[Zope3-dev] How does Zope.Configuration work?

[Fred L. Drake, Jr.]

Tres:
 >     If site administrators can't figure out how to
 >     install packages, we're doomed:  Zope3 transfers a good deal
 >     of the "burden of complexity" from developers to site admins.

Guido:
 > This bothers me.  I think it's a mistake to think that site admins
 > should be given control over every little detail of every app they
 > install.

Installation and configuration are two distinct things; I agree with
Tres that package installation should be easy.  I expect that the
target for installation should be to expect no more from the admin
than running a distutils-based setup.py and adding an include line to
a ZCML file (possibly using a web-based management interface).

 > I like the scenario that Brian gave yesterday (in the context of the
 > scurity discussion): a busy site admin has to grant permissions to a
 > newly hired editor.  Brian showed that all that was needed was a
 > single permission assignment, and argued that that was all that the
 > site admin had time for.  Installing an app should be as
 > straightforward.

Yup.

 > While it's OK to give site admins the ability to tweak apps, unless
 > they understand the app very well that's not going to do them any more
 > good than giving them the ability to edit the python source codes
 > comprising the app.

I think we're hitting a terminology barrier.  I see three actors in
this picture:

 - Product/Component developers.  These are the guys that build
   content types and reusable applications.

 - Site builders.  These guys select & configure packages, and might
   want to replace individual view components to add integration with
   components from different sources.

 - Site admins.  These guys just want to control permissions, and
   should need to do as little as possible with site configuration.

I think most of the ZCML should be produced by the Product/Component
developers and changed by the Site builders only when needed.  Site
admins *won't* change ZCML or any other configuration if they can get
away with it, and should never need to make large or complicated
changes.


  -Fred

-- 
Fred L. Drake, Jr.  <fdrake at acm.org>
PythonLabs at Zope Corporation