[freeside] new installation

[Randall Lucas]

Brian Taber wrote:

> This is a list for help, not criticism (usually).  Perl is a command line

I second Brian's point.  mod_perl is not a trivial concept to 
understand, even for Perl hackers.  It is both an apache module that 
needs to get compiled into the Apache server (and/or loaded as a dynamic 
shared object) AND a set of Perl modules (Apache::*), and a set of 
conventions about how to use those two things.  Adding to things, it is 
its own perl (meaning, you might have mod_perl with perl of one version 
with one @INC, while your system perl is a different version with a 
different @INC -- knowing this may help maintain your sanity at some point).

Also, regarding Apache, it has two major versions -- 1.x (1.3.x) and 
2.x.  The two are fundamentally different, and therefore, mod_perl for 
apache 1.x is called "mod_perl 1" and mod_perl for apache 2.x is 
"mod_perl 2 [or 1.99, because it's not really ready for a major version 
number]."  (For that matter, neither is Apache 2.0, which still has 
egregious bugs like hanging if you write more than 4kb to stderr.)

My recommendation is to either find a distribution that will give you an 
Apache 1.3 with mod_perl built, OR, find "Apachetoolbox" and use it to 
download, configure, and compile Apache 1.3 with mod_perl.

As for this list, one major problem is that Freeside is nontrivial to 
understand and install.  The people on this list who have done so 
successfully have either spent serious time building up substantial 
knowledge about the underlying technologies and about Freeside itself, 
or they are paid consultants.  The attitude on the list is that folks 
who ask low-level questions are refusing to pay up, in the form either 
of time spent learning the underlying tech, or of cold hard cash.

This is a legitimate view.  Although I think that the prevailing 
attitude makes the list far more hostile (and therefore less used and 
less useful) than it could be, folks should understand that running a 
billing system for an ISP isn't a trivial undertaking, and it's 
definitely worth the $3k to a consultant or your time, whichever form 
you prefer to pay.

That said, perhaps we could agree to lay off the TOTALLY CHILDISH 
REPLIES in favor of actual adult information or mere silence (or at 
least set up a freeside-gloat list, where you can send all your "this 
guy is so ignorant, ha ha, I'm so smart" messages).

Regards,

Randall

-- 
Randall Lucas
Tercent, Inc / SuperSurvey Online Surveys
http://www.supersurvey.com