We here at OSAlert take open source software seriously. That’s why, today, we’re making our site’s source code available to the public. While some sites have inline SQL statements, embedded passwords, afterthought modules, and sensitive data embedded into their pages, at OSAlert, we have a strict system that employs no hacks whatsoever to extend functionality. This is why our site rarely changes look-and-feel and rolls out new features slowly, only after they’ve been rigorously tested. This code is offered under the BSD license: feel free to use it as you wish! So, today, we’re proud to offer you the code that powers OSAlert.com. Be sure to start with the README file to get started! Enjoy responsibly.
OSAlert Goes Open Source
About The Author
Adam Scheinberg
Technology Executive o Web Developer o Father o Foodie o Music Snob o OS enthusiast
Follow me on Mastodon @[email protected]
I can’t believe I actually fell for that.
Edited 2009-04-01 15:01 UTC
I just looked into the comments ..
but seriously?
Why not open source it? It could get a good following and OSAlert could get new features for free.
It is not like thousands of OSAlert clones with the same content would appear.
Probably because our site has inline SQL statements, embedded passwords, afterthought modules, and sensitive data embedded into the code. And our site always changes look-and-feel and rolls out new features rapidly, without rigorous testing.
That would be a great opportunity to tidy everything up and raise the bar
(I know, time is a constraint)
Actually, to break character for a moment, our code is very organized, which is why we can hack in new features quickly.
Prove it
Ok, here’s a new feature I just coded for you now:
http://osnews.com/tweet
It aggregates all posts on twitter with the hash tag “#osnews”
So? Will it be free soon?
The date embedded in the version code should’ve thrown you…”4.1″.
Well played Adam (& Company).
That’s funny, but actually, OSAlert really is on version 4.1. Just a funny coincidence.
This was an action undertaken by Adam himself. Despite the team’s best efforts to keep Adam under control, to ensure he would lead a relatively normal and untroubled life, he has gone rogue.
We are no longer responsible for his actions.
Sweet! now i can make OSAlert.com 2: electric boogaloo!
My vote goes to os2news.com
made me smile
heh, not bad at all.
Sure fooled me.
Wish I had the knack for coming up with things like this. Well done, indeed.
lol
You could have at least put some more effort into it, like write some “real” PHP-code that was funny to read, like Microsoft Windows code.
LOL… Put some ASP code in .php files
I have seen the opposite actually…A web site with .asp extensions on a LAMP server with PHP code. I think the company had asked for a web site in ASP and the guy only knew PHP…
I thought I wouldn’t be fooled today.
excellent idea
and a beautiful move !
… so I can learn from others’ work.
But I laughed. Haha, good work.
The problem with April 1st stories is that in the Googleverse they are “true” all year round. Year after year after year for all Googternity.
April Fools is an idea whose time has come… and gone.
Bah! Humbug!
Edited 2009-04-01 18:51 UTC
What was an instant stopper was: passwords are included.
I know the PhpBB forum, having it’s content given, for sure will not give the passwords also.
Anyway by curiosity I’ve downloaded to see what was the “are you fool” picture. And the draw makes me laugh!
Same here. I knew immediately that it was a joke, but I wanted to know what it looked like
It’s a pitty that it is just a joke. I was eager to look into some well structured and thoughtful PHP code. But I think there’s no such a thing in this universe.
Look it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkNxbyp6thM&eurl=http%3A%2F~…
So the code is shit after all!?
LAME.
I liked the bit about open password, it means people will be able to improve my posts, and make them more interesting.
that was a pretty good one
“we have a strict system that employs no hacks whatsoever”
Do I even need to download the .zip to know this is a joke?
Well, that wouldn’t be supprising when lots of services use open source engines, and there’s nothing really that interesting in osnews from technical side to keep it secret etc. Just do it guys!
I totally agree. I hope I haven’t my sense of humor, but I don’t think this is funny at all. Is the idea of opening the code to a website so ridiculous – especially one that is very supportive of open source software? Besides, Slashdot does it… http://www.slashcode.com/
OSAlert is a great site – share your work with the world!
Which is why it’s so insanely popular! Featured on “The Price is Right”! And all that sort of rot!
Or not. Hey, I like hole-in-the-wall sites.
Edited 2009-04-01 22:31 UTC
My interpretation was that the joke is at the expense of some of the more rabid/fundamentalist free software/OSS supporters – the people who consider software licenses to be more important than basic practical considerations (like whether not the software works worth a damn / does what it’s intended to do).
There have been a few posts on Adam’s blog comparing the OSAlert CMS to WordPress, pointing out that the OSAlert software is fairly well-tuned for heavy load, large amounts of data, etc.
Granted, most of the functionality of OSAlert could probably be implemented using most of the popular open source CMS / blogging apps. But, I can certainly see the appeal of having something that’s specialized for a particular set of needs.
Having having worked with several of the popular CMS systems out there (WordPress, MovableType, Expression Engine, Drupal etc), it often seems that I end up wasting a lot of time trying to turn off/remove functionality that I don’t need.
Edited 2009-04-02 20:18 UTC
As opposed to that majority of FOSS software advocates who believe in Open Source, but retain a realistic perspective. Tend not to be as vocal. But are too often lumped in with the loonies.
Yes, which applies to just about any subject that people have strong opinions about. A minority of loud-mouthed idiots usually make more of a lasting impression in people’s minds (they also provide a ready-made strawman argument against whatever they’re advocating).
Of course, it does seem a little bit skewed on OSAlert – this the only place I’ve ever seen someone seriously argue that the term “zealot” should be considered a badge of honour.
“””
Of course, it does seem a little bit skewed on OSAlert
“””
I used to hang out with the choir in places like LXer. There is not that much overt controversy, because people tend to be in basic agreement. The differences among them being mainly ones of degree. I got tired of that, and feared losing perspective. (Although anyone who supports Linux desktops for a living, as I do, is by necessity pretty well grounded in reality. There are hurdles to overcome, and that can represent a lot of work. But the hurdles are not insurmountable challenges if one is determined and knowledgeable. But the problems cannot simply be ignored or swept under the rug.) That’s why I call OSAlert my home base these days (despite the annoyances). I get to read perspectives and viewpoints from all over the map. And that’s good. It makes me a better FOSS advocate, and a better Linux administrator. Even if I often respectfully disagree with some of the perspectives I am exposed to.
So if it seems skewed on OSAlert, perhaps that is a sign of the good that OSAlert is doing as a mixed forum.
Edited 2009-04-02 20:46 UTC
I read OSAlert for the drama mainly. It is sort of like a tech soap opera, loads of nerds arguing passionately about profoundly unimportant topics that virtually noone outside of the people who go to osnews care all that much about. I love the origional alternative os idea, but we are so far from that now it is not the same place. IMO the community took a nose dive around the time that sign ups became manditory.
When it comes to useful places, stackoverflow.com is where I dedicate most of my time. When it comes to just a fantastic tech blog, hackernews is head and shoulders over everything else, even though it is pretty startup oriented.
I wear different hats at different times. When I’m wearing my Linux systems’ administrator/consultant hat, I have to be more concerned with the Joe User world. Or at least how to deal with the JoeUser@Work. But the Joe User world is just as corner-case, in its way, as is FSF extremism. It’s just that a lot of people happen to fall into the category. If one happens to be apathetic regarding computing then that is the default category they end up in.
When I’m wearing my “Interested Citizen of the Computing World” hat, I feel that OSAlert is actually more representative of reality than is Joe’s world.
I’ve been called “schizophrenic” by some on this board. (As a constructive criticism, I think.) Perhaps it’s the hats. Perhaps I should just get a sombrero, a beach chair, and a citrus drink with lots of little umbrellas and stuff in it, and be done with it.
Edited 2009-04-02 21:33 UTC
Well, we try but it’s nigh on impossible to walk a tightrope while Apple zealots, Linux zealots, Windows fanatics, and OSS fanboys keep throwing rocks at you, and you’re not allowed to throw back because then you’re a dictator.
Logic of the masses, I guess.
Despite my criticisms at times, I do appreciate the work that you do. And I want to make that a public statement.
Edited 2009-04-02 22:07 UTC
Varied perspectives are great, but increasingly I’ve found that the variance is just between different varieties of zealots (especially when comments are contentious in any way).
The two aspects I find particularly discouraging are the tendency for nuanced opinions to be drowned out/shouted-down by the extremists. And, hand-in-hand with that, the tendency for rebuttals to take the form of accusations-of-bias, a la “You’re only saying that because you’re a ______ fanboy.”
When I say “skewed” I’m mainly talking about posts (and posters) that err towards one absolutist position or the other (with reality usually falling somewhere in between).
Not everyone who comments is an extremist. In fact, I’d argue that most are not, but a few particularly loud ones are (and frankly, we happily encourage spirited debate, so no ill feelings to those few). I think you’ll find that if you watch carefully, it’s likely that your feelings come from the fact that the zealots are the ones who often engage you and respond to your posts, so it may seem more skewed than I think it is in reality.
Of course not. If nothing else, my “irony checker” functions well enough that I wouldn’t claim that “everyone here is an absolutist” (since that claim would itself be an absolutist statement).
Going by the overall userbase, I’d tend to agree – but it also seems that the majority of posts come from the vocal minority(ies).
Maybe I’m just getting more and more contrarian in my “old age,” but I actually find that extremists who advocate positions I agree with (on a fundamental level, at least) annoy me more than those I disagree with completely.
For my money, that brand of advocacy is almost entirely counterproductive – it basically provides a ready-made strawman argument *against* whatever it is that’s being advocated.
Yep. It turns straw men into real people. And it’s why I always cringe when I see posts authored by Moulinneuf, Cyclops, Segedunum, and to a lesser extent, Lemur2. (Lemur2 is a *smart* and *well read* fanatic. But a fanatic nonetheless.)
In the end, I think we need to realize that there is more value in cooperation than in fanatically promoting our own causes.
Edited 2009-04-03 18:24 UTC
I’m glad you’ve noticed, really. OSAlert is written to be high-volume from the ground up. It makes use of incredible amounts of pre-cached data. Cron and pre-generated files play a very large role in constructing the site you see, and future bits will almost certainly make use of JSON and jQuery to hand off some of the work to the client. Anyone who dissects the osn javascript library will immediately see it was not architected with a framework in mind, and as a result, the next generation of improvement will come from condensing our scripting and making better use of the jQuery foundation.
Understanding WordPress internals is my passion of late, but WordPress is definitely a swiss army knife, so to speak. In this case, it would require incredible amounts of work to make WP do what we want to do. The current OSN codebase is incredibly flexible, both extendable and moddable on the fly, so it’s very easy for me to add new features and even change the live system. I am very careful about writing code for performance, not beauty (Kroc and I have great debates because my code is based on utility and his on art, and I think we’re both better at our jobs because of our spirited discussions). I choose functions and rewrite inefficient portions all the time to measure page load. We used to require multiple servers to withstand the load (many here may remember the janitor or the soup nazi errors), but now we run with little load on 1, due to better SQL, much better code, etc. OSN has withstood a simultaneous digging and slashdotting, so it’s highly tuned for load.
I may write a piece one day, if people are interested, on where the differences between conventional CMSes and OSN lie, but we’ve made several architectural decisions that are for performance: I’ve very intentionally written procedural code (no objects at all) and rigorously tested our SQL. Sometimes, it’s faster to run lots of small queries than to execute one big motherf’er. And again, we offload what we can.
Also, we make changes to things all the time, such as the trust algorithm. We always have changes in the pipeline – for example, right now, we’re discussing changes to the mod system, which will mean lots of work to preserve valid and appropriate user history. We treat the site like a community, and hope that’s reflected in code.
I’ve gone on for far too long, but there are quite a bit of major reasons why we’d not be interested in modding something like WordPress or Joomla, and one of them is primary focus on serving high load.
Or a “Swiss army chainsaw,” to borrow an old description of Perl
I can certainly believe that, having tried to implement some OSAlert-like features in a wordpress install. A lot of the time, I’ve found it’s easier to just setup a custom page template with PHP to read directly from the database – working around WordPress, rather than with it.
I’d be quite interested to read that.
I know this is a joke, but seriously you guys are really close to a good idea. I’m not web developer but I would love a series on how to set up a site like OS news starting from server, then to the page design and implementation, finally all the way to the end testing.
Edited 2009-04-02 01:21 UTC
well, you already know the end testing since you’re part of it …
oh well.. here is already 2nd April. bad
hook line and sinker.
Well done!
Because sometime last year, I inquired about the code behind OSAlert, and the price was high enough that it wasn’t exactly being given away: having seen my longer-term business needs change, it’s no longer the most logical solution for me anyway
Hint: most people don’t make that much in a month, gross income
It just shows how eager some people are
As soon as I saw the date April 1 and the post title, I just went “yea right…” while smiling
I haven’t even clicked on the link.
hahahaha very good !
I can’t stop laughing… It actually made me register to post this comment after being a passive user for quite some time.
nice one,
Astrit
Being the trusting sort I fell for this. I didn’t try to download but did click on the comments expecting an almighty BSD/GPL scrap.
Well done OSAlert!
i hate u guys, here i was hoping to see some source -.-
Hi,
Kudos on that decision, and you dont have to change the look and feel, because you are OSAlert.com and you will be the same, they way I like it. Thank you.
As a someone who’s using launchpad.net for my own projects I’d recommend this source hosting to you guys.