some new doc files

[freeside.git] / TODO

$Id: TODO,v 1.24 1999-02-10 08:27:55 ivan Exp $

If you are interested in helping with any of these, please join the mailing
list (send a blank message to ivan-freeside-subscribe@sisd.com) to avoid 
duplication of effort.

-- before 1.2b1 --

one-screen new customer entry

clean up view/cust_pkg and view/svc_* yuck (popurl and visual)!

Lay out the forms a bit better.

libwww regression test - since it will create sample data, can also use this
for the web demo
make fs-setup option to add sample data so you can click on "New Customer" right away?  so people understand what this stuff is?

(Test this)
one-time/per-customer/? changes in rates and descriptions ('remembered
invoices'): implement by creating a new package on the fly... but it isn't 
associated with any agent types so it won't show up for other customers to buy.
(but also... make sure they go away when the customer does! - need this? :
 one-off package edits! : need a cust_pkgs or cust_part_pkgs or something table,
 with custnum and partpkg (like type_pkgs)
(what happens if you hit "custom pricing" but the pricing is already custom?)

update site_perl/table_template* (pry out of date)

update web demo

-- release 1.2b1 ---

edit/cust_main.cgi gives an uninformative error message:
> Can't call method "agentnum" without a package or object reference at   
> /usr/local/apache-ssl/htdocs/freeside/edit/cust_main.cgi line 116.
if there are no agents.

(is this missing on any web screens?  (easy with $cust_svc->label)
Add the ability for services to filter information up to the package level
for web screens, so you can select a particlar package based
on username or domain name, etc.

Allow a cancelled/suspended/active status from packages to bubble up to
the customer lists.  Put active, then suspended, then cancelled accounts.
Similar ordering on the package listing inside a single customer.

false laziness: some of search/svc_acct_sm.cgi was copied to search/svc_domain.cgi.  but web interface in general needs to be rewritten in a mucho cleaner way.

Portability: in FS::Record, $sth->execute does not return a number of rows for all DBD's.  see man DBI

subroutine the where clause (eventually all SQL) as OO perhaps (has anyone done this?)

add a select method to 

You can't delete the stuff under administration yet.  Add this,
_including_ making sure the thing you are deleting is not in use!

add links on view/cust_main.cgi to setup services, like view/cust_pkg.cgi

FS::cust_pkg _require_'s FS::$svc, but this won't work with %FS::UID::callback
loading of configuration.  (pry need same idea, but will run immediately if
context allows).  Looks like error is masked by 'use FS::cust_svc' which in
turn 'use's FS::{svc_acct, svc_acct_sm, svc_domain}' which is now explicit
w/comments in source

Allow a cancelled/suspended/active status from packages to bubble up to
the customer lists.  Put active, then suspended, then cancelled accounts.
Similar ordering on the package listing inside a single customer.

svc_domain.pm mail sending uses Date::Format which doesn't seem to pick up 
correct timezone.

view/svc_domain.cgi needs to know the domain might be unaudited (cosmetic)

remove whois_hack set to 1 for svc_domain.pm?  add all known registries and
whois accordingly.
.us domains and others!
site_perl/svc_domain.cgi (hmm... or maybe should have a button?  or maybe svc_domain.pm should handle this) should set $whois_hack for non-internic domains, so you can add them...

turn on the depriciation warnings for [e]idiot in FS::CGI. Stop using [e]idiot
the last places it is (htdocs/search/ htdocs/misc/ htdocs/misc/process)

(test cust_main.pm with cybercash v2 and v3, especially with the callback
 stuff AND with mod_perl w/cybercash v2 kludge in package main)
(callback stuff should be eliminated by now)

bah, table/itable/*table in FS::CGI is silly.

doc Apache::AuthDBI as well
..
Provide sample httpd.conf files.

hey look: Tie::DBI!  Check that out.  Override its commit with something that
does perl-side caching for ? a performance improvement and as an emulation
layer to plug in f.ex mysql's atomic transactions
..
Record.pm uses does some non-portable DBI things.  MySQL and Pg seem fine.
Fix it anyway unless we migrate to Tie::DBI.

faq

cust_bill.pm uses '==' comparison on dates because they're currently ints

config file for allowed card types

write instructions for adding new services w/svc_Common.pm.  Get rid of all
places where svc_* tables are hardcoded (rename svc_acct_pop to part_pop so
we can do that)

test and document libapache-dbi-logger (woo!)

radius logfile parsing and perl expression check.

Fix in cust_bill BUGS: 
There is an off-by-one error in print_text which causes a visual error (Page 1
of 2 printed on some single-page invoices).

fields should be a method against a FS::Record or derived object, as well as
being something you can call as FS::Record::fields('tablename').  Might
even be able to handle both in the same routine (that would be neato).

Immediate removal of incorrectly entered check payments (can't take too
long to do this, or accounting is fubared).

Add code to move from one service to another (POP to SLIP/PPP, etc.).
This _should_ be possible by working off the rules in part_svc rather than
hardcoding anything in.  The rules in part_svc may need some elaboration,
perhaps.

Use ut_ FS::Record methods in all derived classes (possibly some from dbdef?... eventually all from dbdef??? - but then `dbdef-create' would be impossible as there would be metadata we couldn't ask the backend for.  hmm.)

(bring back from fsold, ) Generalize config-sending stuff and make more configurable.
Expand the HylaFAX interface (also possibly generalize for other fax
softwar ie .comfaxe); allow things like arbitrary faxes of sales
literature, specific troubleshooting documents and so on.  Maybe even
allow users to do this (though that might not belong in Freeside).
misc/sendconfig.cgi
misc/process/sendconfig.cgi
Configure fax recipients via a separate box rather than using the finger
name or first+last from cust_main.

move all phone number logic out of Freeside - let HylaFAX or whatever
handle it.

soundex searches for customer name and company?  where are free soundex tools? (standard Text::Soundex duh) - I could have sworn I saw Text::Soundex on CPAN?!

should be able to link on some field in email alias (right now you can link
on username or domain with a fallback to svcnum)

generalize and make configurable new invoice printing scheme in FS::cust_main::collect (past due)

deleting an svc_domain should delete all associated svc_acct_sm records.
same with a svc_acct.

periodic password encrypter

Automated, configurable notification, suspension and cancellation of
defunct accounts.
...
expire cron job
...
Allow for a future setup date on accounts.

sub AUTOLOAD in FS::Record should warn? die? if used with a non-existant column
name?

edit (not just import, export and allow default/fixed) arbitrary radius stuff
in svc_acct
edit/svc_acct.cgi and edit/process/svc_acct.cgi should deal with arbitrary radius stuff

radius import should take DEFAULT entry and put it in /var/spool/freeside/conf/radius-default ; svc_acct.export should use it (and doc)

in UI, s/State/State\/Provence/go and s/County/County\/Locality/go

what else (besides l10n) for i18n? (money!)

audit htdocs/* for things that should be libraried and things that should be
new methods on the objects (need to do this before implementing a new UI)
all the big things are done

some places we die() where we should &FS::CGI::idiot (and perhaps vice-versa).
Decide based on whether or not the "error" should show up in logs.

all .cgi's should use standard header/footer and idiot() subroutines.  maybe HTML:: perl modules
for HTML creation.  Maybe Embperl or something along those lines.  ?

When running bin/bill, Fix this (Annoying but harmless):
Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/lib/site_perl/FS/cust_pkg.pm line 99, <ADDRESS> chunk 4.
Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/lib/site_perl/FS/cust_pkg.pm line 102, <ADDRESS> chunk 4.
Use of uninitialized value at /usr/local/lib/site_perl/FS/cust_pkg.pm line 105, <ADDRESS> chunk 4.

all cgi (but internal to the isp) places where package names are listed should also have
comment (like agent_type)

clean up $recref and other silliness and use -> calls where possible, or
one other alternative.  clean up everything else.
should FS::Record use Tie::Hash?  That would be very clean, but where do we
store the other information?  Maybe you could ask any FS::Record object for a
tied hash?

change all file access from regular open(FILE,) stuff to OO, because of 
problems scoping and passing filehandles like that.

the web interface should create a new object and use it instead of a blank
form for new records.  the create method of svc_ objects should set defaults
(from part_svc).

sub check in man FS::table_name should be rewriteen.  Get rid of $recref
stuff.  Make sure all fields that refer to other database are checked.

Integration with signup disks (are there any free ones?  Netscape?).

One-button cancel (+refund) for lusers who can't get online.

Keep information on virtual web servers (hostname, IP, host machine,
directory, etc.) and export this information for importation into the ISPs
web farm. 

Remove requirement that the first mail alias be the catchall?  Still make
sure only one catchall per domain is defined in any case, of course. 

Ability to move cust_pkg records from one customer to another? (proably
will need to cancel the old and create a new like when we move services
between packages). 

Auto-increment expired cards one year, and try again?

More non-US stuff - zip codes, country codes, foreign currencies, etc.

cust_refund.{cgi.pm} need to do cards xaxtions.  (now we only have cust_credit)

Nicer set of integrated reporting possibilities, like weekly sales totals
by customer, package, agent, referral, etc., aging reports sorted by lots
of different things, and so on.

Client/server setup for users to modify their own passwords, shells, etc,
via passwd or secure web interface (prelminary passwd/chfn/chsh
replacement done).  Complicated by the fact that we don't want to allow
incoming connections to the machine running Freeside, so we probably need
to have a daemon on each external shell or web machine that is contacted
by the Freeside machine.  Be very very careful for both traditional
security issues and DoS problems. 

An extension of the above to allow users to modify selected parts of their
own information, order and cancel services.  A web interface for new
customers.

Expand domain name stuff to house all domain information.  Export
named.boot/named.conf (primary and secondary) and named.{domain} files.
Add more registries (not just InterNIC's com org net edu)

Nice postscript paper invoices, rather than current ASCII invoices.

think about race-condititions in FS::Record and derived ->check ->insert
and so on, uid and username checks in svc_acct, etc.

Move to rsync over ssh file exportation rather than scp.

check 'n fix the proactive password checker. (cracklib?)

refunds of "BILL" payments: generate pseudo-check.

write batch senders and batch parsers for the different credit card processors
people use/
More CC processors/methods.

you should be able to fiddle the setup date in cust_pkg. (at least initially)

delete options in administration section

write a generic batch senders and batch parsers.

need a way to override svc_acct export on a per-machine basis; just use config files based on machine name i suppose; document that. (no, import desync_hosts
type stuff from cerkit)
...
add a table with column of export services (passwd, shadow, master.passwd, .qmail file update, dns update, etc.) and rows machine groups and whether or not to export that (and any necessary parameters).  wasn't matt (vunderkid, not matt@michweb) working on this?  find him?  each machine goes in a group of its own as well as a group based on function.  add a table with only svcpart and machine group.  now, when you import from each machine, it can get its own accounts with one svcpart and universal accounts with another svcpart.  (though that does make the username duplicate checking more interesting)

you should be able to get column types as a method against an FS::Record object
as well as dbdef->table($table)->column($column)->type

move to perl module for fuzzy and soundex searching.

package view needs to list extraneous services; we need to prevent the
creation of them so this never happens (and mark it as such in the source)
(the creation problem should be fixed - though they will still happen if people
fsck around in the data manually, so list them anyway)

add attribute dictionary to fs-setup as a menu, plus analyze users file to
decide automatically

Check for and report on duplicate billing accounts (cust_main, though many
will have a need for these so probably don't disable them outright.)

create a ->warn as well as a ->check method for all FS::table classes?
(see above)

something to automate making a release and updating the web demo

export a debian-style (also redhat and?) /etc/group file aswell!

svc_acct_sm.import qmail import should pull in recipientmap people too.

.pm's like svc_acct.pm which need to do time-consuming things like ssh remotely
should fork and do them in a child.

i18n/l10n: take ALL messages and catalog them in english.txt or in database or something, so we can eventually go int'l.  int'l currency support would be a help aswell.

get some of { city, county, state, zip } from the missing bits if
possible (where can i get the data to do this?  usps.gov?)

additional interfaces (perltk?  java?)

Put the GPL notice in all files.

integrate w/IDEA's signup server

$cust_bill->owed database field to be eliminated, replaced by a method call
that calculates on the fly.  make sure to grep for ->(get|set)field('owed') 
same for cust_credit->credited

Export quota information.

move all configuration to a central place.  maybe in blob's in the
database.  maybe even things like the code to execute when a username is
changed can be in there, so less of the distributed scripts change between
different sites.

Implement setup and recurring fees as Safe perl expressions rather than
numbers, to allow for variable-rate services.  Backwards compatibility is
obtained because { 43 } in perl is still 43.  :)  Define API to pass
starting and ending dates and any other necessary data to expression
(fees are currently evaluated as Safe expressions but more work needs to
be done to define an opmask for various needs, write examples
(usage-based billing, etc.) and so on).
...
Add the ability to modify the next billing date in cust_pkg, and take
appropriate action.  This will allow the implementation of pro-rate/1st of
the month billing as well as the ability to manually fiddle with
anniversary dates in cust_pkg, so you can sync a customer's anniversary
date even if you're using anniversary billing (manually or automatically).
(now with above, we need to have a way to automatically pro-rate /^(\d+)$/
charges - anything more complicated should figure it out itself given
starting and ending dates [document that!])
...
Daily Radius log parsing into database; other logfile formats?
...
Callbacks to enforce hourly limits on accounts (suspend until the end of
the billing period?), for those who limit customers rather than tack on
extra charges.

Flag packages (part_pkg) as taxable or non/taxable as some ISPs (for
example) need to charge tax on equipment but not service (separate flags
for setup and recurring fee... or perhaps a setup_tax, setup_notax,
recur_tax and recur_notax fees, and possibly something more flexible if
there is need).

Allow for a variable number of invoices for customers who need multiple
copies.

Add a mail alias service with table svc_acct (not domain mail aliasing
which is domain with svc_acct_sm)

(bring back from fsold) Change customer comment field from its current kludge to something more
workable.

Better work orders with more information.  Should eventually open a ticket
when we have such a thing.
edit/svc_wo.cgi
edit/process/svc_wo.cgi
Call tracking and trouble tickets.

More accoutability for complimentary accounts: approval, expiration, term
(no more than x months in advance) and notification.
Flag particular users (or all users, for that matter) as having their
passwords hidden and/or locked from users of Freeside (maybe need Freeside
security levels first?). 
...
Better Freeside-level configurable access, for those ISP's who have
employees they can't trust.  Right now you're "stuck" with setting up
.htaccess stuff yourself.  This should really just be integrated. 

configuration/setup should get web interface
...
/usr/local/etc/freeside should be configurable
...
(probably as part of some automated installation process?)

password and slipip stuff in svc_acct.pm store need to be split into two fields or something, so the silliness in svc_acct.pm and svc_acct.export with looking at the data to decide what to do with it can be fixed (1.2)

This requires some serious magic in FS::Record:
ok, if date_type in fs-setup is to be something besides int,
now we need to create wrappers
for them so they behave identically across RDBMS's, ie date pops out as as
UNIX timestamp (or an object of some sort? maybe even a blessed $obj which
is a string not a hashref for backwards compatibility?) and so on. (remember
to treat '0' as Not a Date instead of 1/1/70.

Add Freeside-level transactions for RDBMS's which don't support
transcations?  (Currently we assume a minimal RDBMS which has no rollback,
transactions or atomic updates).  Or just require a RDBMS that supports
rollback and/or atomic updates and get rid of the work-arounds?  The /rdb
interface had this kludge on top of it but is a technical dead-end in most
other ways, unless it can gain an SQL parser and DBD interface.
...
if i'm really bored, find the /rdb interface in fsold and port it to NoSQL,
and while I'm add it add interfaces for AnyDBM_File tied hash.. hmm.  Shouldn't
an FS::Record have something to do with a tied hash?  But we don't want
performance to go gaga... maybe something with commit to help out here?
...
Ok: FS::Record gives you a tied hash, and you get methods for commit, etc.

Better automated comparison of our CC records with processors (CyberCash,
at least, has not always had 100% accuracy, though recent versions are
much better) 

Expect or other pty based login check, where we actually connect to a
terminal server or shell machine and test logging in as the user (if we
are keeping a cleartext password for that user)  (This is something tech
support often needs for new customers)

Use cust_main table for pre-sales tracking as well?

Automatic commision report and check generation via freq and prog (to
become a Safe perl expression) fields in agent table, and possibly others.

Database and add a mailed-out date and method for disk/CD mailing, so a
customer can call and you can say, "sent on xx/xx/xx via {US Mail, Fedex,
UPS, etc}" 

Inventory tracking for physical items such as routers (for sale or
lease... probably doesn't make a difference in the ordering... but if you
cancel a router lease the inventory should come back.  hmm.)

-- Matt's wishlist ---

From matt@michweb.net Fri Feb 20 16:39:53 1998
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 23:20:11 -0500
From: Matt Simerson <matt@michweb.net>
Reply-To: quadran-developer@netgoth.com
To: quadran-developer@netgoth.com
Subject: Re: Welcome to quadran-developer

>Whats it based on and what is it supposed to do?  I'm interested, but
>unfortunatly, I don't have that much time to help on the project (I'm busily
>working on one of my own based around MySQL and Qt right now -- don't know
>if it will be GPL'ed or not yet -- we'll probably just use it in house since
>it is designed around our system)...

That's what I set out to find, but didn't find anything on the web site.
I'm looking for something that will do the following:

Single point of entry for users on a secure system:
        Creates account on user (public) systems
                update /etc/passwd/master.passwd file
                update radius database (if necessary)
        Set up up disk quotas (although I hacked adduser to do this)
        Option for adding user to a mailing list(s)
        Export of new user info to customizable report (for automated entry
into
                accounting software, etc...)

Automated billing:
        Export credit card info for batch processing and have hooks built
                in for other forms of electronic processing.
        Batch-Payment (apply payments from formatted text file).
        Customizable reports for manual entry/importing into Accounting
software
        Email or laser print invoices
        Sanity checks credit card numbers before processing (code available)

Simple method for disabling an account.
        Arbitrary Expiration Dates (on a given day, in x days)
        Remove from radius.
        Changing password to '*'
        Virtual customers disabling dns, http server, log processing, etc..

Billing for different account types:
        Dialup monthly flat rate. Prorates for partial months.
        Dialup monthly flat rate for x hours + hourly usage.
        Dialup email only
        Email only accounts
        Virtual Web accounts - w/multiple mailboxes
        Leased line accounts
        Disk space used over quota.
        Tech support minimum + hourly charges
        Other for misc stuff (modem, RAM, etc...)

Per user definable RADIUS attributes (ties in with above)
        Fixed IP
        Simultaneous Use
        IP filters (for dialup email only)

Keep logs of modem usage generated daily from radius accounting logs stored
on multiple radius servers.

Keep logs of disk usage generated from quota.

Method of adding virtual domains to your system:
        Automatically grabs an IP address from a preassigned pool.
        Creates a domain.com database file from database fields
        Updates /etc/named.conf or /etc/named.boot and reloads named.
        Add's virtual.com to /etc/sendmail.cw or qmail control files.
        Edits your web servers httpd.conf file and restarts http server.
        An optional section for adding vif's can be added if the users OS
                supports adding them on the fly. Otherwise it's up to the end
                user. Make a hook that can run a custom script that the user
                tweaks for his system.
        Update or create the config file your web stats analyzer needs. I've
                done this for analog (free) and http-analyze. Probably
                should only officially support analog and let users hack
                it to their hearts desire.
I've already written scripts that do most of the virtual web stuff on my
system...in bash. Shouldn't be hard for a perlmeister to convert. In fact,
as long as all the info was stored in the database (username, domain name,
and ip pool) this could easily just be run as an external script that the
user tweaks to match his system.

We use a great accounting software (M.Y.O.B) that does all the AP, AR,
Payroll, Tax stuff, and most everything else we could need. It's already
set up for the type of checks we have, etc, etc... I just need something to
do the billing part. I can import/export sales and payments directly once
the billing part is done. You can't write accounting software as good as
M.Y.O.B. for $120.