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5.8 KiB
5.8 KiB
Bennu - An object-oriented iCalendar (RFC2445) implementation in PHP
http://bennu.sourceforge.net
Bennu is copyright (C) 2005 by Ioannis Papaioannou (pj@moodle.org).
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. About Bennu
1.1. What is Bennu?
1.2. What is iCalendar?
1.3. Bennu license
2. Using Bennu
2.1. Integrating Bennu in your application
2.2. Usage examples
3. Bugs and limitations
3.1. Known limitations
4. Contact information
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1. About Bennu
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1.1. What is Bennu?
Bennu is a software library written in PHP that implements the
functionality of the IETF iCalendar 2.0 specification (RFC 2445).
Its purpose is to enable applications which have an interest in
this format (e.g. calendaring, scheduler and organizer programs)
to support iCalendar in an easy, powerful, and extensible way.
In other words, Bennu exists so that developers working on such
applications don't have to waste painful hours going through the
standard and writing the code to implement it. Instead, they can
include this library in their application and get to the fun part
already: coding THEIR program.
1.2. What is iCalendar?
The iCalendar specification is a result of the work of the IETF
(Internet Engineering Task Force), Calendaring and Scheduling
Working Group. It was authored by Frank Dawson of Lotus
Development Corporation and Derik Stenerson of Microsoft
Corporation. iCalendar is heavily based on the earlier vCalendar
industry specification by the Internet Mail Consortium (IMC),
which it extends and seeks to replace.
In practical terms, iCalendar is the number one format used today
by calendaring and scheduler applications to import and export
data. Applications which provide support for iCalendar include:
* Microsoft Outlook
* Apple iCal
* Mozilla Calendar (and Mozilla Sunbird)
* Mulberry
* Korganizer
* Ximian Evolution
Effectively, this means that iCalendar is akin to a "common
language" which all these applications speak. If you are writing
an application which includes scheduling or calendaring elements,
and you want it to be able to synchronize with other such
programs, you need to support iCalendar. Bennu is an easy way to
do exactly that, as long as you are coding in PHP.
1.3. Bennu license
Bennu is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License
(LGPL). In short, this means that:
* You are allowed to distribute and/or modify the source code of
Bennu
* You are allowed to use Bennu or any modified version of it in a
commercial application
* You do not have to pay any fees to use, modify, or distribute
Bennu
* You can charge others for distributing Bennu or derived versions
* However, in ALL OF THE ABOVE CASES, you MUST provide the source
code for Bennu (or any modified version you may have produced),
and that source code MUST be provided under the GNU GPL -or- the
GNU LGPL license. Furthermore, you MUST include the original
copyright notices and credits that you received the source code
with when you distribute it INTACT.
* In any case, the copyright to Bennu is retained by me,
Ioannis Papaioannou.
##################
## DISCLAIMER ##
##################
Please be advised that the above is a very short and to the point
explanation of the GNU LGPL terms, as I understand it, and it is
only my personal opinion. IT IS NOT THE ACTUAL LICENSE UNDER WHICH
BENNU IS RELEASED. It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you read the
full text of the LGPL in order to avoid any misunderstandings
which may be caused by reading my interpretation of it. You can
find the full text of the LGPL in the file LICENSE.TXT, which you
must have received as part of the Bennu distribution. If you have
not received such a file, please email me mentioning where you
obtained your copy of Bennu.
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2. Using Bennu
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2.1. Integrating Bennu in your application
To include Bennu in your application, you only need to include one
PHP file, like this:
<?php
include($path_to_bennu.'/library/lib/bennu.inc.php');
// the rest of your code goes here
?>
2.2. Usage examples
Please look at the /examples/ directory for ready-to-run examples
illustrating how Bennu is to be used. This section will be
revisited and properly written when the source code reaches an
acceptable level of features and meturity (no, I don't know when
that will be).
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3. Bugs and limitations
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3.1. Known limitations
* LANGUAGE property parameters aren't semantically checked.
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4. Contact information
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You can contact me at the email address pj@moodle.org for any
suggestions, ideas, or bug reports regarding Bennu.
At some point there will also be a site which you can use to do
anything related to Bennu, but sadly not today. If you want to
volunteer and give a hand, I 'll be happy to collaborate.