Module announcement: og_sites,providing multisite features

[Reposted from the Drupal development list.]

An early preview release of a module that may be of interest to developers and to anyone using multisites.

OG Sites enables a multisite configuration in which a central 'hub' site has a number of associated sites. The hub site features content and users from all sites, while each associated site can access only its own data (plus content explicitly shared from the hub site).

This is accomplished through organic groups. Each associated site gets an organic group on the hub site. When content is created on an associated site, it gets assigned to that site's organic group on the hub site (and ditto for users). This association is the basis for determining access.

Some features that may interest developers, and may be applicable/adaptible elsewhere:

• The code is structured to have plugins by module. For example, node support is in node.inc, user support in user.inc. New module support can be added through a new plugin, which will be automatically detected and loaded if the module it implements is available.
• Tables are shared dynamically (using hook_init()) rather than through configuration in the settings.php file.
• The install functions automate node type and node creation. The og_sites_hub install function creates a new content type, assigns it as an organic group type, and then creates a node for the group. The og_sites install function creates an organic group node on the hub site.
• Access is limited through various means: hook_menu() for menu item overrides, hook_db_rewrite_sql() for node access, hook_form_alter() to reset the rows in admin tables.

For more information, see the README:

http://cvs.drupal.org/viewcvs/drupal/contributions/modules/og_sites/READ...

Any reviews or feedback through the issue queue or privately by email would also be greatly appreciated.

OG Sites is produced by CivicSpace and development is sponsored by Alpha,
alpha.org.