Enterprise version

[uf766086]

Hi all!!

Maybe I'm a bit disoriented but I cannot find the way to checkout Alfresco Enterprise source code. Is it possible?? Or the only Open Source versión it's Community version?

Thx in advance

[uf766086]

all bug fixes make it into the Community version at a later date.

and "later" is measured in days, weeks, months, years, eons ??
:wink:

[gavinc]

It's typically a few weeks

[jenglert]

If a client has a Enterprise license they want to customize, where can they find the 'enterprise' source code.  Is modifying the source code generally ill advised?  Should all modifications be handled through the use of patches and configuration extension?  If I was going to start creating a set of customizations today for a client whom is an Enterprise customer of yours, how should I proceed?  Are there any documents that outline this procedure?

Thanks in response for your quick response!

[derek]

Hi,
Modifying the source code is not ill-advised, but it is better to do it via the extension mechanism.  A recent example of where that was done was with the Multilingual extensions.  We put code in to support the necessary extensions for the client.  This can't always be the case, but if there are things we can do to enable a better integration, then we do it and release an Enterprise revision.
If you are going to be doing this kind of work on a regular basis, then you'll want to sign up yourself.  Otherwise you'll forever be clinging to the forums for advice and relying on your customers to give you the necessary bits of code, if they're even allowed to.  Just contact info@alfresco.com.

Regards

[jenglert]

Thanks for the information Derek.  I really appreciate it.  We actually do have a partner account.  I personally prefer to ask questions and learn from an open community style environment (i.e. forums) rather than through support emails.  If you don't mind, I have some follow up questions;

1)  Is it best, if possible, to extend the alfresco jars (using AMP) rather than edit the actual source files?  

2) What do you mean by release an 'Enterprise revision'?  If we made several custom web client changes, say adding a 'Create URL link' button to the source, could we get the code officially built as some sort of official revision?

3) Where can one find the enterprise source code?  I've looked all over but I can't seem to find a link.  partners.alfresco.com seems to only have binary distributions, unless I missed something.  One of the se11ing points of the Enterprise edition over the Community edition is that the Enterprise edition states it is validated and supported.  Wouldn't customizations  to the code base would void that validation and make support very difficult?

Thanks alot and goodluck.  I sure hope Alfresco succeeds in a big way.  Sure beats working with other ECM systems.

*I had to spell se11ing se11ing to avoid the spam filter.

[derek]

Hi,
For the source access, just email support@alfresco.com.  Also, let them know your forum user ID - then you can have a nice icon next your name and the developers know who to concentrate our forum efforts on.

The extension mechanism itself is and example of our efforts to make the system as configurable and overridable as possible.  It drives the community and ultimately allows the product to be used in ways that we just don't have resources to cope with.  If you wanted to extend or override some behaviour, and it wasn't possible to do without modifying the actual source and building a release yourself, then we would, within reason, add the necessary mechanisms into our code to allow simpler extensions.

When it comes to getting your extensions in, use the amp mechanism, for which there is now an SDK sample.

Regards

[jenglert]

Thanks for the quick response Derek.  I still have a number of questions mostly pertaining to making customizations to the current version of the code and then applying those changes to the next version of Alfresco.  I'm going to post those questions in a separate post after I have gathered my thoughts.


Thanks again!