The Alexandria project (http://alexandria.rubyforge.org/), a project
to develop a book-and-other-media management application written in
Ruby for Gnome, is undergoing a minor renaissance after going dormant
for a while. Halted at version 6.1 since mid-2005, the project is
seeking to take the currently unstable repository code and release a
stable version 6.2 suitable for inclusion in major distributions. After
this release, the assembled development team will pursue ambitious plans
to increase the utility and visibility of Alexandria, with the ultimate
goal of default inclusion in major distributions. Some ideas that have
been discussed:
- integration with deskbar-applet/beagle.
- integration with OpenOffice for bibliography management.
- network-shareable book libraries (similar to iTunes DAAP)
- ability to access public library borrowing systems.
- new client/server architecture
- social/collaborative book rating/suggestion
Alexandria is an excellent example of a well-designed, fully-conceived
Ruby-Gnome2 application (thanks to the great work of Laurent S.
and
others) that has the potential to match and surpass other closed-source
applications in this application niche, and to become a showcase product
for Linux/Gnome and Ruby-Gnome2.
The project currently needs Ruby developers of all shapes and stripes.
We welcome any short-term assistance to help us bugfix for the 6.2
release,
and any assistance and design input for the future.
In addition, there is a sub-project leadership position for anyone who
would like to resurrect the (already mostly implemented) RubyCocoa MacOS
port
of Alexandria.
A first step if you are interested in helping is to introduce yourself
on the mailing list:
http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/alexandria-list