Want To Tackle Converting To PHP?

[SuperMike]

I wrote the first menu demo for UST (Ultimate System Tool), which is designed mostly for Ubuntu Server in console-only mode. It's a project to provide a kind of simplistic yast-like experience for managing Debian-based Linuxes only from the command line. I threw it together rapidly in Bash. Because I'm short on time with other projects, I need help to convert it to PHP and use extreme KISS principles. Why PHP? Because I know it best and because there's the largest number of developers available worldwide who can contribute to the project. Note I don't want to use ncurses on the project because I don't like the way it looks with its "shadow" effect. Plus, not everyone has compiled PHP with ncurses support.

Screenshot

Bash Script Download

Do you want to be the one to tackle converting this to PHP?

In general the goal of the code is to provide a menu system that loads dynamically based on a folder and script file structure -- providing an easy platform to extend it by merely copying in extra folders and files. The core part of the app draws the menus.

Part 2 of the project, which can come later, is a simple API to draw forms with checkboxes, popdown listboxes, text fields (and restrictions), a simple grid, etc.

[pmasiar]

I am going to be accused again promoting python too hard, but anyway:

Are you aware that ubuntu prefers Python solutions? Just FYI, please no flames.

[SuperMike]

Yeah, no problem. Knew I would get some flak on this. I put on a bullet proof flak jacket. It's just that there are probably more PHP developers out there than Python. Even 8 year old deserted islanders have PHP/MySQL web app talent these days as part of their tribal initiation. Besides, PHP is my language of choice and I'm the one who started the project. If someone wants to fork it, please, be my guest.

[pmasiar]

Even 8 year old deserted islanders have PHP/MySQL web app talent these days as part of their tribal initiation.

LOL good one.

But situation is changing rapidly, $100 laptop http://www.laptop.org/ from One Laptop per Child has python only - extra USB stick with PHP will be added to initiation I guess

UPDATE: In case someone missed smiley, it was a joke based on SuperMike's "tribal initiation in PHP".

[maddog39]

Okay well in my opinion, Python is in no way ready for full fledged web development as most of us do, its far to hard to use whith its CGI nonesense than PHP. I really like python for application development, but it just doenst work (for me anyway) with web development that well.

[SuperMike]

That's okay, guys. I'm rewriting the menu demo portion of the code now in PHP. Hope to have something up in a couple days.

[gummibaerchen]

That's okay, guys. I'm rewriting the menu demo portion of the code now in PHP. Hope to have something up in a couple days.

You really think, anyone is installing php for such a tool?

LOL


Canoncial is building some similiar app btw. I wonder, which app we will see in the next ubuntu release

[SuperMike]

Yeah, I'm used to the flak I'm hearing on this by now.

Well, think about this. You've heard of phpMyAdmin, and phpPGAdmin, etc., right? No one laughed then, right? Well, this is like a phpConsoleAdmin of sorts.

And think about this -- many people have Linux with no GUI in their server room and things are locked down by company policy such that they cannot bring up a web interface in certain tiers of their server room, such as the app tier. The only open port for them (without filling out a good bit of paperwork) is SSH. That's the way it is in my server room for the oppressive, multinational employer that I work for. A menu system like this can be useful when you start to think about the complexity of interfacing with an LDAP Server to add/remove users and groups to it -- it's a heck of a lot of command line switches to remember.

Last night and into this morning I stayed up until 4am and am almost done with the menu demo portion in PHP. It's working very similarly to the Bash demo for the UST project already up on SourceForge.net. The only thing I have to finish is the scrolling part where if the menu has to scroll off more items than can fit on the screen -- it needs a virtual scroll region and I'm working out the algorithm for that.

Once the menu demo is done, I can then start to build a console-based form generator API that uses the KISS principle. At that point, people could start to build modules quite easily for the thing by dropping a menu folder into a "plugins" directory for the project and to name their script page by a certain name like index.php. Their menus will automatically link in and the form API can provide them with a way to display and collect information to run against commands in the background. With this, people could write Ubuntu Server frontends to manage things like stopping/starting services, managing user/group administration on NIS, passwd, shadow, and LDAP, managing software through aptitude, managing Apache settings, managing mounted volumes, managing MySQL and PostgreSQL, and so on. The possibilities are endless once the PHP script kiddies find a simple platform that does the hard work for them regarding the TUI.

[gummibaerchen]

Yeah, I'm used to the flak I'm hearing on this by now.

Well, think about this. You've heard of phpMyAdmin, and phpPGAdmin, etc., right? No one laughed then, right? Well, this is like a phpConsoleAdmin of sorts.

Do you think it's the name?

Hey, phpMyAdmin and phpPgAdmin are WEBINTERFACES, not console applications.
These apps need a webserver anyway, and most times this includes PHP.

But not every server has PHP by default, and so I think you are wrong with your console tool in PHP.

If you want to, go ahead, I won't stop you, but I think that Canoncial or Ubuntu itself is actually building such an app (not in PHP of course), so I would use theirs for Ubuntu,

[gummibaerchen]

Is your project the official "Ubuntu System Tool"?

http://www.golem.de/0607/46840.html

The screenshot in there looks exactly like you program, but the article is from August 2006.