Terminology for web app running on hardware - terminology

I am trying to investigate how to develop an UI application that will run directly on hardware. This will be very much like when you access the web based application within your router.
I don't really know how what keywords and terminology to use so that i can search tutorials on the net.
Can anybody give me the correct terms? If you have tutorial suggestions, they are welcome as well.

Embedded may be the term you are looking for.

Appliance is another term along with Yagoo's embedded. Typically hardware appliances run full stacks including LAMP.

Many appliances are based off of stripped down Linux or FreeBSD kernels running Apache or a lightweight httpd.
There are actually specific Linux distributions that are tuned for this. Google "linux appliance distribution" and "small linux distribution"
Be advised, if it is commercial, Linux and the GNU stack may present an issue you must deal with, depending on how it is modified. FreeBSD does not have this license limitation.

Related

Most Efficient ERPNext Installation Method

I'm taking on the challenge of trying to test and develop with ERPNext. I'm new to ERPNext, Docker, Compose, Git, etc. I'm going to need to learn these from scratch.
What is the general most efficient way to install ERPNext (for testing purposes for now) on either a Mac or Windows computer?
Below are my criteria:
I need to be able to create backups and transfer them and implement
them to a different computer if necessary.
I'm also attempting to do this in as budget-friendly way as
possible. I'm probably not going to be spending money on hosting or
anything of the sort (completely free is the goal).
ERPNext needs to be easily upgradeable/downgradeable to different versions
The implementation of ERPNext will eventually need custom code/integrations
I've read that there are different methods of using ERPNext, depending on the OS, including VirtualBox, and Windows Subsystem for Linux. I'm looking for the fastest, least resource-hungry, and most versatile solution
I will check out the official ERPNext documentation, but I would also like to know other people's personal experiences and methods.
This is a big task to take on, so I'm looking for some advice before delving into this.
You can use frappe_docker setup to quickly get the environment up and running.
https://github.com/frappe/frappe_docker
If you want least resource hungry option, you can setup a site using bench.
https://github.com/frappe/bench

Which server option is widely used with JRuby on Rails?

I am experimenting JRuby on Rails and need some guidance/tips in choosing the server. I have used nginx (and passenger) for my RoR in the past. JRuby wiki page Servers provide a lot of options and I have no experience in any of them.
What I am looking for is a simple to install, easy to scale server or the one widely used (so that I can find solutions if I am stuck)
I do realize this might be a broad question and the answer would be "it depends..." but would appreciate some pointers.
I might be biased being on the Trinidad team, but I still think it's top ... esp. as it handles high concurrency well while still being much lighter than TorqueBox (which I would also recommend if you do want something beyond just a web server e.g. built-in jobs but be aware that some of it is TB/JRuby specific). Most other options mentioned are Java web servers, which you can rule out if you do not want to install a Java server, warbling your application and deploying it as a .war file.
p.s. for the (next) version 1.5.0 re-deploys are to be revisited and one should be able to do some (memory leak-free) zero-down time deployments.

Do I need MySQL commercial License for my mobile App selled to users?

I am creating a multi platform application and want to use MySQL as the database behind. I read about GPL License. The license wants me to publish my source code, if I use the free version of MySQL. I dont want to publish my source code.
So is it allowed to use MySQL as the database and build for example an mobile App with Android, that uses the data from there, without publishing my Android source code?
Thank you
You don't need to bundle MySQL with your Android; You probably host your MySQL along with your web server, isn't it?
So, the answer is No, you don't need commercial license for your App.
At first please have a look at the MySQL licensing page what model really applies to your software.
I think as long as you only want to connect to a MySQL database you somehow can do what you want (but don't bundle the client libraries). The rule of thumb is don't include/bundle anything from Oracle/MySQL and you are on the good side.
It is ok if the user downloads and installs the MySQL-package, but it is not you who delivers it with your software (which would be bundling again).
I think it is also ok to write a script which automatically downloads and installs it from the Oracle pages (note - there are better ways: e.g. dpkg), but I'm not a licensing expert.
The GPL FAQ might help you to get a sense for using and publishing GPLed software.
An overview/comparison of free and open-source software licenses can be found at Wikipedia.
Hope that helped a bit.
*Jost

Is Java free to use/ deploy and build large web applications?

Simple question, I want to know is Java free (especially for web development). Later on if I've build a large website, will the servers, databases cost me much like in .net for example?
Cheers.
Java is free. Check licences of frameworks you're using, but you shouldn't worry about that since most of them are free.
Servers (physical) will, of course, cost you.
There are free application servers like Glassfish and JBoss.
There are free databases like mySQL and PostgreSQL.
So, you can get away with everything being free except hardware and, possibly, hosting of your web app.
Yes and no - depending on how big your site gets, you may be required to invest more money into better servers/databases.
It's not really something that can just be answered, without looking into the future.
Update, as of 2021
Be sure to read the document prepared by pillars of the Java community, Java is Still Free. This document provides a short overview as well as a longer section with all the gory details.
Understand that Java is a set of specifications, not a product.
Java Language and Virtual Machine Specifications
JEPs and JSRs
Many vendors provide binaries or installers for an implementation of Java. Nowadays, all of those implementations are based largely or entirely on the OpenJDK project. Participants including Oracle, IBM, SAP, Apple, Azul Systems, and more have banded together to pool their best technologies for implementing Java as open-source free-of-cost.
The OpenJDK project provides only source-code. Various vendors build that source code to provide binaries or installers for you and me to conveniently put Java on our computers. Some of their distributions of Java are available free-of-cost, and some are commercial with paid support. Some are general-purpose JVMs, and some are special-purpose. Some are a basic JDK and some have bundled extras.
Here is a diagram I made to help you in choosing a vendor for a Java implementation.
And some considerations to think about when choosing a vendor.

Is there an API or tool that can automate software updating?

Is there any API or tool that can automate software updating? It should take care of checking for updates from a URL for a provided list of files and downloading and replacing the ones that need updating. It would also be nice if it contained an authentication module so that only authorized parties could access the updates. It should be language-agnostic - takes a list of files without extra knowledge except their versions and replaces them with newly downloaded copies if on the site there are newer versions.
I'm specifically interested in something for the Windows platform, that would run on Win Xp to Win 7.
This makes me think about apt-get ...
take a look here, as well: Is there an auto-update framework for C++/Win32/MFC (like Sparkle)?
I did see some articles a while back about embedding subversion into your application to manage version control.
Edit:
http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.5/svn.developer.html
Subversion has a modular design: it's implemented as a collection of libraries written in C. Each library has a well-defined purpose and application programming interface (API), and that interface is available not only for Subversion itself to use, but for any software that wishes to embed or otherwise programmatically control Subversion. Additionally, Subversion's API is available not only to other C programs, but also to programs written in higher-level languages such as Python, Perl, Java, and Ruby."
Just saw UpdateNode launching a pretty cool update and messaging system. It seems to be cross platform and free for Open Source.
UPDATE, did some further analysis on that, posted at: https://stackoverflow.com/a/22528011/3257300
For windows, I'd use Google Update, also known as omaha.
Since you didn't tag this question as windows, I'd also mention a UpdateEngine for Mac.
And (best of all) apt, which is available for free on all Debian-based Linux and BSD distributions, like Ubuntu
There is open source project WIPT inspired by APT of Debian Linux.
Head over to Launchpad and use a PPA: it is a Debian/Ubuntu repository management platform. Of course this is not really platform independent but it is language wise :-)
You should take a look at ClickThrough, I don't know much about it but it sounds similar to what you're looking for. As for authorization, I would imagine this to be handled by your webserver based on the URL.
InstallShield has an offering. Never used it but researched it a few years back but we decided on a roll your own solution.
InstallShield Update Manager
InstallShield Update Service
You didn't state what platform you needed this for. The easiest way I can think of doing this is with subversion using rsync.
The concept is to write a post-commit hook for subversion. This script would update a "working folder" on the repository machine and then use rsync to update the differences to another machine.
Data protection and authentication would be set up using rsync over ssh.
If this is for windows, you could try doing the same with cygwin installs on the two machines.
Good luck.
If you use .NET, I'm a happy customer of AppLife Update
CRONw is a scheduled execution service for Windows. (Sorry, I can't link it, I'm apparently limited to 1 as a new user. It's hosted on Sourceforge.)
Powershell is a Windows scripting language (Microsoft-official) that allows you to do most system administration operations you could conceivably want to do. It is very easy to pick up even if you haven't worked with it before.
I would say your best bet is to write a simple update script in Powershell and, optionally, set it up as a crontask so you don't have to manually execute it.
IIRC, Powershell is an optional install on XP, and CRONw requires you be running a 32-bit system. You didn't say, so I'd guess you're doing 32-bit, but the alternative bears mentioning.
And in all this, I'm assuming that the URLs you're describing are designed for this purpose - if they're not and you don't own them, it will rapidly become more suffering than you're willing to bear. (Making a computer navigate a human-readable website usually does.)