Portal Bridges for PHP

[Roger Ruttimann <ro...@apache.org>]

As a part of the Jetspeed-2 project I created a bridge for executing PHP 
applications inside a portlet. I had to extent and modify the servlet 
example (experimental code) which calls into PHP's Java API. The 
modifications were packaged as a library (posted in public maven 
repositories) which is referenced by the php bridge in Portal Bridges. I 
posted the source code on a website with public access.

In PHP 5 the Java API was dropped and it got more complicated to support 
the php bridge. In fact people were asking to include some of the source 
code in the bridges so that the PHP engine could be extended along with 
the portal bridges. This doesn't seem to be an option since we can't 
have code derived from the PHP license included in ASF repositories. Can 
anybody confirm this?

Another option would be to have a project for the PHP Java API and the 
servlet and portlet extension since the API was dropped from the PHP 
project. I don't know what license issues would arise with this 
approach. Maybe Sam Ruby who wrote the Java API for PHP and who is an 
Apache member could provide some suggestions.

For now, the only solutions seems to be to have the modified source code 
posted on a public site and instructions inside the portal bridges 
project that point to the source. A better integration of the external 
dependencies would be preferred by the users.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, ideas or guidelines to generate 
more acceptance of the php bridge and the portals project in general.

Roger Ruttimann



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Re: Portal Bridges for PHP

[Santiago Gala <sg...@apache.org>]

El lun, 22-08-2005 a las 23:08 -0700, Roger Ruttimann escribió:
> As a part of the Jetspeed-2 project I created a bridge for executing PHP 
> applications inside a portlet. I had to extent and modify the servlet 
> example (experimental code) which calls into PHP's Java API. The 
> modifications were packaged as a library (posted in public maven 
> repositories) which is referenced by the php bridge in Portal Bridges. I 
> posted the source code on a website with public access.
> 

Some more background. The bridge has three pieces:
- The PHPPortlet, which would be considered a derivative work of the PHP
Servlet, under PHP license, and also of Apache Portals code. I think I
found Sam Ruby wrote it, so it could be open for re-license under Apache
License. Not sure about this one.
- Patches, build procedures, etc. for the php library, to have it built
with java support. While it doesn't make sense to import the whole
library, binaries should be provided for major platforms, and I don't
think it is our business to do so.
- Samples, webapp packaging, etc.

The situation will be more complex as the bridge addresses PHP 5. Here
is where Roger's question becomes relevant.

> In PHP 5 the Java API was dropped and it got more complicated to support 
> the php bridge. In fact people were asking to include some of the source 
> code in the bridges so that the PHP engine could be extended along with 
> the portal bridges. This doesn't seem to be an option since we can't 
> have code derived from the PHP license included in ASF repositories. Can 
> anybody confirm this?
> 

Can we house patches for the PHP engine here? I'd say the answer would
be yes if we are just taking a minor part to modifiy it. This would be
the case of the PHPPortlet, provided NOTICE, etc. is given.

Would the PHP java API code, which has been dropped in PHP 5, qualify
for being hosted at the ASF and distributed from here?

> Another option would be to have a project for the PHP Java API and the 
> servlet and portlet extension since the API was dropped from the PHP 
> project. I don't know what license issues would arise with this 
> approach. Maybe Sam Ruby who wrote the Java API for PHP and who is an 
> Apache member could provide some suggestions.
> 
> For now, the only solutions seems to be to have the modified source code 
> posted on a public site and instructions inside the portal bridges 
> project that point to the source. A better integration of the external 
> dependencies would be preferred by the users.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions, ideas or guidelines to generate 
> more acceptance of the php bridge and the portals project in general.
> 
> Roger Ruttimann
> 

Hope this helps to clarify the issues
Santiago

> 
-- 
VP and Chair, Apache Portals (http://portals.apache.org)
Apache Software Foundation