7. Kernel Documentation

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. ACS 4 Object Model Requirements
3. ACS 4 Object Model Design
4. ACS 4 Permissions Requirements
5. ACS 4 Permissions Design
6. ACS 4 Groups Requirements
7. ACS 4 Groups Design
8. ACS 4 Subsites Requirements
9. ACS 4 Subsites Design Document
10. ACS 4 Package Manager Requirements
11. ACS 4 Package Manager Design
12. ACS 4 Security Requirements
13. ACS 4 Security Design
14. ACS 4 Security Notes
15. ACS 4 Request Processor Requirements
16. ACS 4 Request Processor Design
17. Database Access API
18. Documenting Tcl Files: Page Contracts and Libraries
19. Bootstrapping ACS

1. Overview

Compared to its predecessors, version 4 of the ArsDigita Community System (ACS) has a much more structured organization, i.e. the most significant change is found at the system architecture level, reflected in the following hierarchy:

The ACS 4 Kernel, which handles system-wide necessities such as metadata, security, users and groups, subsites, and package management and deployment.
The ACS 4 Core, which comprises all the other packages that ship with the kernel and are most frequently needed by users, such as templating, bboard, and user registration/management. The packages tend to be developed and distributed with the kernel.
ACS 4 Application packages, which typically provide user-level web services built on top of the Kernel and Core. Such packages include those built by ArsDigita as well as external contributors. Application packages are developed separately from the Kernel, and are typically released independently of it.

This document provides a high level overview of the kernel package. Documentation for the other packages can be found elsewhere.