[Xymon] Is this thing on?

[J.C. Cleaver]

On Tue, August 15, 2023 09:34, Bruno Manzoni wrote:
> Hi Xymon Lovers,
>
> Glad to see everyone still loves Xymon and ready to give more!
> *I've summarized this discussion *"Is this thing on"
>
> *To move forward:**
> **Non-technical needs:*
>
> *Â  Mailing list migration*, not possible to sign up for the Xymon user
> group anymore (*URGENT PROBLEM*)
>  Â Â Â  Share community developed plugins/monitors (it seems some people
> may have a lot to share)
>  Â Â Â  Several resources available if needed (developer, server web, demo
> platform, infra, maybe also money)
>  Â Â Â  More than one enthusiastic developer (probably not only devs...)
>  Â Â Â  Need a caretaker: updates to fix bugs, adapt to new OS versions,
> Terabithia RPM
>  Â Â Â  Henrik won't be able to contribute much (but a little might also
> be
> good!)
>  Â Â Â  A clearer organization
>  Â Â Â  Wikibook information udpate
>
> *Technical needs*
> *New features that we would like to have or that were planned*
>
>  Â Â Â  Reports, communication encrypted, or at least authenticated,
> Direct
> SSL support and/or message signing (*MOST REQUESTED*)
>  Â Â Â  Introductory document for developers
>  Â Â Â  IPv6 (some of which is working in the 4.4 alpha branch)
>  Â Â Â  Abstraction of remaining formatting to simple CSS to allow for
> skinning and dashboarding
>  Â Â Â  JSON endpoint version of xymondx{log|board}
>  Â Â Â  REST-based C shim .cgi, both of which could help folks integrating
> Xymon with other monitoring systems out there
>  Â Â Â  Forklifting of the many performance enhancements and tweaks from
> the Terabithia RPMs into the source tarball.
>  Â Â Â  Move the source to Github in the hopes of creating an easier
> onramp
> for patch submissions via PRs, bug reports
>  Â Â Â  Rocky package.
>  Â Â Â  Missing in the base, arp, netstat, ifconfig and route are supposed
> to be replaced by "ip" and "ss" commands.
>  Â Â Â  Moving away from C as the primary language. Python would probably
> have a lot more potential developers (*MAIN SUGGESTION FROM HENRIK*)
>  Â Â Â  Consider replacing the proprietary Xymon protocol with a REST API
> instead - then you could use standard http modules to talk to Xymon.
> Look at what each tool does, and reimplement it in a more modern way.
>  Â Â Â  Fix all string management warnings reported by gcc.
>
>
>
> *1. Please, let us know if all your info is in these lists *or *if you
> have other ideas *and *what do you think of all this now that you have
> an summary ?*


Thank you for this write-up! I think this aptly summarizes where things are.

I suspect with the number of sysadmins on the list, we should be able to
solve any questions of domains, hosting, and email fairly quickly. I use
my own builders for the Terabithia RPMs, but as development picks back up
it will be helpful to set some formal targets for the main release to
ensure that we maintain compatibility with the various systems we're
intending to. (GCC warnings in particular may cause more strife.)

The rest broadly does seem like it comes down to technical vs
non-technical issues. While *I'm* personally OK with the man2html look,
I'm pretty sure that's not what The Kids like today :) I had looked at
things like ReadTheDocs and other .io projects, which could provide a
useful re-structuring of the existing introductory material, and then form
the basis for renewed walkthroughs, FAQs, and the like in a more
approachable manner. (While still keeping the comprehensive man pages
available.)

While I'm a competent enough technical writer, as these emails make clear
I'd sorely need an editor :) But if someone with an eye for documentation
and more aligned with modern tech sensibilities could take the lead on
site design and structure I think that would be something very helpful for
the project.


I would also second that unifying the wiki materials is probably a good
thing, including making sure links to xymonton and any other BB resources
are prominently available.


The technical directions are a big chunk to chew, but I think the
documentation and front-door experience is probably more directly relevant
to revitalizing interest (barring the SSL issues brought up elsewhere).

Regards,
-jc