-cd loncom/build -rm -Rf HTML (or alternatively, "make clean") -make HTML -cd HTML -(look at the index.html file with a web browser such as Netscape) -- -General description of what happens -
+ + + + +
+ +
+Created: January 17, 2001
+
Last updated: February 28, 2011
+
+CVS needs to be part of your system environment in order to access the LON-CAPA CVS repository, +You can do this by: +
+
+
+export CVS_RSH=ssh
+export CVSROOT=:ext:USERNAME@source.lon-capa.org:/home/cvs
+
+
+The first time you use CVS, you need to CHECKOUT the repository. +Generally speaking, you need to checkout loncapa only once +per machine. +To check-out the repository, use the checkout command. +(Otherwise, just enter your CVS directory, cd loncapa.) +
+
+
+cvs checkout loncapa
+cd loncapa
+
+
+After entering your CVS source tree (cd loncapa), +you should frequently update the software changes that +other people have made. This is done with the update command. +
++ + +cvs update -d + + +
++The cvs update command creates output +as it updates your CVS source tree. Common flags are +'U' and 'P'; they indicate that a file in your +loncapa directory is now updated with +changes made by another programmer. +
++ +`U FILE'
++The file was brought up to date in your loncapa. ++
'U' is done for: +
* any file that exists in the repository but not in your source, and +
* files that you have not changed but are not the most recent versions +available in the repository. +
The network behavior of 'U' is that the entire new file is uploaded +from the CVS server. +
+`P FILE' +
++Like `U', but the CVS server sends a patch instead of an entire file. ++
+'U' and 'P' essentially accomplish the same thing, just in +different ways. +
++Usually, when you do not cvs commit your code changes, +the update command will tell you that you have modified +your file with the 'M' flag. +
++`M FILE' +
++ The file is modified in your working loncapa directory. + This is probably based on changes you made and have not yet + "cvs commit"-ed. ++
+Sometimes, it will occur that: +
++Generally speaking, this is your fault. It is your +responsibility to resolve conflicts. cvs update informs +you of a conflict with the 'C' flag. +
++`C FILE' +
++ A conflict was detected while trying to merge your changes to FILE + with changes from the source repository. ++
+You will need to open the file and examine it; CVS will have added in +markup tags like "<<<<<<" to tell you about the merging +conflicts. (Sometimes, CVS will intelligently merge in other changes and +give you the 'M' flag, but many times you will have to manually edit +the file as just described.) +
++cvs commit works to submit changes to an existing +file within the repository. If a file does not currently exist, then you +will first need to cvs add it as described in the following +section. +
+Running the cvs commit command without additional arguments will +commit all of your changes within the current directory and subdirectories. ++cvs commit +
++A more precise approach to using cvs commit is to pass it specific +file names. (Usually you should do this.) +
++cvs commit FILENAME +
++Note that CVS typically invokes the +vi editor and solicits +comments about your latest changes to the software. Your comments should be +descriptive and informative. For example: +
++cvs add FILENAME +
++Then you can run cvs commit FILENAME and this file will +become an "official" part of LON-CAPA. +
++cvs add DIRECTORYNAME +
++There is no need to run cvs commit. Directories immediately +become part of the LON-CAPA CVS source tree by only using the cvs add +command. +
++You should not ordinarily need to use the cvs import command. +If misused, cvs import can lead to the loss of code within +the repository. +
++Once in a while, multiple programmers may be working on the +same file. Most conflicts are avoidable if everybody regularly +commits their changes AND if everybody +regularly updates the CVS source tree they are working on. +
++If you are absent from programming for a few days, and +fail to run cvs update -d on your CVS source +repository, you have only yourself to blame if you find yourself writing +code in a file that is not up-to-date. +
++Commands +
+
+cd loncom/build
+rm -Rf HTML (or alternatively, "make clean")
+make HTML
+cd HTML
+(look at the index.html file with a web browser such as Netscape)
+
+General description of what happens +
+
This is the actual make target code.
-
-
+
HTML: - install -d HTML - cp ../../doc/loncapafiles/*.gif HTML - perl parse.pl ../../doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html HTML > HTML/index.html + install -d HTML + cp $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapafiles/*.gif HTML + cat $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml | \ + perl lpml_parse.pl html development default "$(SOURCE)" '$(TARGET)' \ + > HTML/index.html -- + +
What basically happens is that specially marked-up data in the LON-CAPA -cvs repository file doc/loncapafiles.html is parsed into a more -viewable format by loncom/build/parse.pl. The resulting -file gives a very well organized view of all the files, directories, +cvs repository file doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml is parsed +into a more viewable format by loncom/build/lpml_parse.pl. The +resulting file gives a very well organized view of all the files, directories, links, ownerships, permissions, and brief documentation of what each file does. -
-+ +
cd loncom/build -make build - - -General description of what happens -
+
make build
+
+General description of what happens +
+
This is the actual make target code.
-
-
-
-build:
- perl parse.pl ../../doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html build > Makefile.build
- make -f Makefile.build all
-
-
-
-loncom/build/parse.pl reads in all the build information out
-of doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html. A new Makefile named
-loncom/build/Makefile.build is dynamically constructed.
-This dynamically generated Makefile is then run to build/compile
-all the software targets from source. This currently takes 10 minutes
-(depends on the speed of the machine you compile with).
-
-Here is information for one file tth.so provided in
-doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html.
-
-
-
-
-loncom/build/parse.pl sees the BUILD tags and sets up
-a dynamic file Makefile.build to run the command inside the
-BUILD tags (currently, DEPENDENCIES is not used for anything
-besides documentation).
-
<METAGROUP>
-
<LONCAPA TYPE=LOCATION DIST="redhat6.2" SOURCE="loncom/modules/TexConvert/tthperl/tth.so" TARGET="usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/tth.so" CATEGORY="system file">
-
<DESCRIPTION>
-
shared library file for dynamic loading and unloading of TeX-to-HTML functionality
-
</DESCRIPTION>
-
<BUILD>
-
loncom/modules/TexConvert/tthperl/commands
-
</BUILD>
-
<DEPENDENCIES>
-
../tthdynamic/tthfunc.c
-
../ttmdynamic/ttmfunc.c
-
</DEPENDENCIES>
-
-Here is an example of a dynamically generated Makefile.build
-that builds two LON-CAPA files (one of which is tth.so).
-
-
+
+ +build: Makefile.build pod2html.sh pod2man.sh + echo -n "" > WARNINGS + make -f Makefile.build all + make warningnote + +Makefile.build: $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml lpml_parse.pl + cat $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml | \ + perl lpml_parse.pl build $(CATEGORY) $(DIST) "$(SOURCE)" "$(TARGET)" \ + > Makefile.build + ++
+loncom/build/lpml_parse.pl reads in all the build information out +of doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml. A new Makefile named +loncom/build/Makefile.build is dynamically constructed. +This dynamically generated Makefile is then used to build and compile +all the software targets from source. This can take several minutes +(it depends on the speed of the machine you compile with). +
++Example +
++Here is information for one file tth.so provided in +doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml. +
++<file> +<source>loncom/homework/caparesponse/capa.so</source> +<target dist='default'>usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/capa.so</target> +<target dist='redhat7 redhat7.1'>usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.0/capa.so</target> +<categoryname>system file</categoryname> +<description> +shared library file for dynamic loading and unloading +</description> +<build trigger='always run'> +loncom/homework/caparesponse/commands +</build> +<dependencies> +caparesponse.c; +caparesponse.pm; +README; +Makefile.PL; +capa.i; +commands +</dependencies> +</file> ++
+loncom/build/lpml_parse.pl sees the build tags and sets up +a dynamic file Makefile.build to run the command inside the +build tags. The files listed inside the dependencies tags +are included in the Makefile.build so as to determine whether +or not there is a need to compile. +
++Here is an example of a dynamically generated Makefile.build +that builds two LON-CAPA files (one of which is tth.so). +
+
all: ../homework/caparesponse/capa.so ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/tth.so
-../homework/caparesponse/capa.so: ../homework/caparesponse/caparesponse.c ../ho
-mework/caparesponse/caparesponse.pm alwaysrun
+../homework/caparesponse/capa.so: ../homework/caparesponse/caparesponse.c ../homework/caparesponse/caparesponse.pm alwaysrun
cd ../homework/caparesponse/; sh ./commands
-../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/tth.so: ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/../tthdynam
-ic/tthfunc.c ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/../ttmdynamic/ttmfunc.c
+../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/tth.so: ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/../tthdynamic/tthfunc.c ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/../ttmdynamic/ttmfunc.c
cd ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/; sh ./commands
alwaysrun:
-
-
-
-+ +
+To add and remove (and alter) +
+All that you have to do to alter the behavior of the installation is -edit a single file (doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html). +edit a single file (doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml). Adding, removing, and altering files requires proper attention to the syntax of file format of course. -
-File Format --The preceding "make build" documentation -gives an example METAGROUP entry describing one particular file. -All data within loncapafiles.html is specified according -to markup tags. The format and syntax of loncapafiles.html +
++File Format +
++The preceding "make build" documentation +gives an example of a file entry describing one particular file. +All data within loncapafiles.lpml is specified according +to markup tags. The format and syntax of loncapafiles.lpml is currently best described by the HTML documentation code at the beginning of loncapafiles.html (as well as, by example, seeing how various information is coded). All in all, the syntax is quite simple. -
-Philosophy and notes (the thing nobody reads) -+
++Philosophy and notes (the thing nobody reads) +
+Packaging the software from CVS onto a machine file system requires many things: -
+
+I looked into, and tried, different ways of accomplishing the above including automake and recursive make. The automake system seemed quite complicated (and needlessly so in terms of this project since, by and large, it works to coordinate many different types of build/compilation parameters -whereas we are more concerned with installation parameters). Recursive make -has significant deficiencies in the sense that not all the information +whereas we are more concerned with installation parameters). The other +alternative, recursive make, +has significant deficiencies since not all the information is kept in one place, and there are significant levels of dependency between all the things that must be done to keep software packaging up to date. A particularly convincing article I found when looking into much of this was - -"Recursive Make Considered Harmful" by Peter Miller. Complicating -matters was, at the time, it was unclear as to what categories + +"Recursive Make Considered Harmful" by Peter Miller. Other complications +were that, at the time, it was unclear as to what categories of software files we had, and whether or not the directory structure of CVS would remain constant. With an ever-developing directory structure to CVS, I preferred to organize the information on a per-file basis -as opposed to a per-directory basis (although there is a successful -implementation of a standard big Makefile in loncom/Makefile). +as opposed to a per-directory basis. Additionally, a standard big Makefile assumes certain "normalcy" to the directory structure of different potential operating system directories (RedHat vs. Debian). -
--If you take time to look at loncapafiles.html -(and perhaps run the make HTML command) +
++If you take time to look at loncapafiles.lpml +(and perhaps run the make HTML command) you will find that the organizing information according to the markup -syntax in loncapafiles.html is simple. Simple is good. -
--loncom/build/parse.pl is the script (invoked automatically -by the various targets in loncom/build/Makefile) that reads -doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html. parse.pl +syntax in loncapafiles.lpml is simple. Simple is good. +
++loncom/build/lpml_parse.pl is the script (invoked automatically +by the various targets in loncom/build/Makefile) that reads +doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml. lpml_parse.pl is capable of reading and returning different types of information -from loncapafiles.html depending on how parse.pl -is invoked. parse.pl has yet to have introduced new sources +from loncapafiles.lpml depending on how lpml_parse.pl +is invoked. lpml_parse.pl has yet to have introduced new sources of error, and has been tested in quite a number of ways. As with any parser however, I remain paranoid. -
--My regrets with the current system is that parse.pl is -slow (can take 1 minute to run) and includes a few tidbits of code, -specific to the make process, that probably should be in -loncom/build/Makefile. Additionally, loncapafiles.html -should have a DTD and all those other good SGML-ish things (and parsing -should be done with a real SGML-derived parser). -
--On the plus side, the parse.pl-loncapafiles.html -combination has been working very efficiently and error-free. -
-+
++Finally, some notes on the development. +lpml_parse.pl is very fast and styled after a state-based SAX-like +approach. I do eventually want to use a real XML/XSLT approach, however +I hesitate to make everyone everywhere install something like +XML::Xalan. +Also note that loncapafiles.lpml has a +DTD (loncom/build/lpml.dtd) against which it is valid. +I would also like to use more ENTITY's inside lpml.dtd but currently +the perl XML modules available at CPAN do not digest complex ENTITY's that +well. +
++The lpml_parse.pl-loncapafiles.lpml +combination has been highly efficient and error-free. +
+
+cd loncom/build
+
make aboutVERSION
+
+General description of what happens +
++This is the actual make target code. +
+
+
+aboutVERSION:
+ cat $(SOURCE)/loncom/license/about.html | \
+ perl -e '$$d=`date +"%Y%m%d%H"`;chomp($$d);while(<>){s/(\<\!\-\- VERSION \-\-\>|\d+\.\d+\.CVS_HEAD\-\d{10})/$(SHOWVERSION)-$$d/; print;}' > \
+ $(SOURCE)/loncom/license/about.html.new
+ mv -v $(SOURCE)/loncom/license/about.html.new \
+ $(SOURCE)/loncom/license/about.html
+ cat $(SOURCE)/loncom/loncapa_apache.conf | \
+ perl -e '$$d=`date +"%Y%m%d%H"`;chomp($$d);while(<>){s/(\<\!\-\- VERSION \-\-\>|\d+\.\d+\.CVS_HEAD\-\d{10})/$(SHOWVERSION)-$$d/; print;}' > \
+ $(SOURCE)/loncom/loncapa_apache.conf.new
+ mv -v $(SOURCE)/loncom/loncapa_apache.conf.new \
+ $(SOURCE)/loncom/loncapa_apache.conf
+
+
++The LON-CAPA Version number is updated in the following files: +
+Updating the version information in these files means that visitors to the static HTML page: "About LON-CAPA" on your server will see which version of LON-CAPA you are running. The same information is also displayed on the dynamic log-in page generated by lonlogin.pm. Furthermore, the version of LON-CAPA running on your server can determine which course roles may be selectable on that server, if a course contains resource(s) and/or parameter(s) which require a specific version (or newer) of LON-CAPA. It is also possible for Domain Coordinators in another domain to configure their domain to limit hosting of sessions for users from their own domain to LON-CAPA servers in other domains which are running a specific LON-CAPA version (or newer). +
+On a development server, i.e., one where LON-CAPA is built and installed from a CVS checkout, running make aboutVERSION will cause the version number to be set to something of the form: M.N.CVS_HEAD-YYYYMMDDHH, where M.N will be the version number of the next stable (major) release (e.g., if the current stable release is 3.1; the next release would be 3.2), and YYYYMMDDHH is the datestamp when make aboutVERSION was last run. Note: make aboutVERSION will update the about.html and loncapa_apache.conf in the installation directory tree; it is not until make install is run that files served directly by the web server (or used for configuration) are updated with the versions in that tree. +
++Machine-specific information is the difference +
+The current list of configurable files for the LON-CAPA system is -/etc/httpd/access.conf. +/etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf, +/etc/ntp.conf, +/etc/krb.conf, +/etc/ntp/step-tickers, +/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/copyright.tab, +/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/un_keyword.tab, +/home/httpd/hosts.tab, and +/home/httpd/spare.tab. +
+All of these configurable files contain machine-specific information. -For instance, the LON-CAPA system relies on unique host IDs such +For instance, the overall LON-CAPA system relies on unique host IDs such as msua3, s1, s2, msul1, and 103a1 (specified as a "PerlSetVar lonHostID" -field within /etc/httpd/access.conf). +field within /etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf). Non-configurable files simply do NOT have machine-specific information. -The impact on updating software -
-What this means in terms of software updating is that -
+The impact on updating software +
++What this means in terms of software updating is that: +
+
+cd loncom/build
+
make install
+
+General description of what happens +
++This is the actual make target code. +
++ +install: TEST_hosts_tab Makefile.install Makefile + echo -n "" > WARNINGS + make -f Makefile.install SOURCE="$(SOURCE)" TARGET="$(TARGET)" \ + directories + make -f Makefile.install SOURCE="$(SOURCE)" TARGET="$(TARGET)" files + make -f Makefile.install SOURCE="$(SOURCE)" TARGET="$(TARGET)" links + make SOURCE="$(SOURCE)" TARGET="$(TARGET)" \ + NORESTORECONF="$(NORESTORECONF)" configinstall + make postinstall + make warningnote + echo "You can run 'make test' to see if your system is ready to go!" + +Makefile.install: $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml lpml_parse.pl + cat $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml | \ + perl lpml_parse.pl install $(CATEGORY) $(DIST) "$(SOURCE)" \ + "$(TARGET)" > Makefile.install + ++
+For safety reasons (so as to preserve a machine's configuration), +configuration files are NOT installed during this step. This means +that files such as /etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf, +/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/copyright.tab, and +/home/httpd/spare.tab are not overwritten, but remain as old, +non-updated copies. (To automatically update these files and save/restore +their encoded machine configuration, you must run "make configinstall"). +
++cd loncom/build +make configinstall +
++General description of what happens +
++This is the actual make target code. +
++ +configinstall: Makefile.configinstall + make -f Makefile.configinstall SOURCE="$(SOURCE)" TARGET="$(TARGET)" \ + configfiles + if (test "0" = $(NORESTORECONF)); then \ + perl loncaparestoreconfigurations suffix .lpmlnew; fi + +Makefile.configinstall: $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml lpml_parse.pl + cat $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml | \ + perl lpml_parse.pl configinstall $(CATEGORY) $(DIST) "$(SOURCE)" \ + "$(TARGET)" > Makefile.configinstall + ++
+Configuration files are installed during this step. This means +that files such as /etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf, +/home/httpd/html/res/adm/includes/copyright.tab, and +/home/httpd/spare.tab are overwritten. Before being overwritten, +a backup copy is made though. Information is read out of these +backup copies and restored to the new files by the +loncaparestoreconfigurations script. To ensure that +new file permissions and ownerships are installed, a final set of +chown and chmod commands are called for each of +the configuration files. +
++For the truly paranoid +
++If you are truly paranoid, you can just make the +Makefile.configinstall file and then save, copy, +and restore all the configuration values yourself. +loncaparestoreconfigurations is pretty smart though, has yet to +fail, and besides, when needed, backup copies are made. +
++LON-CAPA is currently installed through "intelligent tarballs". +What I am describing now is part of an earlier (and perhaps future) effort +involving RPMs. +
++Commands +
+
+cd loncom/build
+rm -Rf BinaryRoot (or alternatively, "make clean")
+make RPM
+(to subsequently install, you can type commands like
+"rpm -Uvh --force LON-CAPA-base-3.1-1.i386.rpm")
+
+Configuration files +
++Configuration files are automatically saved with the file suffix +".rpmsave". So /etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf is saved as +/etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf.rpmsave. +The loncaparestoreconfigurations script should work to restore +configurations in this case. However, please note that if you install an RPM +twice without restoring your configuration, you will overwrite the +".rpmsave" files. +
++General description of what happens +
++This is the actual make target code. +
++ +RPM: BinaryRoot base_rpm_file_list + cat $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml | \ + perl lpml_parse.pl make_rpm $(CATEGORY) $(DIST) $(SOURCE) $(TARGET) \ + > base_customizerpm.xml + cat base_rpm_file_list.txt | perl make_rpm.pl base 3.2 1 '' '' \ + BinaryRoot base_customizerpm.xml + +BinaryRoot: base_rpm_file_list + make TARGET='BinaryRoot' NORESTORECONF='1' install + +base_rpm_file_list: + cat $(SOURCE)/doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.lpml | \ + perl lpml_parse.pl rpm_file_list $(CATEGORY) $(DIST) $(SOURCE) \ + 'BinaryRoot' | sort > base_rpm_file_list.txt + ++
+A BinaryRoot directory is generated that reflects the locations, +ownerships, permissions, and contents for all the CVS source +files, compiled binaries, directories, and links as they should eventually +occur on the '/' filesystem location. +
++loncom/build/make_rpm.pl (also available at +CPAN) is robust (tested over the +span of months) and, unlike other automated RPM-builders, cleanly +builds new RPMs without any after-effect of temporary files left +on the system. The generated RPM is labeled in the format +LON-CAPA-base-(VERSION)-(RELEASE).i386. VERSION is specified inside the +Makefile. +
+