Tasks
Stuff that needs doing. Tasks with no "owner" are open. To "claim" a task, edit this page and add your name as "owner", and email your thoughts to the amanda-hackers list. Other hackers will be happy to help. If you have other tasks, please add them here, following the pattern below.
Perlification
There is no shortage of stuff to rewrite in Perl. This is just a sampling of the "low-hanging fruit".
Rewrite amgetconf
amgetconf is a fairly simple C program (server-src/getconf.c). Rewrite it in Perl, using the Amanda::* modules. As a first draft, just replicate the fetching of configuration parameters. Once that's completed, work on the build parameters and debug-log management. Unit tests are already functioning against the C version -- the perl version should pass those tests too.
Update amtoc
amtoc is already in Perl, but it parses logfiles directly. Update it to be more readable, to use Amanda::Logfile to read the logfile, and to produce correct output. It will need new unit tests.
Rewrite amlabel
amlabel is fairly simple: use the changer to load the correct tape, check for an existing label, and write a new label. It will need new unit tests.
Rewrite amtape
amtape is basically a user-friendly interface to the tape changer, and should be easy to rewrite in Perl. It will need new unit tests.
Write Amanda-Holding
The holding module (in server-src/holding.[ch]) needs to be interfaced to Perl, after which amcleanupdisk can be rewritten in Perl. The new module should come complete with POD and unit tests.
Build Process
More portable Perl extension building
The current build process uses the -I flags from perl to find perl.h, but then uses Libtool to do the final linking. This seems to work on most platforms, but there may be a better way. The problem with using MakeMaker, Module::Install or Module::Build is that they assume that the compiler which built perl is still available. This is not the case on platforms like Solaris. A "hybrid" solution -- which tests the native-perl method, and falls back to the current Libtool method -- may be best.
Simplify Perl Automake rules
The Makefile.am stanza to build a perl extension from a SWIG input file is too long. Ideally, this could be expressed in a few lines giving only the source file and binary dependencies of the extension.
Miscellaneous
Make POD available on the web
The new perl modules all contain POD (plain old documentation), but this is currently only accessible via 'perldoc' against an installed copy of the modules -- not too convenient. Ideally, the POD from the latest committed code would be available somewhere on the web, such that it can be linked from this wiki. Zmanda can provide hosting and other infrastructure for the result.