10d93a04d3
We use caching in our application in two different ways:
1. Rails.cache.fetch in models/controllers/libraries
2. Fragment caching in the views
When using Rails.cache.fetch, we usually set an expiration date or
provide a precise way to invalidate it. If the code changes and the
information stored in the cache is different from what the new code
would return, it's usually not a big deal because the cache will expire
in an hour or a day. Until commit a4461a1a5, the statistics were an
exception to this rule, but that's no longer the case. The actual
exception to this rule are the i18n translations, but the code caching
them is very simple and hasn't changed for more than three years (when
it was written for the first time).
When using fragment caching, on the other hand, Rails automatically
invalidates the cache when the associated _view code_ changes. That is,
if a view contains cache, the view renders a partial, and the partial
changes, the cache is correctly invalidated. The cache isn't invalidated
when the code in helpers, models or controllers change, though, which
the Rails team considers a compromise solution.
However, we've been moving view partials (and even views) to components,
and the cache isn't invalidated when a component changes (it doesn't
matter whether the component Ruby file or the component ERB file
changes). That means that the cache will keep rendering the HTML
generated by the old code.
So, now, we're clearing the cache when upgrading to a new version of
Consul Democracy, as part of the release tasks. That way, institutions
upgrading to a new version don't have to worry about possible issues
with the cache due to the new code not being executed.
I was thinking of adding it to a Capistrano task, but that would mean
that every time people deploy new code, even if it's a hotfix that
doesn't affect the cache at all, the cache would be cleared, which could
be inconvenient. Doing it in a release, that usually changes thousands
of lines of code, sounds like a good compromise.
CONSUL DEMOCRACY
Citizen Participation and Open Government Application
This is the opensource code repository of the eParticipation website CONSUL DEMOCRACY, originally developed for the Madrid City government eParticipation website, and currently maintained by the open source software community in collaboration with the CONSUL DEMOCRACY Foundation.
Documentation
Check the ongoing documentation to learn more about how to start your own CONSUL DEMOCRACY fork, install it, customize it and learn to use it as an administrator/maintainer.
CONSUL DEMOCRACY Foundation and project website
You can access the main website of the project at http://consuldemocracy.org where you can find information about the use of the platform, the CONSUL DEMOCRACY Foundation, the global community of users and local partners, news, and ways to get more support or get in touch.
Configuration for development and test environments
NOTE: For more detailed instructions check the docs
Prerequisites: install git, Ruby 3.2.3, CMake, pkg-config, shared-mime-info, Node.js 18.18.2 and PostgreSQL (>=9.5).
git clone https://github.com/consuldemocracy/consuldemocracy.git
cd consuldemocracy
bin/setup
bin/rake db:dev_seed
Run the app locally:
bin/rails s
You can run the tests with:
bin/rspec
Note: running the whole test suite on your machine might take more than an hour, so it's strongly recommended that you setup a Continuous Integration system in order to run them using parallel jobs every time you open or modify a pull request (if you use GitHub Actions or GitLab CI, this is already configured in .github/workflows/tests.yml and .gitlab-ci.yml) and only run tests related to your current task while developing on your machine. When you configure the application for the first time, it's recommended that you run at least one test in spec/models/ and one test in spec/system/ to check your machine is properly configured to run the tests.
You can use the default admin user from the seeds file:
user: admin@consul.dev pass: 12345678
But for some actions like voting, you will need a verified user, the seeds file also includes one:
user: verified@consul.dev pass: 12345678
Configuration for production environments
See installer
Current state
Development started on 2015 July 15th. Code was deployed to production on 2015 september 7th to decide.madrid.es. Since then new features are added often. You can take a look at the current features at the project's website and future features at the Roadmap and open issues list.
License
Code published under AFFERO GPL v3 (see LICENSE-AGPLv3.txt)
Contributions
See CONTRIBUTING.md