Getting started with packaging PHP Webapps / time frame / templates?

[Joop Kiefte]

Hello y'all,

I'm new to this list and don't even know if my question is appropriate, but can you help me getting started with packaging a PHP/mysql webapp (for internal usage, inhouse software)? I have found some tutorials but there are some gaps. For example the software is in a Mercurial repository so I downloaded mercurial-buildpackage, but the documentation of this one is sparse. What would you normally use as basic setup for this kind of packages? What do I need to pay attention to?

Thanks for your attention,

Joop Kiefte
LaunchIT

[Tanguy Ortolo]

Post by Joop Kiefte
I'm new to this list and don't even know if my question is
appropriate, but can you help me getting started with packaging a
PHP/mysql webapp (for internal usage, inhouse software)?

Compared to packaging other type of software, packaging PHP has more
things is common than specificities. Therefore, I suggest that you start
with the new maintainer guide [1].

[1] http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/

Post by Joop Kiefte
I have found some tutorials but there are some gaps. For example the
software is in a Mercurial repository so I downloaded
mercurial-buildpackage, but the documentation of this one is sparse.

First, you have to understand that, from an external point of view, a
Debian (souce) package is based on the upstream tarball, not on its code
repository. Using Mercurial or whatever is only your choice for
maintaining the package more easily. Using the same VCS than upstream
can be more effective, but only if you know how to use it correctly.

Post by Joop Kiefte
What would you normally use as basic setup for this kind of packages?
What do I need to pay attention to?

PHP software does not require compilation, but only to install files at
the proper location, e.g. with dh_install(1): have a look to other
similar packages (for instance my package dokuwiki). As it uses a
database, you may be interested by the package dbconfig-common, but I
never used it so I cannot tell you more.
--
,--.
: /` ) Tanguy Ortolo <xmpp:***@ortolo.eu> <irc://irc.oftc.net/Tanguy>
| `-' Debian Developer
\_

[Medhamsh]

Hi,

Post by Tanguy Ortolo

Post by Joop Kiefte
I have found some tutorials but there are some gaps. For example the
software is in a Mercurial repository so I downloaded
mercurial-buildpackage, but the documentation of this one is sparse.

First, you have to understand that, from an external point of view, a
Debian (souce) package is based on the upstream tarball, not on its code
repository. Using Mercurial or whatever is only your choice for maintaining
the package more easily. Using the same VCS than upstream can be more
effective, but only if you know how to use it correctly.

According to the man page of mercurial-buildpackage , it is given that
mercurial-buildpackage builds a .deb from a mercurial repository.

So, it just builds a debian binary package according to my understanding.
If that is the case it is ok for an internal use but to submit the package
to the Debian upstream and maintain it you may have to check out the repo
and pack it as a tar.gz.

I am just curious to know what exactly you are packaging.

Sincerely,
--
Medhamsh
Hacktivist | http://medhamsh.org
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