[CODE4LIB] code to guide installation of software?
Hi folks, I've got a homegrown piece of software that I'll be presenting at a conference in a few weeks (to track title call-number request histories using III's InnReach module). I'm trying to package it up in such a way that other users will be able to use the software too, and I've never done this before. Is there any open-source or otherwise freely-available software to handle the installation of a LAMP-type product: - displaying readme type information until everything's set up - creating databases - creating data tables (in this case, with a dynamic list of fields depending on some user input) - loading up some pre-determined data into database tables - editing the config file variables I could make this up myself, but I wonder if someone has genericized this process. (I'm particularly concerned about how to effectively pre-load the data tables, not assuming the user has command-line mysql access.) Any ideas? Thanks Ken -- Ken Irwin Reference Librarian Thomas Library, Wittenberg University
Re: [CODE4LIB] code to guide installation of software?
At Thu, 9 Oct 2008 14:05:06 -0400, Ken Irwin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi folks, I've got a homegrown piece of software that I'll be presenting at a conference in a few weeks (to track title call-number request histories using III's InnReach module). I'm trying to package it up in such a way that other users will be able to use the software too, and I've never done this before. Is there any open-source or otherwise freely-available software to handle the installation of a LAMP-type product: - displaying readme type information until everything's set up - creating databases - creating data tables (in this case, with a dynamic list of fields depending on some user input) - loading up some pre-determined data into database tables - editing the config file variables I could make this up myself, but I wonder if someone has genericized this process. (I'm particularly concerned about how to effectively pre-load the data tables, not assuming the user has command-line mysql access.) This is pretty generic advice, but you should have a look at Karl Fogel’s book, Producing open source software, available online [1], particularly the chapter on ‘Packaging’. This provides a somewhat high-level view of the mechanics of packaging free software for release. It will not help with writing scripts to set up databases, which you will probably have to do by hand. best, Erik Hetzner 1. http://producingoss.com/ ;; Erik Hetzner, California Digital Library ;; gnupg key id: 1024D/01DB07E3 pgpW4inUYxjwK.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: [CODE4LIB] code to guide installation of software?
Hi Ken, Is there any open-source or otherwise freely-available software to handle the installation of a LAMP-type product: - creating databases - creating data tables (in this case, with a dynamic list of fields depending on some user input) - loading up some pre-determined data into database tables If you *do* end up doing this part yourself (which I suspect you will) and want to look at a Perl script that automates the process, I've put a script online [1]. I have additional scripts (if I can find them) for other databases, but they are pretty similar. I'm trying to package it up in such a way that other users will be able to use the software too, and I've never done this before. If you're releasing software for the first time, you might want to make sure you've covered yourself regarding the copyright ownership and any permissions you need to release it [2]. -- Michael [1] Coded Character Sets URDU About Database Create Script http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/urdu/dbcreate.html The URDU About page also has links to the database table structure and data files so you can better understand what the script is doing. [2] Intellectual Property Disclosure Releasing Open Source Software in Academia http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/ip/ # Michael Doran, Systems Librarian # University of Texas at Arlington # 817-272-5326 office # 817-688-1926 mobile # [EMAIL PROTECTED] # http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/ -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ken Irwin Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 1:05 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: [CODE4LIB] code to guide installation of software? Hi folks, I've got a homegrown piece of software that I'll be presenting at a conference in a few weeks (to track title call-number request histories using III's InnReach module). I'm trying to package it up in such a way that other users will be able to use the software too, and I've never done this before. Is there any open-source or otherwise freely-available software to handle the installation of a LAMP-type product: - displaying readme type information until everything's set up - creating databases - creating data tables (in this case, with a dynamic list of fields depending on some user input) - loading up some pre-determined data into database tables - editing the config file variables I could make this up myself, but I wonder if someone has genericized this process. (I'm particularly concerned about how to effectively pre-load the data tables, not assuming the user has command-line mysql access.) Any ideas? Thanks Ken -- Ken Irwin Reference Librarian Thomas Library, Wittenberg University
Re: [CODE4LIB] code to guide installation of software?
Ken Irwin wrote: Hi folks, I've got a homegrown piece of software that I'll be presenting at a conference in a few weeks (to track title call-number request histories using III's InnReach module). I'm trying to package it up in such a way that other users will be able to use the software too, and I've never done this before. Is there any open-source or otherwise freely-available software to handle the installation of a LAMP-type product: - displaying readme type information until everything's set up - creating databases - creating data tables (in this case, with a dynamic list of fields depending on some user input) - loading up some pre-determined data into database tables - editing the config file variables I could make this up myself, but I wonder if someone has genericized this process. (I'm particularly concerned about how to effectively pre-load the data tables, not assuming the user has command-line mysql access.) Any ideas? Take a look at the Apache Ant project (jakarta.apache.org/ant). I have been using it for several years to manage java web applications. It should do everything that you want. I am also using for managing Drupal installations with subsites.