[Mailman-Developers] [GSoC 2014] Cordova/Android App for GNU Mailman Admin Interface

[Florian Fuchs]

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On 03/13/2014 05:41 AM, Bhargav Golla wrote:
> Regarding your second comment, I indeed took Terri's suggestion
> about Intel XDK and am evaluating it while I am writing the
> proposal. And I have missed out Postorius responsive UI project
> idea. Thanks for pointing it out.

The two project ideas ("Cordova app" vs. "Postorius responsive") are
similar to some extend, but with significant differences. Let me
highlight some of them:

Both projects will make you write a good amount HTML/CSS/JS code, as
Cordova also uses these technologies for the user interface. Ideally
(if both projects are implemented - which isn't very likely) the UI
should not be much different - no matter if you open Postorius on a
phone's browser or use the native Cordova app.

1. Postorius responsive
The Postorius responsive project builds on an existing (Django)
back-end that is ready to be used. You might need to implement *some*
backend features, but (in contrast to the Cordova project) especially
the authentication/authorization part is something you will not have
to worry about because the framework already takes care of this. You
can concentrate on the interesting UI parts and make everything work
nicely on a variety of different devices. Oh, but please don't
underestimate the amount of (really very interesting) work you can put
into making a site really usable with either keyboard, mouse and fingers.

2. Cordova app
The Cordova project is different in that it doesn't build on an
existing underlying back-end, which means you will have to take care
of the communication with the core, as well as of authorization.
Mailman's REST API is mainly built for local use, giving you
wide-ranging permissions by default (meaning: if your credentials are
ok, you can do everything). It's definitely not advisable to expose it
directly to a phone app and then let this app manage the permissions
(because that way all users could make themselves admins by
manipulating the app's source code). So what's needed is a layer in
between (and controlled by the site, not the app). This could be
implemented as part of Postorius, but it could theoretically also be
something else on top of the core's REST API. Which one would first
have to be discussed (there are good arguments to be made for both
scenarios). So, in the end, the Cordova project will not be a pure app
project.

Hope that helps.

Cheers
Florian

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