[gopher] Introducing a new kind of Gopher Server

[Kevin Veroneau]

James,

  Gopher Application Framework is only a subset of what will come.  I have thought of a WSGI for Gopher, but don't know how well it would work in practice.  Gopher servers are created in many different languages, so interfacing a gopher server with a separate external framework would add much overhead to the server and any gopher applications it may be hosting.

  My next gopher project, an extension to Gopher Application Framework is something I am going to call a Gopher Application Server.  The Application Server will be completely independent of the Framework.  Basically, this here framework will be used to extend the Application Server, but isn't required.  The Application Server, once done will be a rather powerful document publishing platform with very rich built-in indexing and searching of all the documents it contains.  The Application Framework could then be leveraged to add features like contact forms, request forms, and other "stateful" tools onto the Application Server.

  Furthermore, the Gopher Application Server will have a rich HTML document management interface to easily add and edit documents and files.  The HTML interface will also make it easy to install Gopher Application Framework apps.  The HTML interface will through the Gopher protocol, but will require an HTML5 capable browser.  But document viewing will work on any gopher client, big or small.  Think of it like Gopher meets HTML5.  I've already been playing with the technology I'll be using, and it works perfectly in OverbiteFF(the official one).  So all you die hard gopherites out there don't have to worry, all published documents will work 100% on all available Gopher clients. :)

Anyways, that's my long term plan for this.

On April 21, 2015 10:37:10 PM MDT, James Mills <prologic at shortcircuit.net.au> wrote:
>Kevin,
>
>You and I should come up with a sort-of a Gopher Application Spec
>that other Gopher(d) can implement. My own Gopher(d) cgod isn't
>your ordinary run-of-the-mill Gopher server either in the sense that
>it's fully pluggable, supports dynamic resources, sessions and is built
>for
>performance and scalability.
>
>Implementing a proper to goodness application layer however
>would be really cool and even cooler if we both came up with
>a spec where we can write applications that work on many
>Gopher(d) that implement it :)
>
>Think WSGI for Gopher :)
>
>cheers
>James
>
>
>James Mills / prologic
>
>E: prologic at shortcircuit.net.au
>W: prologic.shortcircuit.net.au
>
>On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Kevin Veroneau <kevin at veroneau.net>
>wrote:
>
>> Hello fellow Gopherites!
>>
>> I noticed something in the Gopher community on the types of Gopher
>servers
>> available. They are all basically the same, nothing separates them
>apart
>> from what language it's made in and how gopher menus are generated.
>They
>> are feed files directly from a file system.
>>
>> I recently decided that if I were going to make a server, it wouldn't
>be
>> just a server, but a full application framework. Welcome to my newest
>> project: Gopher Application Framework!
>>
>> It is still a work in progress, missing many useful features. But I
>am
>> planning on growing this into something nothing less than amazing. It
>will
>> be heavily inspired by the Bottle micro framework, as you will see by
>the
>> example application I have. It will support dynamic templating to
>make
>> server-side templates of any text-based file a piece of cake. Unlike
>all
>> other Gopher servers, this one doesn't fork external processes. Much
>like
>> modern web frameworks, the application is always in memory. Don't
>worry
>> about the memory footprint though, as it is inspired by the smallest
>web
>> framework, it will only use a couple MB of ram.
>>
>> This project is still a huge work in progress, with a built-in HTTP
>server
>> coming soon and many more amazing features. This isn't just your
>every day
>> run of the mill gopher server.
>>
>> gopher://gopher.veroneau.net/1library/gaf
>>
>> The API is subject to change too, this is just an early preview
>version to
>> let the community see what I'm up to.
>>
>> Enjoy!
>> --
>> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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>>
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>>
>
>
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-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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