[Freerealty] Loaded question

[Patrick Fleming]

(Sent to the list and BCC: the original sender)

Sam Streger wrote:
> I'm very new to this program. Would like any comments on comparisons
> regarding what you have here and to "off-shoot" version 3.
> 
> Thank you. Sam....

Sam,
First thank you for your interest in FreeRealty. I assume that what you 
refer to as the off-shoot version is in fact Open Realty developed by 
Ryan over at http://open-realty.org. With that in mind, Open Realty and 
Free Realty share the same lineage, namely Jon Roig's code from 
http://www.jonroig.com. Open Realty has undergone a dramatic rewrite 
from the original OR code written by Jon, while FR is a continuation of 
the 2.6 codebase. We have approached a number of things very 
differently, I believe, when it comes to continuing this code line. Ryan 
has used the PEAR database abstraction libraries, we have stayed with 
one supported database. There is much to be said of each database 
method. Ryan's version makes use of images in folders (but they also 
preach- or have in the past- making the folders world readable and 
writeable.... huge no-no in my book for security reasons). These two 
programs/code bases are not cross-compatible, the database schema is not 
the same. I have tried - and I hope that I have succeded - to maintain 
an upgrade path from earlier versions such as 2.6.

I have heard there are differences in our support, but I can't comment 
on that as I'm the main developer :) anything I might say would be slanted.

I originally took on the task of maintaining the scripts when it 
appeared that Jon was going to let it pass into obscurity. At that point 
it was out of fear that I would have to move to something else for a 
site that I used to maintain. Now, it is more for the enjoyment I get 
from upgrading, tweaking, breaking and fixing the code, I do not get 
paid for code maintainence or development.

I would hope that you receive responses from others on the mailing list 
(although it is somewhat lightweight) regarding my personal involvement 
with people who have chosen to use FreeRealty to give you a good picture 
of the state of this software. Likewise, I will assume that you have 
also sent email off to Ryan of Open Realty fame and hope that you are 
equally enlightened as to his involvement. I would expect that you have 
taken a look at both of our support forums to see what kinds of issues 
each package suffers from.

If you choose to use/experiment with FR, I look forward to helping with 
installation and feedback,

Patrick