mRFC 0011: Midgard on Windows Platform
This document outlines how the Midgard Framework and CMS can be made to support the Windows Platform. This mRFC been submitted to the Midgard Community for discussion and approval under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.
Midgard has originally been developed with Linux and Unix systems in mind. This has been a reasonable dependency as most Internet servers run on these platforms. However, in testing and Intranet environments the Windows platform has remained quite popular, especially in companies with little or no IT expertise. Windows also remains the most popular desktop operating system.
Motivation
Having Midgard available for the Windows platform would lower the barrier of entry into the project. Web developers could easily check the system out by installing it on their desktops and smaller companies could run their Intranets with MidCOM or OpenPSA installed on their Windows-based file or print servers.
In addition to server usage, the Windows port would ensure that Midgard is available on all major desktop operating systems (Windows, Mac OS X and Linux). This would bring interesting possibilities with replication, including offline usage of Midgard-based business applications like OpenPSA.
Current status
Daniel S. Reichenbach from the OpenSA project has ported an older development version of Midgard to work on the Windows platform. The modifications made to it should be adapted to work with the latest Midgard releases.
In addition, an installer system would have to be developed.
Installation
Installing Midgard on a Windows system should be made as simple as possible. The project download page should include an installer. The installer should bundle and set up all the required components for Midgard:
- Glib
- MySQL
- Apache
- PHP (4 or 5?)
- Data packages tested to work on Windows
Installer should query user for the URL used for Midgard and set up the host table and applications accordingly. The URL creation should offer some sensible default probed from the computer's network setup.
Porting TODOs
While Midgard core has been mostly ported to Windows, several data-level modifications will be needed for the whole Midgard environment to run on the platform. Here are listed several Midgard applications and their porting needs
datagard
Datagard is the new database and website setup tool in Midgard. It has been written completely with Unix systems in mind. Instead of porting it the similar capabilities should be available in the Midgard installer for Windows.
TODO: add notes on different applications
Effect on Midgard development
Once support for Windows platform in has been implemented in Midgard it must not become a second-class citizen in the Midgard development process. This means that developers of Midgard applications and the Framework must be constantly aware of the multi-platform requirement and develop accordingly.
Functionality on the Windows platform must also be a testing point in the release process. We must also evaluate whether Windows builds can be automatically generated from CVS snapshots.