[svlug] svlug election stuff - 1hr perl jobbie

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Alvin Oga (alvin at mail.Linux-Consulting.com):

> k .. we'll give it a week for "perl coder" to step up to do the
> voting script .... and after than you'll(aka somebody) be doing it :-)

Honestly, you already have the script.  It's just configuration.

As an example, here's /home/httpd/lib/stv/archive/restaurant.votedef ,
the control file from a poll, at one point, to determine where we'd have
our post-meeting restaurant gathering:

# definitions for test vote file
# global attributes
name=Where Do We Eat After the SVLUG Meeting?

# voting choices
# lines contain: key description
DENNYS-M        Denny's, Calaveras Blvd (near 880), Milpitas
DENNYS-SC       Denny's, Bowers Ave (near 101), Santa Clara
PEPPERMILL      Peppermill, Lakeside Dr (near 101), Santa Clara
IHOP            Int'l House of Pancakes, Great America Pkwy (near 101), Santa Clara
BENNIGANS       Bennigan's, Great America Pkwy (near 101), Santa Clara
BKSQ            Baker's Square, Calaveras Blvd (near 880), Milpitas
MARIECAL        Marie Callender's, Calaveras Blvd (near 880), Milpitas
CARLS-TASMAN    Carl's Jr, Tasman Dr (near Cisco), Santa Clara


There was also a /home/httpd/lib/stv/archive/restaurant.votes file,
where people's votes were recorded by the CGI, when submitted.   E.g.,
here's the line recording Nick Moffitt's vote, as I'm reasonably certain
he won't mind my disclosing it: 

nick at zork.net dockmaster.usfca.edu 19980518115916 IHOP PEPPERMILL DENNYS-SC DENNYS-M MARIECAL BKSQ


"restaurant.desc" in the same directory defined the issue in HTML:

[Voting is closed on this subject - results are available.  Please suggest
another topic if you'd like to.]

Where would you prefer to eat (as a group) after the SVLUG meeting?
The choices are (in no particular order):
<ul>
<li>Denny's, Calaveras Blvd (near 880), Milpitas (open 24 hours)
<li>Denny's, Bowers Ave (near 101), Santa Clara (open 24 hours)
<li>Peppermill, Lakeside Dr (near 101), Santa Clara (open 24 hours)
<li>Baker's Square, Calaveras Blvd (near 880), Milpitas (closes 11PM)
<li>Marie Callender's, Calaveras Blvd (near 880), Milpitas (closes 11PM)
<li>Bennigan's, Great America Pkwy (near 101), Santa Clara (closes 2AM)
<li>Int'l House of Pancakes, Great America Pkwy (near 101), Santa Clara 
(closes 11PM)
<li>Carl's Jr., Tasman Dr (near Cisco), Santa Clara (closes midnight)
</ul>
We request that the only people voting are those who expect they might
attend the after-meeting dinner/social.  (If you're itching to try this
out, suggest another voting topic.)



I personally doubt anyone's going to run with this, but I could be
wrong, and will be glad to assist _in the sense of arranging access_ 
anyone wanting to.


> it should be about 1hr to modify the hamburger/rsvp code to be the
> election voting  code ... ( simpler code is probably better )

Cool!  Run with it.  ;->


> which brings up a point ...
> 
> 	- if code has been written for svlug in the past,
> 	and was made publicly available ... who owns it now ??

There's absolutely no question, either legally or morally:  The
author (Ian) owns copyright automatically.  "Work for hire" rules could
not apply even if he were paid.  (Long story; can give you the legal
cites.)

Copyright ownership is not a problem in any event; it's open source.  
Use it and be grateful for the author's public spiritedness -- for those
people for whom preferential-voting algorithms are honestly a big thing.

> 	- copyright notices on /cgi-bin/ scripts is a potential
> 	problem for everybody

No, not really.  You really don't want to start that discussion right
now, I think, especially among net.random computer geeks with little or
no actual knowledge of copyright law, but there are multiple reasons why
this is not a problem.