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<META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"><title>7. Kernel Documentation</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="ad.css" type="text/css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.24"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="ACS Core"><link rel="up" href="acs-dev.html" title="Part III. For ACS Developers"><link rel="previous" href="eng-standards-plsql.html" title="9. PL/SQL Standards"><link rel="next" href="object-system-requirements.html" title="2. ACS 4 Object Model Requirements"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><a href="http://www.openacs.org/"><img src="images/alex.jpg" border="0"></a><br><br><a class="topnav" href="/">Home</a><span class="topnav"> : </span><a class="topnav" href="index">Documentation</a><span class="topnav"> : </span><a class="topnav" href="acs-dev.html">Part III. For ACS Developers</a><span class="topnav"> : </span><strong class="topnav">7. Kernel Documentation </strong><hr size="1" noshade><div id="kernel-doc" class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><h2 class="title"><a name="kernel-doc">7. Kernel Documentation</a></h2></div><div class="toc"><p><b>Table of Contents</b></p><dl><dt>1. <a href="kernel-doc.html#N10872">Overview</a></dt><dt>2. <a href="object-system-requirements.html">ACS 4 Object Model Requirements</a></dt><dt>3. <a href="object-system-design.html">ACS 4 Object Model Design</a></dt><dt>4. <a href="permissions-requirements.html">ACS 4 Permissions Requirements</a></dt><dt>5. <a href="permissions-design.html">ACS 4 Permissions Design</a></dt><dt>6. <a href="groups-requirements.html">ACS 4 Groups Requirements</a></dt><dt>7. <a href="groups-design.html">ACS 4 Groups Design</a></dt><dt>8. <a href="subsites-requirements.html">ACS 4 Subsites Requirements</a></dt><dt>9. <a href="subsites-design.html">ACS 4 Subsites Design Document</a></dt><dt>10. <a href="apm-requirements.html">ACS 4 Package Manager Requirements</a></dt><dt>11. <a href="apm-design.html">ACS 4 Package Manager Design</a></dt><dt>12. <a href="security-requirements.html">ACS 4 Security Requirements</a></dt><dt>13. <a href="security-design.html">ACS 4 Security Design</a></dt><dt>14. <a href="security-notes.html">ACS 4 Security Notes</a></dt><dt>15. <a href="rp-requirements.html">ACS 4 Request Processor Requirements</a></dt><dt>16. <a href="rp-design.html">ACS 4 Request Processor Design</a></dt><dt>17. <a href="db-api-detailed.html">Database Access API</a></dt><dt>18. <a href="tcl-doc.html">Documenting Tcl Files: Page Contracts and Libraries</a></dt><dt>19. <a href="bootstrap-acs.html">Bootstrapping ACS</a></dt></dl></div><div id="N10872" class="sect1"><div class="titlepage"><h2 class="title" style="clear: all"><a name="N10872"></a><span class="label">1.</span> <span class="title">Overview</span></h2></div><p>
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:
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul><li><a name="N10878"></a><p>The <strong>ACS 4 Kernel</strong>, which handles system-wide necessities
such as metadata, security, users and groups, subsites, and
package management and deployment.
</p></li><li><a name="N10884"></a><p>The <strong>ACS 4 Core</strong>, 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.
</p></li><li><a name="N10890"></a><p><strong>ACS 4 Application packages</strong>, 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.
</p></li></ul></div><p>
This document provides a high level overview of the kernel
package. Documentation for the other packages can be found <a href="index.html" target="_top">elsewhere</a>.
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