more, I would like to see the RAA (eventually)
revamped. (I'm looking toward the future when I say that.)

I'll make these two constraints first:
1. It needs to be easily searchable. If there is a form, the defaults should
be
chosen so that "most" of the time, they're what most people want.
2. It needs to be easily add/updated. I favor a web form updating a
database with a reasonably rich set of fields (with good defaults).

Now, I would also like to see *powerful* functionality. Exclude things over
a
year old. Show me only things updated in the last month. Show only things
with English docs. Let me search the synopses by keyword. And so on...

Hal