Just some notes about OTOBO

OTOBO is an open source ticketing system that was derived from ((OTRS)) Community Edition.

Here are some ramblings.

Ideas

Ideas for OTOBO 11.0

• Required modules
  • Using Regexp::Common and Regexp::Grammar
  • use XML::LibXSLT, declare it as a requirement
  • Log::Log4perl, RotherOSS/otobo#402
• DB
  • last_insert_id(), RotherOSS/otobo#2232
  • fetch-Loop, RotherOSS/otobo#1916
  • Simplify SELECTS. RotherOSS/otobo#1916
• Some kind of OTOBO Middleware: RotherOSS/otobo#2229
• htmx: https://htmx.org/essays/when-to-use-hypermedia/
• require Perl 5.26 released in 2017
  • https://metacpan.org/release/XSAWYERX/perl-5.26.0/view/pod/perldelta.pod
  • indented heredocs: nice feature IMHO
  • lexical subroutines: Should they be used?
  • Stay ahead of the Perl toolchain: https://rjbs.cloud/blog/2023/05/pts-2023-lyon-amendment-2-5
• Support for sd_notify() in the OTOBO Daemon
• Allow bypass of ObjectManager, e.g. Kernel::System::DateTime, RotherOSS/otobo#1112
• Streaming, RotherOSS/otobo#1348
• Cool URIs. RotherOSS/otobo#1599, RotherOSS/otobo#116, RotherOSS/otobo#1590
• Remove example config for FastCGI: RotherOSS/otobo#132, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66417459/is-fcgi-dead-what-is-alternative-in-these-days
• less magic in Kernel::System::Main::Dump(), RotherOSS/otobo#694
• Unrelated:
  • Take a look at issues for rel-10_0: https://github.com/RotherOSS/otobo/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+milestone%3A%22OTOBO+10.0%22
  • Adapt unit tests in OTOBO packages
  • document deprecations and support policy: RotherOSS/otobo#1204

Open Ideas

Some ideas I'm tinkering with.

• Database
  • add SQLite backend, might be useful for devel and testing
  • add H2 backend, interesting because of the compatability modes
  • use DBD::MariaDB instead of DBD::mysql
• Implementation
  • use XML::Compile::WSDL11for SOAP
  • use Serealinstead of Storable
  • use Mail::Message and Mail::Transport
  • use Log::Log4perl
  • use CHI
  • Enhance import statements: https://metacpan.org/pod/perlimports
  • Debug modules: RotherOSS/otobo#1843
• Testing
  • maybe use Plack::Test
  • check NYTProf again
  • Devel::Cover
• Translation
  • use N-tier translations, e.g. Portuguese falling back to Brazilian Portugues falling back to English
  • A Louisiana Crèole translation
• API related
  • specification as an OpenAPI document
  • generate stubs, maybe for Raisin
  • implement the backend
• Web related
  • Websockets
  • Check whether OpenGraph is supported
  • Eliminate Apache altogether
  • document how run OTOBO with plackup, without Docker
  • Switch from REST::Client to Mojo::UserAgent in the generic interface
  • Support for status 103 though the code is still experimental: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Status/103, https://metacpan.org/pod/Gazelle#psgix.informational
• Devops
  • provide unit files for systemd
• Security
  • Update CPAN::Audit
• File system
  • When articles are stored in the file system the a directory tree with a lot of files is possible. This is a pain for backup. How about transfering old files to squashfs or such?
• Events
  • Check whether the AsynchronousExecutor is good enough
  • Alternatively switch to a real event queue like ActiveMQ or Minion

Implemented, or Discarded, Ideas

• DBD::MariaDB instead of DBD::MySQL RotherOSS/otobo#1860

  Rejected, because DBD::MariaDB has a different, more correct, take on encodings

• use Cpanel::JSON::XS. RotherOSS/otobo#399

  Rejected because OTOBO is not prepared to deal with the differences with JSON::XS

• use Feature::Compat::TryRotherOSS/otobo#1695

  Rejected, not until "try catch" is no longer experimental, use Try::Tiny in the mean time

• use Capture::Tiny RotherOSS/otobo#1042

  Done, required in OTOBO 11.0

• Use Github Issues for bugtracking

  Done, see https://github.com/RotherOSS/otobo/issues/.

• cpanfile generation from otobo.CheckModules.pl

  Done. Even use Carton to some extent.

• PSGI support

  Done, see otobo.psgi.

• Mojolicious

  A sample had been done in /otobo/dbviewer. Removed in OTOBO 10.0.9.

• Docker

  Done, see https://hub.docker.com/repository/docker/rotheross/otobo.

• The minimal version of Perl is now 5.24.0.

  Say hi to the optional postderef_qq feature and the automatically activated postderef feature.

• Minimal Apache Version defined as 2.4.

  Hopefully gone altogether soon.

• Support for Perl-Ex is removed

• Define, document and check the minimal supported Linux and FreeBSD distributions

• Define, document and check the minimal supported MySQL version

• Define, document and check the minimal supported PostgreSQL version

• Perl::Critic, part of the CodePolicy

• Perl::Tidy, part of the CodePolicy

• Test scripts can use Test2::V0 and Kernel::System::UnitTest side by side

• favicon not needed as shortcut icon is set in HTMLHead.tt

• Changed files in Kernel/Config/Files are reloaded in Kernel::Config:Defaults::new()

• In OTOBO 10.1 HTTP/2 is supported by the Nginx TLS terminating proxy

PSGI

PSGI is now officially supported. But of course things can always be improved.

PSGI support improvements

• Make better use of middlewares

• Saner support for webservices like SOAP, REST

• Plack::Test

• Streaming, chat server

PSGI stumbling blocks

Things that must be considered when porting OTOBO core or OTOBO modules to 10.1.x.

• %ENVno longer has the accustomed data. The Request-Object in Kernel::System::Web::Request must be used for that.
• Encoding issues might be lurking. But the gut feeling is that things are more simple with PSGI.
• Care must be taken that HTTP headers are not set in the content. Kernel::System::Web::Response must be used.
• There are dependencies on CPAN modules.
• Redirects must be done by calling K::O::H::Layout::Redirect()
• Fatal errors muse be thrown by calling K::O::H::Layout::FatalError()
• Printing to STDOUT is no longer a thing.

What about CGI scripts ?

The scripts in bin/cgi-bin are now wrapping otobo.psgi.

What about Mojolicious ?

Mojolicious itself is not based on PSGI. However there are adaptors that make a Mojo app behave like a PSGI app. Before migrating to Mojolicious there should be an analysis which benefits of Mojo warrant a migration. The PSGI interface is more simple and consistent than CGI. Therefore a migration to Mojo is more simple from a PSGI app than from a CGI app.I

It would be interesting to see how OTRS uses Mojolicious.

What about Kelp ?

Kelp is a thin wrapper around Plack. This makes it IMHO an interesting option for OTOBO.

Current status

Deep support for PSGI in the 10.1 branch

Helper, Tips and Tricks

Aliases

These are the bash aliases I use, or at least have set up:

alias otobo_apache_start="sudo systemctl start apache2.service"
alias otobo_apache_status="sudo systemctl status apache2.service"
alias otobo_apache_restart="sudo systemctl restart apache2.service"
alias otobo_apache_stop="sudo systemctl stop apache2.service"
alias otobo_mysql="mysql -u otobo otobo -p"
alias otobo_docker_login_web="docker exec -it otobo_web_1 bash"
alias otobo_docker_login_db="docker exec -it otobo_db_1 bash"
alias otobo_docker_login_daemon="docker exec -it otobo_daemon_1 bash"
alias otobo_docker_login_redis="docker exec -it otobo_redis_1 sh"
alias otobo_docker_login_nginx="docker exec -it otobo_nginx_1 bash"
alias otobo_docker_login_selenium="docker exec -it otobo_selenium-chrome_1 bash"
alias otobo_docker_login_elastic="docker exec -it otobo_elastic_1 bash"
alias otobo_docker_update_local-rel-10_0="docker run -it --rm --volume otobo_opt_otobo:/opt/otobo otobo:local-rel-10_0 update"
alias otobo_docker_update_local-rel-10_1="docker run -it --rm --volume otobo_opt_otobo:/opt/otobo otobo:local-rel-10_1 update"
alias otobo_docker_update_10_0="docker run -it --rm --volume otobo_opt_otobo:/opt/otobo rotheross/otobo:devel update"
alias otobo_docker_update_10_1="docker run -it --rm --volume otobo_opt_otobo:/opt/otobo rotheross/otobo:devel-10_1 update"
alias otobo_docker_quick_setup="docker exec -t otobo_web_1 bash -c \"date ; hostname ; rm -f Kernel/Config/Files/ZZZAAuto.pm ; bin/docker/quick_setup.pl --db-password otobo_root --http-port 81\""
alias otobo_docker_test_suite="docker stop otobo_daemon_1 ; docker exec -t otobo_web_1 bash -c \" date ; hostname ; bin/docker/run_test_suite.sh\" ; date ; docker start otobo_daemon_1"
alias otobo_docker_test_progress="docker exec -t otobo_web_1 bash -c \" date ; ls -l prove_*.out ; wc -l prove_*.out ; grep '^not ok ' prove_*.out | grep -v -c '# TODO'\""
alias otobo_docker_backup="docker run -it --rm --volume otobo_opt_otobo:/opt/otobo --volume otobo_backup:/otobo_backup --network otobo_default otobo:local scripts/backup.pl -d /otobo_backup"
alias otobo_docker_restore="docker run -it --rm --volume otobo_opt_otobo:/opt/otobo --volume otobo_backup:/otobo_backup --network otobo_default otobo:local scripts/restore.pl -d /otobo_backup"
alias otobo_prove="prove -I . -I Kernel/cpan-lib -I Custom --verbose -r"
alias otobo_perl="perl -I . -I Kernel/cpan-lib -I Custom"

Git prompt

if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
    #PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '
    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}bes:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\] \[\033[01;32m\]$(__git_ps1 "(%s)")\[\033[00m\]\$ '
else
    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ '
fi

Shell helpers

• https://github.com/rupa/z

Automatic Editing

find scripts/test/ -name '*.t' | xargs -L 1 perl -0777 -pi -e 's/\n\n\n\$Self->DoneTesting\(\);/\n\n\$Self->DoneTesting();/'

SEE ALSO

• http://otobo.org
• RotherOSS Github repositories
• https://github.com/RotherOSS/otobo/issues
• https://metacpan.org/pod/distribution/PSGI/PSGI/FAQ.pod