Someone recently updated a link in the MultimediaWiki page for mirrored documents. Naturally, that doesn’t automatically update the mirrored copy @ multimedia.cx (having me poll the page history and manually update the mirrored copy hardly counts as an automated process). I suddenly thought that it would be desirable to have a content management system that allows authorized users to upload and organize documents, particularly PDF documents which comprise many of these mirrored documents. Sort of a… document management system.
“Document Management System.” Sounds enterprise-y. Here’s what I want:
- Free, open source solution in which I do not have to modify a single line of code
- Allows me to create a list of users who have permissions to upload or delete PDF documents
- Allows authorized users to upload or delete PDF documents
- Manages at least a minimum of metadata
The key thing here is to allow authenticated users to upload and manage these mirrored documents. I know many will say, “Drupal/WordPress/MyFaveCMS can be coerced to do just that!” And I don’t dispute any such claims. It’s also true that nearly any program you need to write can be written in straight C, eschewing any higher level languages. I was just hoping for a more turnkey solution that doesn’t require me to learn a lot or do my own coding or customization.
I guess the problem here is that no one sets out to just write such a simple CMS. A CMS might start out simple but eventually grows into the next Drupal. I probably need to come to terms with that fact that there is no prepackaged solution that exactly fits this simple need without at least some tinkering.
FTP? Or to really have metadata (via properties), SVN? :-P
(I know, I know, I just couldn’t resist)
Nobody set out to build a simple automated regression test system either…
you should give a look at redmine.org
it allows you to configure private projects with multiple users, and have document upload/file areas/wikis. it also have a million more useful features such as svn/git repo browser, issue tracking etc but you can disable the stuff you dont want. all is configurable from the web browser
@Reimar: I actually do have FTP access with my hosting plan. It just seems — perhaps ironically — like such a low-tech solution, and also a bit difficult to manage.
@Peter: Per my survey, I think there are quite a few simpler continuous integration systems out there. FFmpeg demands much more from a such a system.
@Martin: Thanks. My hosting plan supports Ruby and Ruby on Rails and I might be able to install that and see if I can make it do what I need.
Heh. I updated that because I was looking for the QuickTime docs and the main Apple page got moved. What didn’t help was Apple’s redirect from the old link didn’t actually get you to the correct link.
@clone2727: I always appreciate the help on the wiki.
Aside: How is it that I didn’t know about your blog until this moment? Game and multimedia hacking? Kickass!
Maybe one of those PHP image gallery apps supports PDFs too?
@nine: Seems like a stretch. However, that gets to another issue that bugs me: I have yet to see a simple image CMS that I really like. I also have a large collection of images I’d like to organize online and I don’t like anything I have found so far.
@Multimedia Mike: Haha. Thanks :)
MediaWiki supports file uploads already, but I’ve never used it or the admin interface myself.