Caravel CMS

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Caravel is an open source content management system originally designed for the 2,000+ organizations of the Mennonite Church. The project began in December of 2001 and took the unique approach of storing website metadata as LDAP objects, while the actual data is stored in the file system. Using OpenLDAP and Berkeley DB, a hierarchical database, distinguishes Caravel from most other CMS's, which are typically based on relational databases. This architectural choice was predicated on the ideas that:

the LDAP schema was global and hierarchical, and therefore capable of describing every file on every computer in the world,
that a hierarchical database was uniquely well-suited to describing a network of websites
that OpenLDAP was capable of replication and load-balancing, which lent itself to the project's scalability goals.
that websites interactions were read-mostly, which made a directory an acceptable foundation.
that OpenLDAP was tuned for fast reads, which made feasible the possibility of hosting thousands of sites on a single server.

Caravel's approach to web content management is also focused on universal publishing, adopting a page layout metaphor with WYSIWYG layout tools.

1 Features
2 Requirements
3 Release information
4 External links

[edit] Features

Caravel CMS offers an expanding array of features for creating dynamic, visually appealing websites. Among the most significant are:

generate thousands of sites off a single code-base.
cross-platform, browser-based editing for Mac, Windows and Linux clients
draggable blocks and columns
WYSIWYG HTML editor (TinyMCE)
support for most mediatypes including HTML, XML, Flash, MP3, QuickTime, PNG, JPEG, GIF
global filesystem with metadata
slideshows and Photo Albums
RSS channel creation, posting and display
blogging
block-level security
LDAP integration
randomized content
content scheduling
content subscription
simple polls
project management
comprehensive site stats via AWStats
e-Commerce tools
event sign-up tools
Google search
Bible Gateway Search
LISTSERV integration with Mailman
Countdown timer, analog and digital clock
iFrame support
Ajax support

[edit] Requirements

Caravel requires PHP, Apache, OpenLDAP, PostgreSQL for a base level installation. Because it is designed to be an enterprise CMS, Caravel will not install as a standalone hosted CMS. It requires its own server and in large installations, multiple servers.