[development] module announcement: og_sites, providing multisite features

[Alex Cochrane]

That sounds great. Will definitely be giving it a run.

Nedjo Rogers wrote:
> An early preview release of a module that may be of interest to 
> developers and to anyone using multisites.
>
> OG Sites enables a multisite configuration in which a central 'hub' 
> site has a number of associated sites. The hub site features content 
> and users from all sites, while each associated site can access only 
> its own data (plus content explicitly shared from the hub site).
>
> This is accomplished through organic groups. Each associated site gets 
> an organic group on the hub site. When content is created on an 
> associated site, it gets assigned to that site's organic group on the 
> hub site (and ditto for users). This association is the basis for 
> determining access.
>
> Some features that may interest developers, and may be 
> applicable/adaptible elsewhere:
>
> * The code is structured to have plugins by module. For example, node 
> support is in node.inc, user support in user.inc. New module support 
> can be added through a new plugin, which will be automatically 
> detected and loaded if the module it implements is available.
> * Tables are shared dynamically (using hook_init()) rather than 
> through configuration in the settings.php file.
> * The install functions automate node type and node creation. The 
> og_sites_hub install function creates a new content type, assigns it 
> as an organic group type, and then creates a node for the group. The 
> og_sites install function creates an organic group node on the hub site.
> * Access is limited through various means: hook_menu() for menu item 
> overrides, hook_db_rewrite_sql() for node access, hook_form_alter() to 
> reset the rows in admin tables.
>
> For more information, see the README:
>
> http://cvs.drupal.org/viewcvs/drupal/contributions/modules/og_sites/README.txt?view=markup 
>
>
> Any reviews or feedback through the issue queue or privately by email 
> would also be greatly appreciated.
>
> OG Sites is produced by CivicSpace and development is sponsored by 
> Alpha, alpha.org.
>