Re: [Evolution] Evolution's idea for GSoC

[Matthew Barnes <mbarnes redhat com>]

On Thu, 2011-04-07 at 11:52 -0400, d3nn wrote:
> My name is Dennis Vargas from Bolivia, I'm student of last year in the
> university.
> I'm interest to work in the GNOME's proyect for the GSoC, the idea I
> like is "Evolution server-side filters (Sieve) editing".
> I need more information about Evolution's code for to learn more about
> "Evolution server-side filters (Sieve) editing".

We chatted a little about this on IRC already, but just to elaborate, I
think a more realistic sized GSoC project would be to write a standalone
app as a concept demonstration for editing server-side Sieve filters
using pre-configured Evolution accounts.  Or at least demonstrate an
editing interface that can spit out Sieve code, even if it doesn't
actually talk to any servers.

Our filtering framework is designed for client-side filtering only and
is really starting to show its age.  And I suspect nothing short of a
major overhaul of that framework will be a necessary precondition for
adding server-side filter editing to Evolution (and making it feel
_designed_ in and not just bolted on).

While I think the entire Evolution team would agree this capability is
and has been desired for a long time, we're all pretty well swamped with
other priorities at present and no one has yet stepped up to redesign
the filtering framework.

So I think a standalone concept demonstration app could serve as a
useful starting point for future integration work.  And if the demo
works out well, you would certainly be welcome to stick around and help
take it to the next level.  Plenty of fame and glory waiting to be
reaped there.  :)

Matthew Barnes