Editing Midgard (software)

{{other uses|Midgard (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox software
| name                   = Midgard
| logo                   = [[Image:Midgard logo.png|80px|none|The Midgard Project]]
| screenshot             = Midgard-1.8.0.jpg
| screenshot size        = 240px
| caption                = [[AJAX]] inline editing of content in Midgard
| developer              = [http://www.midgard-project.org/community/whoswho/ The Midgard Community]
| latest release version = 12.09.1<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://lists.midgard-project.org/pipermail/dev/2012-September/003202.html |title=Midgard2 12.09.1 "Gjallarhorn" released |publisher=The Midgard Project |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015041639/http://lists.midgard-project.org/pipermail/dev/2012-September/003202.html |archive-date=2012-10-15 }}</ref>
| latest release date    = {{release date|2012|09|26}}
| latest preview version = 
| latest preview date    = 
| operating_system       = [[Linux]], [[Unix]] and [[Mac OS X]]
| genre                  = [[Content Management Framework]]
| license                = [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL]]
| website                = {{URL|http://www.midgard-project.org/}}
}}
'''Midgard''' is an [[Open-source software|open source]] [[Persistence (computer science)|persistent storage]] framework. It provides an [[Object-oriented programming|object-oriented]] and [[Replication (computer science)|replicated]] environment for building data-intensive applications.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jepson|first=Brian|title=Data-Drive Sites with Midgard|journal=Web Techniques|date=April 2000}}</ref>

Midgard also ships with MidCOM [[content management system]] (CMS) built on the Midgard [[Content Management Framework|framework]].<ref>{{citation|title=Content Management Problems and Open Source Solutions|publisher=Optaros|last=Gottlieb|first=Seth|date=2006-01-23}}</ref><ref name="MidCOM">{{cite web |url=http://www.midgard-project.org/documentation/midcom/|title=MidCOM |access-date=2009-05-14|publisher=The Midgard Project}}</ref> MidCOM's features include web-based authoring [[WYSIWYG]] interfaces and a [[Modular programming|component interface]] for installing additional web functionalities,<ref name="MidCOM components">{{cite web|url=http://www.midgard-project.org/documentation/midcom-components/|title=MidCOM components|access-date=2009-05-14|publisher=The Midgard Project|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090510025717/http://www.midgard-project.org/documentation/midcom-components/|archive-date=2009-05-10}}</ref> including [[wiki]]s<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wikimatrix.org/show/Midgard-Wiki|publisher=Wiki Matrix|access-date=2009-10-26|title=Midgard Wiki}}</ref> and [[weblog|blogs]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://ranchero.com/2004/09/23/using_weblog_editors_with_midgard_cms|title=Using Weblog Editors with Midgard CMS|last=Simmons|first=Brent|date=2004-09-23}}</ref>

Midgard is built on the [[GNOME]] stack of libraries like [[GLib]] and libgda, and has language bindings for [[C (programming language)|C]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[Objective-C]] and [[PHP]].<ref name="Midgard2 architecture">{{cite news|last=Bergius|first=Henri|url=http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/midgard_2-more_than_just_php-more_than_just_cms/|title=Midgard 2: more than just PHP, more than just CMS|access-date=2009-05-14|date=2008-06-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Kostrzewa|first=Michael|url=http://www.mdk.org.pl/2009/3/26/midgard-objc-bindings|title=Midgard ObjectiveC bindings|date=2009-03-26|access-date=2009-10-26}}</ref> [[Inter-process communication|Communications]] between applications written in the different languages happen over [[D-Bus]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Bergius|first=Henri|url=http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/interprocess_communications_in_midgard-d-bus_comes_to_the_web/|title=Interprocess communications in Midgard: D-Bus comes to the Web|date=2008-04-08|access-date=2009-10-26}}</ref> The CMS functionalities run on the [[LAMP (software bundle)|LAMP]] ([[Linux]], [[Apache HTTP Server|Apache]], [[MySQL]] and [[PHP]]) platform.<ref name="Midgard Lights An Open-Source LAMP">{{cite web|url=http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/48-Midgard-1.4|publisher=CMS Watch|title=Midgard Lights An Open-Source LAMP|access-date=2009-05-14|date=2001-10-10|first1=James|last1=Christense|first2=Martin|last2=Gottlie}}</ref> Midgard can also be used with [[PHPCR]], the PHP implementation of the [[Content repository API for Java|Java Content Repository]] standard.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://phpcr.github.com/|title=PHPCR|access-date=2012-02-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Midgard2 PHPCR provider hits 1.0|first=Henri|last=Bergius|url=http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/midgard2_phpcr_provider_hits_1-0/|date=2011-12-23}}</ref> In early 2000s (decade) there was also a pure-PHP implementation of the Midgard API called [[Midgard Lite]] that has since been re-implemented as the ''midgard-portable'' project.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://github.com/flack/midgard-portable|title=The midgard-portable project|website=[[GitHub]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://openpsa2.org/news/the-big-one/|title=The Big One}}</ref>

The project follows the synchronized, 6 month release cycle that is implemented by several major open source projects like [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]] and [[GNOME]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://thecoccinella.org/synchronized-greg|title=Synchronized Releases and Greg Kroah-Hartman|publisher=Coccinella|date=2008-11-03|access-date=2009-10-26|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091215130350/http://thecoccinella.org/synchronized-greg|archive-date=2009-12-15}}</ref><ref name="Midgard and synchronized releases">{{cite news|last=Bergius|first=Henri|url=http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/midgard_and_synchronized_releases/|title=Midgard and synchronized releases|access-date=2009-05-14|date=2008-07-31}}</ref> Because of this, the version numbering reflects the year and month of a release. The version 8.09 [[Ragnarök|Ragnaroek]] has been designated as a "Long Term Support" release.<ref name="LTS">{{cite press release|last=Bergius|first=Henri|url=http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/long-term_support_for_midgard-ragnaroek_is_here/|title=Ragnaroek LTS|access-date=2009-05-14|date=2008-10-13}}</ref>

Especially the templating and page composition features of Midgard have received praise, earning honorary mentions in several CMS Watch surveys.<ref name="CMS Watch Kudos 2002">{{cite web|url=http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/83-Supergroup|publisher=CMS Watch|title=The Ideal CMS -- 2002|access-date=2009-10-26|date=2002-12-31|last=Byrne|first=Tony}}</ref><ref name="CMS Watch Kudos 2003">{{cite web|url=http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/96-2nd-Annual-Supergroup|publisher=CMS Watch|title=The Ideal CMS -- Circa 2004|access-date=2009-10-26|date=2003-12-12|last=Byrne|first=Tony}}</ref><ref name="CMS Watch Kudos 2005">{{cite web|url=http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/131-CMS-Marketplace|publisher=CMS Watch|title=Vendor Kudos and Shortcomings, Circa 2005|date=2005-09-08|access-date=2009-10-26|last=Byrne|first=Tony}}</ref><ref name="CMS Watch Kudos 2007">{{cite web|url=http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/164-WCM-Marketplace|title=WCM Marketplace Web CMS Kudos and Shortcomings, Circa 2007|access-date=2009-10-26|date=2007-06-11|publisher=CMS Watch|last=Byrne|first=Tony|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090925045720/http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/164-WCM-Marketplace|archive-date=2009-09-25}}</ref> It also got score of 42 out of 45 in the ''Celebrity CMS Deathmatch'' of 2009<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jonontech.com/2009/03/25/celebrity-cms-deathmatch-part-3/|access-date=2009-10-26|date=2009-03-25|title=Celebrity CMS Deathmatch – The Aftermath|last=Marks|first=Jon}}</ref>

==Etymology==

The name [[Midgard]] comes from [[Nordic mythology]], meaning ''Middle earth'', the world of humans. Most of the Midgard developer community comes from the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic region]],<ref>{{cite news|publisher=CMS Watch|url=http://www.cmswatch.com/Trends/708-Midgard-keeps-chugging-along|title=Midgard keeps chugging along|date=2006-06-21|access-date=2009-10-26|last=Byrne|first=Tony}}</ref><ref name="Midgard Developer Locations">{{cite web|url=http://www.midgard-project.org/midcom-permalink-5733d7628684303c3bd2a401a6f100d5|title=Midgard: Developer locations|access-date=2009-04-25|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122023741/http://www.midgard-project.org/midcom-permalink-5733d7628684303c3bd2a401a6f100d5|archive-date=2008-11-22}}</ref> and the project has been referred by CMS Watch as the [[Hanseatic League]] of Content Management.<ref name="Hanseatic League of CMS">{{cite web|url=http://www.cmswatch.com/Feature/119-CMS-Marketplace|publisher=CMS Watch|title=Web Content Management Marketplace Circa 2005|access-date=2009-05-14|last=Byrne|first=Tony}}</ref>

==History==

Midgard Project was started in early 1998 by [[Jukka Zitting]] and [[Henri Bergius]] for a [[Finland|Finnish]] [[historical reenactment]] [[Nonprofit|organization]] —Harmaasudet— as a system for them to publish their material online.<ref name="Midgard: Where it all began">{{cite news|last=Zitting|first=Jukka|url=http://jukkaz.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/midgard-where-it-all-began/|title=Midgard: Where it all began |access-date=2009-05-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://nettiapina.fi/blog/2008/10/29/greywolvesorg-goes-back-to-roots/|last=Hyppänen|first=Heikki|title=Greywolves.org goes back to roots|date=2008-10-29|access-date=2009-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081031094853/http://nettiapina.fi/blog/2008/10/29/greywolvesorg-goes-back-to-roots/|archive-date=2008-10-31|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Since the organization didn't have resources to maintain a large development project by itself, the open source model was chosen for creating a community of contributors to the system.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/Midgard/ |publisher=DevShed|title=DevShed Interviews the Developers of Project Midgard|date=1999-09-30|access-date=2009-10-26 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010215010336/http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/Midgard/ |archive-date = 2001-02-15}}</ref> The version 1.0 of Midgard was released to the public on May 8, 1999.<ref name="Midgard 1.0.0 released">{{cite press release|publisher=Linux Today|url=http://www.linuxtoday.com/developer/1999050701705NWSW|title=Midgard 1.0.0 released|access-date=2009-05-14|date=1999-05-08}}</ref> It attracted a steady stream of users, and the development project flourished despite quite primitive early user interfaces.<ref name="DeveloperWorks tutorial">{{cite web|publisher=[[IBM]]|url=http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/w-midgard/|title=DeveloperWorks: Getting to know Midgard|access-date=2009-10-26|date=2001-01-29|last=Seager|first=David|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625075616/http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/w-midgard/|archive-date=2008-06-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.zdnet.com/2100-10532_22-297797.html|title=Open-source CMS: On the rise|last=McGrath|first=John|publisher=ZDnet|access-date=2009-10-26|date=2002-11-15|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719101213/http://news.zdnet.com/2100-10532_22-297797.html|archive-date=2009-07-19}}</ref>

Commercial services for the platform started to appear in early 2000. One of the first adopters was Envida, a [[Netherlands|Dutch]] company that realized the potential of Midgard for [[Web hosting]] purposes. First [[proprietary software|proprietary application]] for the platform was Hong Kong Linux Center (HKLC) Nadmin Studio content management system.<ref name="German Nadmin Studio tutorial">{{cite web|url=http://www.3rd-evolution.de/docs/misc/midgard/|title=3rd Evolution: Midgard und Mandrake|date=2002-08-26|access-date=2009-10-26}}</ref><ref name="The State of Midgard - August 2001">{{cite press release|last=Bergius|first=Henri|publisher=Linux Weekly News|url=https://lwn.net/2001/0809/a/midgard.php3|title=The State of Midgard - August 2001|access-date=2009-05-14|date=2001-08-07}}</ref>

In early 2000s (decade), Midgard developers participated actively in [[OSCOM]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.zope-europe.org/events/0303/oscomsprintzurich|publisher=[[Zea Partners]]|title=Trip Report, OSCOM Sprint Zurich|access-date=2009-10-26|date=2003-03-01|last=Everitt|first=Paul}}</ref> the collaborative organization for open source content management systems. This included development of shared content editing clients like Twingle<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cmswatch.com/Trends/260-Hack-Your-Clients|publisher=CMS Watch|title=Hack Your Clients|date=2003-12-08|access-date=2009-10-26|last=Byrne|first=Tony}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://twingle.mozdev.org/|title=MozDev: Twingle project|access-date=2009-10-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Fletcher|first=David|url=http://radio.weblogs.com/0110120/2003/03/17.html#a580|title=Twingling at OSCOM|date=2003-03-17|access-date=2009-10-26}}</ref> and tutorials in various conferences.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=[[Plone]]|url=http://plone.org/news/oscom2002|title=OSCOM Berkeley 2002|date=2002-07-22|access-date=2009-10-26|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603234718/http://plone.org/news/oscom2002|archive-date=2011-06-03}}</ref> Midgard also featured in F.U.D., the Wyona Pictures documentary about OSCOM.<ref>{{cite video|title=F.U.D.|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYwa9nO7zAY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/YYwa9nO7zAY |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|date=2004|publisher=Wyona Pictures|medium=documentary}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

First application not connected with [[content management]] was ''Nemein.Net'',
a [[Professional Services Automation]] application released in 2002 by Nemein, a [[Finland|Finnish]] Midgard company.<ref name="Nemein.Net 1.8 brings enhanced project tracking for consulting companies">{{cite press release|publisher=Linux Weekly News|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/9535/|title=Nemein.Net 1.8 brings enhanced project tracking for consulting companies|access-date=2009-05-14}}</ref> In May 2004 the Nemein.Net suite was renamed to OpenPSA and released under Open Source licensing.<ref name="OpenPSA 1.9.0 Released - Open Source Management Software for Consultancies">{{cite press release|url=http://www.midgard-project.org/updates/2004-05-08-000/|title=OpenPSA 1.9.0 Released - Open Source Management Software for Consultancies|access-date=2009-05-14|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722055425/http://www.midgard-project.org/updates/2004-05-08-000/|archive-date=2011-07-22}}</ref>

By 2009, some social web services, like [[Qaiku]] have also adopted Midgard as their content management platform.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.coss.fi/en/member-news/nemein-participates-qaiku-development|title=Nemein participates in Qaiku development|publisher=COSS|date=2009-03-17|access-date=2009-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629040234/http://www.coss.fi/en/member-news/nemein-participates-qaiku-development|archive-date=2009-06-29|url-status=dead}}</ref> It also runs in organizations like [[Helsinki University of Technology]]<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.tkk.fi/en/current_affairs/news/view/tkk_uudisti_paaverkkosivunsa/|title=New Web Pages for Helsinki University of Technology|publisher=[[Helsinki University of Technology]]|access-date=2009-10-26|date=2008-01-03|last=Stjärnstedt|first=Juha}}</ref> and [[Maemo]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tigert.com/2006/10/27/maemoorg-webdesign-and-free-tools/|last=Kuosmanen|first=Tuomas|title=Maemo.org webdesign and free tools|access-date=2009-10-26|date=2006-10-27|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717055941/http://www.tigert.com/2006/10/27/maemoorg-webdesign-and-free-tools/|archive-date=2011-07-17}}</ref> [[Electronic Commerce|e-commerce]] implementations with Midgard include the Movie-TV online video rental service. It has been used by New Zealand government for running the country's eGovernment portal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.midgard-project.org/news/case-midgard-framework.html |title=Case study: Midgard framework in action|publisher=CWA New Media|last=Langhoff|first=Martin|date=2002-11-25 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20021126113941/http://www.midgard-project.org/news/case-midgard-framework.html |archive-date = 2002-11-26}}</ref>

Midgard has seen some non-Web use also, including providing synchronization with the [[Tomboy (software)|Tomboy]] note-taking application for Linux desktop.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/06/tomboy-note-app-gains-web-sync-showcases-power-of-open-web.ars|title=Tomboy note app gains Web sync, showcases power of open Web|publisher=Ars Technica|last=Paul|first=Ryan|date=2009-06-02|access-date=2009-10-26}}</ref>

In addition to regular content management, Midgard is seeing use in special web application scenarios like [[Lufthansa|Lufthansa's]] system for managing global marketing budgets and [[Hewlett-Packard|HP's]] client documentation system.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

The Midgard content repository library entered the [[Debian]] distribution in November 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=midgard&searchon=names&suite=unstable&section=all|title=Midgard2 in Debian unstable|date=2010-11-10}}</ref> Some parts of the history of Midgard are recounted in the book Open Advice.<ref>{{cite book|title=Open Advice|url=http://open-advice.org/|isbn=978-1-105-51493-7|last1=Pintscher |first1=Lydia |date=2 February 2012 }}</ref>

==Licensing==

The Midgard [[Library (computer science)|core libraries]] and the MidCOM CMS are distributed under the [[GNU Lesser General Public License]] (LGPL), a license which permits the software to be freely used so long as it is dynamically linked or the user can relink it to new versions of the libraries. This is the same license used by the [[GNU C Library]]. This licensing scheme qualifies Midgard as [[free software]] developed with an open source model.

Official [[documentation]] is licensed under the [[Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License]] which supports the free usage principles defined by the GPL for code.

Applications developed using the Midgard [[application programming interface]]s (API) can be [[copyright]]ed and [[license]]d under any terms by their authors, enabling creation of commercial products and services based on the platform.

==See also==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
*[[List of content management systems]]
*[[Geospatial Content Management System]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.midgard-project.org/}}

{{Application frameworks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Midgard (Software)}}
[[Category:Structured storage]]
[[Category:Free content management systems]]
[[Category:Data synchronization]]
[[Category:PHP software]]
[[Category:Free software programmed in Python]]
[[Category:Blog software]]
[[Category:Free wiki software]]
[[Category:GNOME|*]]
[[Category:Free computer libraries]]