Forum Moderators: coopster
My dream: A single sign-on. Login at one point and have access to all the scripts that comprise the website.
Doable? Simple for a pro? Bad idea? I just have no idea at this point. :-(
Would a glitch in any one script - say the forum software - be likely to bring down the whole operation?
Am I likely talking 100s of hours of programmer's time to get everything into a form that is administratively manageable? My guess is that since each program has its own administrative controls the idea that I could centralize things might be a pipedream OR maybe it's a great thing that each script has its own admin panel? Maybe all I need to centralize is the ability to lock a member's account?
What if 5 of 6 scripts are built using PHP but the directory script is built using PERL? Does that nix the idea of single sign-on + scripts playing together nicely?
What issues or questions - besides the specific software packages - come to mind given what I've described?
How many hours of programmer time am I buying just to flesh out whether the idea - a vortal build from parts - stands a chance of working?
Some would be harder to bring together than others, but I don't see any reason why one 'sign up' script couldn't put that user's information into several services such that their login would blend seamlessly.
With this setup a glitch with one script shouldn't screw with any other scripts, provided that glitch doesn't mess up the critical account settings (username and password). As for a centralized control panel, that is also possible, though it might be more work than it's worth.
Different languages shouldn't make any difference at all if they're all accessing the same database(s) for their information and passing variables in a way they can each understand. Usually not a problem.
[edited by: Duskrider at 10:19 pm (utc) on June 8, 2007]
Next you already got a big challenge at hand: UPDATES, since you are not building it from scratch it is going to be a nightmare to keep track of all mods but nevertheless still manage applying the updates.
The critical ones always come from the forum security side..
I have found that creating parallels (abstraction layers) are the easiest approach. If the open source code has set itself up as an object-oriented framework, you extend the object you want to modify and leave everything else alone. New code updates will still require your eyes to do a once over quickly, but most often you will be good to go by creating and maintaining an abstraction layer or interface. Especially when it comes to security.
Cut-and-paste integration between tables and login functions will either take an enormous amount of work, or give a poor result. Assuming you go the 'enormous amount of work' route, you should be ready to start again at square one, at any time and at a day's notice when one of your component parts is found to have a serious security flaw - just try applying a patch for the mainstream distribution to your highly-customised system without breaking everything.
Finally, the open source components will severely limit your ability to profit from sales of the system. Given the amount of work involved, it would make sense to be able to recoup the investment.
