-
+
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
+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
@@ -126,7 +133,7 @@ besides documentation).
Here is an example of a dynamically generated Makefile.build
-that builds two LON-CAPA files (one of which is tth.so.
+that builds two LON-CAPA files (one of which is tth.so).
all: ../homework/caparesponse/capa.so ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/tth.so
@@ -145,12 +152,275 @@ alwaysrun:
+All that you have to do to alter the behavior of the installation is +edit a single file (doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html). +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 +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) ++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 +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 +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). +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) +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 +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 +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. +
+The current list of configurable files for the LON-CAPA system is +/etc/httpd/access.conf, /etc/smb.conf, /etc/ntp.conf, /etc/krb.conf, +/etc/atalk/config, /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 +as msua3, s1, s2, msul1, and 103a1 (specified as a "PerlSetVar lonHostID" +field within /etc/httpd/access.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 +
+cd loncom/build +make install ++ +General description of what happens +
+This is the actual make target code.
+
+
+
+install: build
+ perl parse.pl ../../doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html install > Makefil
+e.install
+ make -f Makefile.install SOURCE="../.." TARGET="" directories
+ make -f Makefile.install SOURCE="../.." TARGET="" files
+ make -f Makefile.install SOURCE="../.." TARGET="" links
+
+
+
+For safety reasons (so as to not mess up a machine's configuration),
+configuration files are NOT installed during this step. This means
+that files such as /etc/httpd/access.conf, /etc/smb.conf, /etc/atalk/config,
+/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:
+ # there is a dependency on having directories in place, but oh well...
+ perl parse.pl ../../doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html configinstall > Makefile.configinstall
+ make -f Makefile.configinstall SOURCE="../.." TARGET="" configfiles
+ perl loncaparestoreconfigurations lasttimestamp
+ make -f Makefile.configinstall TARGET="" configpermissions
+
+
+
+Configuration files are installed during this step. This means
+that files such as /etc/httpd/access.conf, /etc/smb.conf, /etc/atalk/config,
+/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 upon all
+the configuration files.
+
+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, a backup copy is always made (time-stamped so that backup +copies are not overwritten). +
+cd loncom/build +rm -Rf BinaryRootL (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") ++ + +WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! +
+Never never never never never manually install the +LON-CAPA-setup-3.1-1.i386.rpm. This RPM is meant to only be +installed by the CD installation process (it wipes out +the existing /etc/passwd file). +
+Configuration files ++Configuration files are automatically saved with the file suffix +".rpmsave". So /etc/httpd/conf/access.conf is saved as +/etc/httpd/conf/access.conf.rpmsave. You can restore +the machine-specific configuration information by running +the /usr/sbin/loncaparestoreconfigurations. However, +a warning is important here. 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
+ cat base_file_list.txt | perl make_rpm.pl base 3.1 '' '' BinaryRoot
+ cat setup_file_list.txt | perl make_rpm.pl setup 3.1 '' '' BinaryRoot
+
+BinaryRoot:
+ perl parse.pl ../../doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html BinaryRoot
+
+
+
+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 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. (On the negative side, there are a number of +LON-CAPA specific customizations inside make_rpm.pl which, for +the sake of reusability, should eventually be removed). Two new RPMs +are generated: LON-CAPA-base-3.1-1.i386 and LON-CAPA-setup-3.1-1.i386.rpm +(again, never manually install LON-CAPA-setup-3.1-1.i386.rpm). +