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:8888/

• A test repository for RHEL 6 is at http://repos.fedorapeople.org/repos/pjp/askbot/. Since Fedora Infrastructure runs RHEL and we intend to propose running a instance in Fedora infrastructure, testing this packaged version is most useful. Instructions on setting it up is at http://askbot.org/doc/index.html

• Askbot is also installable via pip or easy_install in any distribution.

• Askbot supports MySQL and Postgres but the Postgres backend is more feature rich and recommended by upstream. So do test using the Postgres backend

    
    # easy_install askbot

    # yum install postgresql

    # yum install postgresql-server

    # su - postgres

    $ cd /var/lib/pgsql/data

    $ initdb $PWD

    $ exit

    # service postgresql start

    # psql -U postgres

    postgres# create user askbot with password 'xxxx';

    postgres# create database askbot;

    postgres# ALTER DATABASE askbot owner to askbot;

    postgres# \q;

    # psql -U askbot -W askbot

    askbot=>

setup the forum by running startforum, answer the questions asked. Go into the forum directory and edit settings.py to fill in the database name and password. Then run

 # python manage.py runserver 127.0.0.1:80 

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 say http://ask.fedoraproject.org and serve as a forum for questions and answers. The dependencies are useful for various other projects as well.

• 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 upstreahm 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/rahul-sundaram/. 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. Rawhide build not done yet)

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)

Upstream status - http://askbot.org/en/question/483/status-of-extra-modules

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

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

EPEL 6 status

• http://piratepad.net/XQMy3tiBki
• PJP has a test repository of Askbot for EL6 at http://repos.fedorapeople.org/repos/pjp/askbot/

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 (owner needed)
• 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 will request the Fedora design team for help when Askbot and dependencies are in the Fedora repo.

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.