My solution worked but it was pretty ugly. So I wondered if it would be better to implement a FUSE file system to do the same task. Unfortunately PHP didn’t have bindings for libfuse at the time. After several failed attempts at using SWIG to automagically generate an extension, I came to the harsh realization that if I wanted FUSE bindings I’d have to do it myself. I mean… how hard could it be?

It actually wasn’t too bad. I read a bunch of non-existent documentation on the Zend API and went to work on a prototype. It took me about a week, but I now have a working PHP extension. I’ve also since implemented TracFS to replace my ugly script.

I’m almost finished with writing the documentation for the PHP website. To build the extension, you have to check out the sources from CVS.

$ svn co http://svn.php.net/repository/pecl/fuse/trunk/ php_fuse
$ cd php_fuse && phpize
$ ./configure
$ make && sudo make install

You’ll need to install PHP and FUSE (or MacFUSE) before you can build the extension. Once everything is installed, you can test php_fuse with the scripts in pecl/fuse/examples. For now, the extension does not support writing files, only reading. Sometime in the near future I will implement the rest of the VFS callbacks.

My goal was to get CLAWS running the way RIT uses it, and then write patches to the main codebase. If certain people in high places liked the changes I made, they could take the patches and apply them upstream. Even if that doesn’t happen, I could always fork the project and continue development on my own. For political reasons, I’d have to wait to do this until after I graduate.

The PAWS Project is aimed at taking what is now a very RIT-centric software system and transforming it into something the general public can use. Much to the chagrin of some un-named information security officials, CLAWS is open source and so I can (at very least) develop from the r2977 snapshot.

In the coming few months I plan to have my documentation finished for building and installing CLAWS. I should have a lighter schedule this summer, so I’m hoping to get most of my development work done then.

The CLAWS central server manages communications between the various clients and back-end systems. A self-help tool allows students to activate an account and edit identity and mail preferences. The Help Desk client provides account management functions for staff that streamlines account creation and maintenance across the multiple systems.

Right now, CLAWS is used in production by both students and Help Desk staff. We are presently working to integrate IPEdit functionality into CLAWS. Visit the project homepage for more information.

If you haven’t already, hop on over and review your professors!