OpenTelegard/2

OpenTelegard/2

Screenshot of Login & Main Menu
Original author(s)	Chris Tusa
Developer(s)	Chris Tusa
Development status	Active Development
Written in	JRuby (programming language)
Operating system	Linux BSD
Platform	OpenJDK
Available in	English
Type	Bulletin board system
License	Bsd license
Website	http://www.telegard.org/

OpenTelegard/2 (OpenTG) is an open-source implementation of a bulletin board system (BBS) software program written for Linux and/or Unix. Written from scratch in Ruby, the goal is to reproduce the look, feel, and functionality of similar legacy BBS systems such as Telegard or Renegade, which were written for DOS and OS/2 during the pre-internet communication era. No original code is being used or referenced.

On August 17, 2008, the project was founded by Chris Tusa with work on version 1 of the code. A year later, development on this branch, now known as OpenTG/1, ended. The back-end configuration tool had taken shape using the NCurses library, and database abstraction using ruby-DBI amd PostgreSQL for the backend database engine. The developer deemed this version of the code a failure due to problems maintaining NCurses screen layouts and SQL queries through DBI.

With lessons learned and upfront design planning, iteration two now known as Telegard/2, is under heavy development. The code has moved from MRI Ruby to JRuby running on OpenJDK. The latest code introduces:

• MVC Design (Model View Controller)
• Database Abstraction through the use of the Sequel ORM
• Input Validation from Apache Commons
• Integrated H2 SQL Database
• Themes based on the FreeMarker template engine
• Web Based administration tool based on Ramaze

Current goals

• Use standards based formats.
• Produce a usable configuration and management interface, similar in scope to traditional BBS WFC tools.
• Allow system operators to have flexibility of how their system is configured and consumed.
• Implement security at the core, not as an after-thought.
• Provide modern access using secure protocols such as SSH.
• Provide a web interface for both administration and user management.
• Hook into existing daemons and libraries where possible to reduce code efforts and conform to standards.
• WWIVnet & FidoNET Compatibility
• TgNET - Internet based Telegard/2 network

More status and goal information is available on the project homepage.

Software Stack

The following is a listing of software components used in Telegard/2

• OpenJDK 6
• Jruby 1.5.3 (Ruby = 1.8.7)
• H2 (DBMS)
• Ramaze Web Frameworkd
• Apache Commons
• JLine
• Gems : {ruby-bcrypt, sequel, ramaze, haml}

Tested development platforms

The following are tested operating system platforms used by the developers:

• LinuxMint >= Elyssa
• ArchLinux >= 2009.02
• NetBSD >= 5.1

Developer information

This project is founded and currently led by Chris Tusa. It is hosted on Launchpad (website) and uses Bazaar for source code control. Developers can find information about contributing on the project's website.

See also

• Telegard
• Renegade (BBS)
• WWIV

External links

• Telegard/2 Project
• Telegard/2 on Launchpad