Hello all, I am feeling nostalgic about GSoC. In one line: It was an awesome experience !
The project was my first experience working for an open source project. I also got an exposure of working in a group, collaborating with people developing a single software. This was the first time I used any versioning software(svn) . And I am sure this experience of using versioning software will help me a lot later in the industry. Before applying to GSoC, I never heard of OSGeo or Mapbender. I got to know about Open Source Geo Foundation and specifically Mapbender. I now understand, how mapbender and many other web based map software software works. So, in short, I learned a LOT this summer. My Project Title: Automated Update Routine for Mapbender . Project Detail: Currently Mapbender users need to update Mapbender software manually by executing a list of specified commands. And even after executing those commands, successful update is not guaranteed in case the user has tweaked with the mapbender software in past. Hence there was a need of the automated script which can not only automatically update the software but also check whether the already running version is in proper state to update. Project Status: I am quite satisfied with my work. The project was completed in three parts. First part was to develop a script which when executed will automatically update the database schema. The database update script automatically detects the version of Mapbender installed on the user's system and then accordingly updates the software to the latest version. Second part was the checksum-build script. This script is not to be distributed with the mapbender software bundle. It's purpose is to store checksum of all mapbender files in json format to detect tweaking done to the software. This script is to be executed while building a Mapbender version. Third part was the "filesystem update" script. The purpose of this script is to update the filesystem. On execution, it asks the path to the already installed software. After that it automatically makes a backup of the current installation and updates the entire filesystem. The entire script is ready to be implemented. Few tweaking may be required while actually including it in the software. I'll be there at that time. Also we ( I and Mapbender devs ) have planned to release the update script with next Mapbender version i.e. , 2.6 Further Involvement: I will be maintaining the update script. And I will also contribute to Mapbender as a developer. I have already planned to work on Installed script for Mapbender. Few Links: My SVN Branch : https://svn.osgeo.org/mapbender/branches/spsneo_dev Online Tutorial for Updaate Script: http://www.mapbender.org/Update-Routine Online Tutorial for Checksum-build Script: http://www.mapbender.org/Build-Checksum I have extensively documented the code and I have also uploaded README files in the svn repository (spsneo_dev branch). Acknowledgments: I am grateful to Google for organizing SoC and sponsoring this project. I am also very thankful to my mentor Mr. Christoph Baudson without whom this project would not have been possible. And last but not the least, I would like to thank the entire Mapbender Community and OSGeo SoC administrator Mr. Wolf Bergenheim for their extended and endless help. Last Note: Weekly Project Status Report and weekly IRC meeting were really helpful. Anticipating Comments Thanks Siddharth Prakash Singh http://www.spsneo.com _______________________________________________ Mapbender_dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapbender_dev
