[Lispweb] Continuing with IMHO

[Sean Champ]

If there would be anyone who would know of any efforts being made
(and/or being intended) for the continuation of the development of
IMHO, then it would be great, furthermore, if someone might present a
note, so that we might manage to coordinate patches  and to coordiante
more general efforts.


I have hoped to make some revisions and additions to IMHO, but I have
not wanted to either "steal thunder" from OnShore, or to be mistaken
as if I was trying to.

I realize, furthermore, that there is probably more than one person,
hoping that IMHO will be continued in development. In solidarity, as
such, this is ... begun, inasmcuch.




IMHO is still available.

The CLiki page for IMHO [ http://www.cliki.net/IMHO ] states that
Marco Baringer has made the IMHO sources available, via UCW's hosting
space [ref: http://common-lisp.net/project/ucw ] in Common-Lisp.net. 

ODCL is contained, there, too; it is a dependency of IMHO.  

Here is a URL for both ODCL and IMHO, as available via Macro
Baringer's efforts and UCW:

   http://ftp.common-lisp.net/pub/project/ucw/imho/ 



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IMHO may be developed, in more. If the reader would not be so
concerned about how it would be, then the following might not be
pertinent -- just to say, in disclosure.


I am not absolutely certain of how much time I will be able to
commit about development of a continued form of IMHO, or how
regularly I will be able to commit myself about it. However, I may
start about it, on my own part, and work-along about it, all
circumstances permitting. Once I would be certain that OnShore would
not feel snubbed about it, then I could install, online, a
code-repository, containing anything done about it. Before I would do
as so, however,  I will hold for a clear word, from/about OnShore. I
intend to make no "bad blood" about this, in present or prospective
occurrences.


What I hope to accomplish with IMHO would be enumerated, in parts, as
so:


% [ XML over HTTP ]

1) DAV support [WebDAV, CalDAV, GroupDAV] (with CL-XML, running the
   XML-handling, in all of CL-XML's  broad and *comprehensive* form)

2) SOAP support, and XML-RPC support (ditto on the XML handling).

   mre acronyms could be added, here, in indication of more
   XML-related protocols, such that might be made appliable with SOAP, if
   deemed necessary. Yet, I hear that they might be dizzying to
   read, the acronyms -- perhaps less dizzying than might appear the
   range of things made about XML, anyhow.


% [ Low Level ]


3) Extending IMHO's mod_warp support, and/or adding full mod_jk2
   support

   In Apache 2, mod_warp has been discontinued. It appears that most
   service providers are still  using the first major version of
   Apache, such that does include mod_warp support and does work with
   mod_warp (I have tried Apache 2 for it -- mod_warp and mod_webapp
   -- but it does not work, and the final word was, "it's
   discontinued"). Yet, the Apache 1 application cannot last forever,
   probably. It wold be more encouraging to work with a
   non-discontinued Apache JServe module, furthermore.

   It appears that mod_warp is what IMHO's mod_webapp was derived
   from, originally. mod_warp, then, would be what the code in IMHO's
   warp.lisp is made as to respond to.


% [ Prototypical Interface Fun ]

4) Doing something with Garnet's Opal and HTML/CSS (and probably some
   PNG information) could be fun. It would be partly analogous to
   doing something with //CLIM// and HTML. Yet, I think it might be
   more easily done (in what I know of it) with Garnet's Opal,
   given: In Opal, there are many KR schema *objects*, which are
   appied for the representation of user-interface components; the
   Opal schemas may be easy to interpret, for representation in HTML.

   Though an Opal-HTML module should be represented as being seperable
   from IMHO -- in the best interest of development -- yet it
   an Opal-HTML module would have to be hooked in with IMHO's HTTP
   client/server operations, somehow (in order for it to be operable
   with IMHO, as one web-serving Common Lisp application, among more).


% [ Server as Client/Server ]

5) Applying IMHO with Portable Aserve, with the latter as the
   client library and the former serving as the server (not
   necessarily for a flat proxy system, though perhaps as so)

   It could be used for flat proxying -- as when IMHO would be patched
   to accept the from-client proxy requests, then would make the
   requests via Aserve's client code, and would respond to the
   requesting client, then, appropriately.

   A combined IMHO/Aserve setup  could be used, furthermore, with the
   combined code working as a sort of "request transforming proxy" --
   making requests to one or more web application servers (e.g
   the SOAP interface on Google or the one on  Amazon.com, and/or
   furthermore. The US Postal Service also has some SOAP or XML-RPC
   web services, incidentally, as do FedEx and UPS), then processing
   the information resulting from the appliation-server requests and
   saving any vaues for any "state maintenance" code, and *then*
   answering each first request.
 
   As for the reasoning of using Aserve's client code and the serve
   code from IMHO, rather than the server code in Aserve: IMHO is made
   to work with an Apache-Jserve module; Apache is quite widely
   available; I expect that something that would work with Apache, and
   with Apache-Jserve, might be quite readily adopted, as soon as
   people wold know of it and would find it portrayed, to them, well
   and as applicable. 


% [ Unicode, as Applicable ]

6) Fitting IMHO (in its mod_warp/mod_jk2 support, and in communication
   with a database, for instance) to use SBCL's Unicode support
   (perhaps this will require little or no effort, in most/all, save
   that the appropriate external format would be used upon streams,
   and in IMHO's buffering, and such)

% [ Blue Sky and the Servlet ]

7) If making IMHO work as a server for a JSP setup (given the bits
   about mod_warp, mod_jk2, etc) it could be: 

   a) the making of a funny (one hopes) joke (almost like a kindly
      prank, somehow) on the Apache-Jserve folks ??

   b) possibly not a bad work for a Lisp company

   c) "aesthetic fun", plainly
 
   d) something that should sure get the attention of Sun, and
      probably IBM, also.


I mean not to overwhelm, but to share my notes, clearly -- as clearly
as I can think to write it, in short time, about such that I regard as
it being approriate, in regards to this list and the work coincident
therebeside.

(These notes have been building up, here. So, here's been one
clearing house, or somesuch.)


Adios, with intent for cooperation, not exclusively, 

----
Sean Champ
schamp at commonwerx.org