E-Smith for dummy's

[robb (Rob Bosch)]

Since @areguera has been doing an AWESOME job on creating a nethserver-moodle module I have a strong urge to be able to do similar things.
BUT…
I really tried to comprehend the Developer manual on the E-Smith templating system but just do not understand what is going on with the templating system. Maybe it is my lack of coding skills, but I can not imagine that with a bit of guidance I could master the use of the templating system.
Ḿy question is: can we work on a ‘creating NS modules for dummy’s’: clear explanation how to do this.
Again, the developer manual might be enough for people who can code, but like a lot of our members I can not code, but would like to learn how to create those rpm’s so they can be added as a NS module.

[stephdl (Stéphane de Labrusse)]

I would advice to read first the code written in the github repository of nethserver-moodle, it could be a good start to understand what it occurs, and also the place of files in the srpm.

in short because we can speak of this during a long time

root/etc/e-smith/db -> variables for configuration files
root/etc/e-smith/templates -> template of configuration files which will overwrite files of rpm (like phpMyAdmin for example)

createlinks-> perl file to create symlinks between events and action and templates expand.

[stephdl (Stéphane de Labrusse)]

I tried sometime ago to explain it a bit more, of course we can do it later at the cafeteria of the ULB

Explaining e-smith layer - learning by doing

I would try to explain e-smith layer by my favourite way : learning by doing Integrate a rpm of wordpress from epel https://github.com/stephdl/nethserver-wordpress/tree/ns6 this example is quite easy, the epel maintainers write a /etc/wordpress/wp-config.php but we need to modify it. -we could play with grep and sed for modifying variables, but it is not easy since the first change will break the regex -we could use a template…this is what i did https://github.com/stephdl/nethserver-wordpre…

[robb (Rob Bosch)]

thnx for the reply @stephdl. I will try to decipher the code in github. it is on top of my list tomorrow…
i didn’t find your ns6-wordpress example yet and have a look at that aswell.
You know I am eager to push educational applications towards NethServer, and I don’t want to let you guys do all the work fun stuff…

[stephdl (Stéphane de Labrusse)]

I mean honestly that the education side is the key feature to merely spread the world of a product. Once the tools are available to students and teachers you can make some great projects and push them very far.

[robb (Rob Bosch)]

you nailed it 100%. it is exactly why i want to push nethserver into the educational direction!

[Jim]

hi,

A good bunch of documentation about this e-smith layer will be a very good step ahead

[robb (Rob Bosch)]

To give the best example about WHY opensource is important, and especially at school is this amazing TED talk at TEDxLancaster in Lancaster county Pensylvania USA
Here Charlie Reisinger, head of the IT department, describes how Penn Manor Schooldistrict moved to opensource and not only saved a LOT of money on license fees, but also created a cooperation between students that is unheard of.
Watch this video and you will probably understand what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Co37GO2Fc
The big WIN is not only the reduction of costs. The most important WIN of moving to Opensource software is the attitude change students get from being in an open environment instead of a closed environment.

[alefattorini (Alessio Fattorini)]

It’s on my list now, thanks for the highlight