Askbot

http://askbot.org is a question and answer oriented forum similar to Stack Overflow or Yahoo Answers. It is written in Python and Django. You can file bug reports via http://bugs.askbot.org/ and the source code is at https://github.com/ASKBOT/askbot-devel/. It is primarily developed and maintained by Evgeny Fadeev.

How to test Askbot?

• A test instance is running at http://ask01.dev.fedoraproject.org. Refer to https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Ask_Fedora_SOP for a step by step guide.

Feature wishlist

• identi.ca support (Ratnadeep Debnath)

• Per question RSS feed and RSS feed for tags (Sayan Chowdhury)

• Tip for browsers with Javascript disabled (Arun SAG)

• Automatic shortening of url's posted via Twitter and Identi.ca using ur1.ca. Can reuse the Python script from http://code.activestate.com/recipes/577236-ur1ca-command-line-client/

• Better spam control - Blocking a user by IP address. Destroying user (delete every trace of activity from forum entirely) etc

• Fully anonymous - asking questions and answering

• Integration with Red Hat bugzilla, Bodhi, Koji and Pkgdb

• Tag enhancement - clicking on a tag should provide a page with a description of the tag, ability to subscribe via email or RSS

• Site promo and stats site bar

• announcement side bar

• Bounty

• Inline editing

• Suggested edits

• SE dump of data

• Support for browser id

• Content filtering - For blocking swear words etc.

• Invite a friend and if they answer, earn karma

Status

• Rahul Sundaram is leading an effort to package Askbot and all its build time and runtime dependencies for Fedora. The goal is to get an instance of it running in http://ask.fedoraproject.org and serve as a forum for questions and answers. The dependencies are useful for various other projects as well. Refer to http://mether.wordpress.com for various blog posts on the the Ask Fedora effort.

* Toshio from Fedora Infrastructure team raised the question of liability and Red Hat Legal has clarified that there isn't any. It is like the users list where end users answer other user's questions and we don't have to moderate the answers for legal reasons. Thanks to Spot for helping with a quick response.

* Rahul Sundaram is in touch with the upstream developer, Evgeny Fadeev (evgeny.fadeev gmail) who is willing to help out with the integration with Fedora Account System. He has made some changes upstream to make it easier to integration with a external authentication system. Refer to http://askbot.org/doc/askbot-as-reusable-django-application.html for more details.

* Prasad.J.Pandit (PJP) has added support for Fedora Authentication System (FAS) in Askbot. These patches have been sent upstream. Upstream has agreed to make auth support extensible so that we can plugin FAS auth support without having to patch Askbot and has sent us (Rahul and PJP) a patch to test this. Rahul Sundaram will followup as required.

• Rahul Sundaram has discussed several enhancements and bug fixes with upstream and upstream is making progress. Check status via http://askbot.org/en/users/309/mether/. Some patch discussions etc are offlist

Review requests filed by Rahul Sundaram

django-keyedcache - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=697492 (Lakshmi Narasimhan approved. In the repo now)

django-robots - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=696516 (in the repo now)

django-countries - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=696485 (in the repo now)

django-celery - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=697483 (Ankur Sinha approved)

django-kombu - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=696527 (approved)

python-coffin - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699335 (in the repo now)

askbot - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699336 (PJP approved)

Bundled dependencies split up

python-grapefruit - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=720141. Filed by Praveen Kumar (Rahul Sundaram approved. In the repo now)

django-recaptcha - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=716844 Filed by Jitesh Shah (PJP approved. In the repo now)

Upstream status - http://askbot.org/en/question/484/status-of-bundled-dependencies

Optional dependencies

django-avatar: Rahul Sundaram mailed upstream asking for a release since Askbot has a optional dependency on the development snapshot of django avatar and upstream hasn't responded yet. Praveen Kumar filed a review request of the devel snapshot at

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=720138 (Praveen Kumar file. Rahul Sundaram has pre-reviewed. PJP approved. In the repo now)

django-followit: Praveen Kumar has filed https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=720149 (Pravin Kumar filed. PJP approved)

Other dependencies (pre-existing review requests and more)

django-picklefield (dep of python-celery) - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=611068 (Rahul Sundaram has approved. In the repo now)

python-msgpack (dep of python-kombu) https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=691114 (in the repo now)

python-kombu (dep of python-celery) - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=722407 (PJP has approved)

python-celery (dep of django-celery) - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=722444 (PJP has approved)

python-importlib (EL dep of python-celery) - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=722427 (Rahul Sundaram approved)

python-html5lib (runtime dep of askbot) - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=252108 (Rahul Sundaram has reviewed)

python-unidecode (runtime dep of askbot) https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=720447 (Review request filed by PJP. Rahul Sundaram has approved)

django-threaded-multihost (runtime dep of askbot) https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=720664 (Review request filed by Praveen Kumar. PJP approved)

python-setuptools_hg. Praveen Kumar has submitted review request at https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=720989

django-repatcha-works. https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=727382 (Review request filed by Praveen Kumar. PJP approved

askbot-plugin-authfas - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=720807 (Review request filed by PJP. Rahul has approved)

EPEL 6 status

Askbot and dependencies are in EPEL 6.

• http://piratepad.net/XQMy3tiBki

TODO

• Get the rest of the dependencies reviewed and in the Fedora and EPEL 6 branch (collective effort)
• Package FAS auth support plugin (PJP)
• Test Askbot in RHEL 6 with Askbot and dependencies from RPM packages (PJP)
• Package django-threaded-multihost, runtime dep of askbot (Praveen Kumar)
• Split up the rest of the bundled dependencies as appropriate and update the Askbot package (Rahul Sundaram)
• File a request for resources with Fedora infrastructure team. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Request_For_Resources (Rahul Sundaram)
• Test the instance including admin interface, fas auth support, setup cron jobs (collective effort)
• Add identi.ca support, both as a login method and posting to it (rtnpro has added login support and sharing link)
• Add a sidebar for announcements (owner needed)
• Theming needed. Information on how to create a custom skin is available at http://askbot.org/doc/customizing-skin-in-askbot.html and http://askbot.org/wiki/index.php/Custom_Skins. Rahul Sundaram has filed a request with the design team

Askbot Fedora team

• Rahul Sundaram (packaging, upstream contact)
• Prasad J Pandit (administration help, FAS auth support, packaging)
• Saleem Ansari (administration help)
• Praveen Kumar (packaging)
• Jitesh Shah (packaging)
• Lakshmi Narasimhan (package reviews)
• Arun Sag (package reviews)

Askbot info

• Feature list: http://askbot.org/en/question/43/askbot-feature-list

• Moderation system: http://askbot.org/en/question/108/does-askbot-have-its-own-member-management-system

• Management: http://askbot.org/doc/management-commands.html

• Deployments of Askbot:

• http://ask.sagemath.org
• http://answers.ros.org/questions/
• http://asterisk-support.ru/questions/

Also WindRiver (Intel) has a internal instance running according to upstream. More examples at

- http://askbot.org/en/question/28/list-of-askbot-sites

• Alternatives:

• Shapado - Shapado is an open source question-answer system written in Ruby, Mongomapper and MongoDB. http://ask.debian.net is running a instance of this.

• OSQA - OSQA (Open Source Question and Answer) is an open source question-answer system written in Python with Django. Askbot is a fork of OSQA.

• Question2Answer - PHP. Simple to setup. Lacking in features.

• Stack Overflow - Proprietary. http://askubuntu.com/ is using this.