ArsDigita Community System
Encyclopedia
The ArsDigita Community System (ACS) was an advanced Open Source
toolkit for developing community web application
s developed primarily by developers associated with ArsDigita Corporation. The two most current software toolkits based on this codebase are the OpenACS
toolkit and the Red Hat CCM.
The ACS provides:
The ACS was originally written in Tcl (much of it was ported to Java before being renamed Red Hat CCM) to run on an AOLserver
web server and an Oracle database
. A completely open version of the ACS, OpenACS was a sister project that used a PostgreSQL
database and developed side-by-side (with a slightly delayed release schedule) with the ACS.
code base being maintained and refactored by one group of developers, while the product line was being re-written in Java EE. By 2002, when Red Hat acquired ArsDigita, the Tcl code base became supported by the OpenACS community.
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
toolkit for developing community web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s developed primarily by developers associated with ArsDigita Corporation. The two most current software toolkits based on this codebase are the OpenACS
OpenACS
The Open Architecture Community System is an open-source web application framework licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL.The Open Architecture Community System provides:...
toolkit and the Red Hat CCM.
The ACS provides:
- A core set of APIs, datamodels, and database routines for coordinating information common to all community web applications
- A suite of modules building on these core models and APIs for quickly deploying collaborative web sites. Some of the more popular modules were Workflow management, CMSContent management systemA content management system is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based...
, Messaging, Bug/Issue Tracking, Project Tracking, e-commerce, and Bboards.
The ACS was originally written in Tcl (much of it was ported to Java before being renamed Red Hat CCM) to run on an AOLserver
AOLserver
AOLserver is America Online's open source web server. AOLserver ismultithreaded, Tcl-enabled, and used for large scale, dynamic web sites.AOLserver is distributed under the Mozilla Public License....
web server and an Oracle database
Oracle database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
. A completely open version of the ACS, OpenACS was a sister project that used a PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL, often simply Postgres, is an object-relational database management system available for many platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, MS Windows and Mac OS X. It is released under the PostgreSQL License, which is an MIT-style license, and is thus free and open source software...
database and developed side-by-side (with a slightly delayed release schedule) with the ACS.
The Tcl/Java fork
In 2001, the ACS code tree forked, with the TclTcl
Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...
code base being maintained and refactored by one group of developers, while the product line was being re-written in Java EE. By 2002, when Red Hat acquired ArsDigita, the Tcl code base became supported by the OpenACS community.