Re: Building a web-based system administration interface in Perl

Is rewriting webmin an option? You seem to have a clear view of what you want to accomplish, and if you play your cards well, you might even get others to help you out.

I recently refactored 3000+ lines of perl 4 code myself. First I built a test quite for the main functionality. Then I refactored each part of the system, piece by piece. I imagine the same could be done with webmin, even if it may seem too big a task at first.

--
No matter how great and destructive your problems may seem now, remember, you've probably only seen the tip of them. [1]

Comment on Re: Building a web-based system administration interface in Perl

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: Building a web-based system administration interface in Perl by afoken (Chancellor) on Apr 08, 2009 at 22:01 UTC
Yes, it could be done. It is a huge load of work. Cleaning up the code is not the only job. Webmin needs to be splitted into a privileged and an unprivileged part. What about compatibility with existing Webmin plugins? Due to the nature of Webmin, testing all features requires access to a wide range of hard- and software. What about the licenses? Are we allowed to clean up Webmin and all plugins? Do we have a list of all problems in the Webmin code? Alexander -- Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)	[reply]
Re^3: Building a web-based system administration interface in Perl by SwellJoe (Scribe) on May 30, 2009 at 22:31 UTC
So, I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd chime in on this (I'm a Webmin developer). "What about the licenses? Are we allowed to clean up Webmin and all plugins?" Webmin, Usermin and all core modules are licensed under a BSD style license. So, yes. You are allowed to do anything you like. We'd probably even accept reasonable patches that don't break compatibility.	[reply]
Re^2: Building a web-based system administration interface in Perl by wazoox (Prior) on Apr 09, 2009 at 07:28 UTC
Just as a reminder of what a webmin rewrite represents (even a simple code audit), look at the numbers :) Total Physical Source Lines of Code (SLOC) = 289,259 Development Effort Estimate, Person-Years (Person-Months) = 76.80 (921.64) (Basic COCOMO model, Person-Months = 2.4 * (KSLOC*1.05)) Schedule Estimate, Years (Months) = 2.79 (33.46) (Basic COCOMO model, Months = 2.5 (person-months**0.38)) Estimated Average Number of Developers (Effort/Schedule) = 27.55 Total Estimated Cost to Develop = $ 10,375,113 (average salary = $56,286/year, overhead = 2.40). generated using David A. Wheeler's 'SLOCCount'.	[reply]


Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister
	PerlMonks