phpBB • Free and Open Source Forum Software

During Google Summer of Code, I have been working on refactoring the authentication system (login and registration) to allow for login via OpenID providers and Facebook Connect [code]. The system’s old authentication plugins (db, ldap, apache) have all been ported to the new authentication provider system and can be enabled/disabled via the administration control panel. Currently, OpenID is implemented using the Zend Framework 2 OpenID package. The Zend Framework 2 OpenID code, currently does not allow login via Google (a popular OpenID provider), however, support for login via Google should be available by the end of Google Summer of Code. The user interface has been nominally changed from its previous look, however, additional changes to the interface will be made to make logging in via various popular providers more convenient for users.

The current (temporary) login box design.

The current (temporary) registration design.

As can be seen from the images, not much work has been done on styling the interface. It currently is focused on functionality for use in tests. The design of the interface will undoubtedly change before the end of Google Summer of Code.

For the remainder of the summer, I will be implementing login via Facebook Connect and potentially (time permitting) adding general support for OAuth2.0 providers. I will also be writing a wrapper class that will handle old authentication plugins so that they will continue to work while they are being transferred over to the new provider system.

I look forward to continue working with my mentor, Nils Adermann, on the remainder of the project. It has been a great experience so far contributing to phpBB, and although I’m am uncertain of how much time I will be able to commit after this summer, I look forward to continuing to work with phpBB and its community.

During Google Summer of Code, I have been working on Search Backend Refactoring. The project involves minimizing code duplications by improving class abstraction in search backends and integrating PostgreSQL fulltext search [Code] and Sphinx search [Code] into phpBB core. Up till now, the progress has been good with PostgreSQL fulltext search backend already integrated into phpBB 3.1 and Sphinx backend nearing completion too.

The project has been a great learning experience. Apart from learning the various features of Git, I have been able to understand the basics of PostgreSQL and MySQL Databases more clearly. I was introduced to Sphinx during the course of project and honestly I was quite impressed by its performance. All boards running on MySQL and PgSQL databases will soon be able to switch to Sphinx search backend for faster indexing and searching.

Next I intend to start code refactoring and fixing bugs in multiple search backends to provide better search functionality to both users and administrators (by exposing more options in ACP). I will also be writing automated tests side by side to ensure search functionality continues to work correctly.

All this has been possible only because of the timely help I have received from mentors and other team members. They have been patient and appropriately guided me at all times. The overall development experience in the phpBB community has been fantastic, I would love to remain involved and contribute even after GSoC.

During the Google Summer of Code I’ve been working on improving the current attachment system to have a bit more of a modern feel to it. I’m integrating Plupload which has a variety of features such as drag-and-drop, multiple file uploads and an upload queue.

The work has been pretty straightforward and I’ve been getting a lot of help from mentors and other team members so I’ve made considerable progress in a short time. The following screenshot shows Plupload integrated with phpBB and you can also look at the code itself in my pull request:

By the end of it, phpBB users (with modern browsers) should be able to enjoy a much smoother attachment experience without a bunch of page refreshes interrupting their posting or waiting ages for a file to upload only to find out it was too big.

It’s not my first time contributing to an open source project but, surprisingly, one of the most useful things I’ve learnt is actually how to use git properly. There are a huge number of really useful features that I’ve never had to use until I started contributing to a project of this size. It’s given me more than my fair share of headaches and some of my activity history on github is a bit embarrassing now but everyone’s been really patient and helpful and I like to think I’m starting to get the hang of things now.

I’m having a lot of fun and intend to keep contributing to the project long after the GSoC has finished.