The Content Repository is used to store most content (text, document, image, audio/visual etc) in an OpenACS application. The implementation consists of a small set of object types derived from acs_object. Like any other acs_object, content items can be used with the permissions subsystem and core service packages like general comments and notifications.

For more information, read the Content Repository documentation.

Features include:

• Content objects are versioned, and provide an automatic audit trail of changes including revision authors, revision creation time, etc.

• Content objects can optionally be organized into a folder structure, which allows for the provision of a folder-file user interface which most computer users are familiar with.

• Content objects can be exposed using the OpenACS webDAV integration package (version 5.1).

• Basic predefined content items include the basic revisionable content type, an image content type, content folders, external links (URLs), and internal links.

• Content objects are extensible, just like any other acs_object.

• Binary (file) content can be stored in the database as LOBs, or directly in the file system. Storing binary content in the database makes the creation of consistent backups simpler (just dump the database). Storing such content in the file system will, in general, provide higher performance, particularly if you are using PostgreSQL. The storage method can be specified on a per-content object basis, though most client packages (for instance the file storage package) provide a single parameter which determines where it will store the content it manages.