[development] Summer of Code Idea

[mark burdett]

Btw, metalink is actually just an XML standard for linking to
downloads, you can include links to various types of URLs (http, ftp,
bittorrent magnet, other p2p URLs) and some metadata.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalink

If a drupal module could take care of generating the metalinks for
each file upload, it would be easy for other modules to plug in and
add new download options.  Parsing would also be useful, e.g. one
could "attach" files that are already online by uploading a metalink.

--mark

On 3/6/07, Dries Buytaert <dries.buytaert at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Kyle,
>
> On 02 Mar 2007, at 14:52, Kyle Cunningham wrote:
>
> > I've become very interested in participating in the upcoming summer of
> > code for Drupal and I have an idea about what I'd like to do with my
> > proposal.  I was just wondering what you all thought.
> >
> > I was thinking of making a system that automatically mirrored files,
> > scanned folders and otherwise made downloads available through the
> > use of
> > metalinks (http://www.metalinker.org/).  So for instance, upload a
> > file
> > with Drupal and then that file is automatically sent to mirrors and a
> > proper metalink file created (or a download page, I suppose there
> > could be
> > a number of preferences here).
>
> I don't know metalinker.org (and I don't have internet access right
> now) but is metalinker.org's goal to distribute the bandwidth and to
> help guarantee availability (i.e. distributed file cache).  It sounds
> like a fun project, but I'm not sure it has enough 'meat' to keep you
> busy for 2 full months.  Plus, it might be too vendor-specific.
>
> However, there are lots of things Drupal could do for popular
> websites with lots of media files -- i.e. staging, better versioning,
> advanced file management, fast protected files, integration with
> other services like S3, integration with transcoding systems, etc.
>
> Maybe you can talk a little bit more about what you'd enjoy working
> on most, or what exactly you envision to accomplish?  We might be
> able to provide more specific directions when we can keep such
> information in mind.
>
> My advice; keep brainstorming about this and try to make it a bit
> more generic/broader.  If you want to work on Drupal's file handling,
> we have a _ton_ of work for you.  Trust me. :)
>
> --
> Dries Buytaert  ::  http://www.buytaert.net/
>
>