Annotation of loncom/build/readme.html, revision 1.11
1.11 ! harris41 1: <HTML>
! 2: <HEAD>
! 3: <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Scott Harrison and Emacs Version 3.14159265358979">
! 4: <TITLE>LON-CAPA Software Developer Instructions</TITLE>
! 5: </HEAD>
! 6: <BODY>
1.1 harris41 7: <H1>LON-CAPA Software Developer Instructions</H1>
8:
1.2 harris41 9: <OL>
10: <LI><A HREF="#Using_CVS">Using CVS</A>
11: <UL>
12: <LI><A HREF="#cvslog">Logging in and out (cvs login; cvs logout)</A>
13: <LI><A HREF="#cvsget">Getting files (cvs update -d)</A>
14: <LI><A HREF="#cvsupdate">Updating files (cvs update -d)</A>
15: <LI><A HREF="#cvssave">Saving files (cvs commit)</A>
16: <LI><A HREF="#cvsadd">Adding files (cvs add)</A>
17: <LI><A HREF="#cvsadddir">Adding directories (cvs add/import)</A>
18: <LI><A HREF="#cvsnotsure">What to do when you're not sure about your files (cvs update)</A>
19: </UL>
20: <LI><A HREF="#makeHTML">Viewing the software (make HTML)</A>
21: <LI><A HREF="#makebuild">Compiling the software (make build)</A>
22: <LI><A HREF="#loncapafiles">Adding/removing files from the LON-CAPA installation (doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html)</A>
23: <LI><A HREF="#configversusnonconfig">Configurable files versus non-configurable files</A>
24: <LI><A HREF="#makeinstall">Updating the non-configurable files on your machine (make install)</A>
25: <LI><A HREF="#makeconfiginstall">Updating the configurable files on your machine (make configinstall)</A>
26: <LI><A HREF="#makeRPM">Building RPMs (make RPM)</A>
27: </OL>
28:
29: <OL>
30: <A NAME="Using_CVS">
31: <LI><H2>Using CVS</H2>
1.1 harris41 32: <UL>
1.2 harris41 33: <LI><A NAME="cvslog">
34: <H3>Using CVS: Logging in and out (cvs login; cvs logout)</H3>
35: <LI><A NAME="cvsget">
36: <H3>Using CVS: Getting files (cvs update -d)</H3>
37: <LI><A NAME="cvsupdate">
1.4 harris41 38: <H3>Using CVS: Updating files (cvs update -d)</H3>
1.2 harris41 39: <LI><A NAME="cvssave">
1.4 harris41 40: <H3>Using CVS: Saving files (cvs commit)</H3>
1.2 harris41 41: <LI><A NAME="cvsadd">
1.4 harris41 42: <H3>Using CVS: Adding files (cvs add)</H3>
1.2 harris41 43: <LI><A NAME="cvsadddir">
1.4 harris41 44: <H3>Using CVS: Adding directories (cvs add/import)</H3>
1.2 harris41 45: <LI><A NAME="cvsnotsure">
1.4 harris41 46: <H3>Using CVS: What to do when you're not sure about your files (cvs update)</H3>
1.1 harris41 47: </UL>
1.2 harris41 48: <LI><A NAME="makeHTML">
1.3 harris41 49: <H2>Viewing the software (make HTML)</H2>
1.5 harris41 50: <STRONG>Commands</STRONG>
51: <FONT COLOR="#008800">
52: <PRE>
53: cd loncom/build
1.8 harris41 54: rm -Rf HTML <I>(or alternatively, "make clean")</I>
1.5 harris41 55: make HTML
56: cd HTML
57: <I>(look at the index.html file with a web browser such as Netscape)</I>
58: </PRE>
59: </FONT>
1.6 harris41 60: <STRONG>General description of what happens</STRONG>
61: <P>
62: This is the actual make target code.
63: <FONT COLOR="#880000">
64: <PRE>
65: <!-- LONCAPA MAKETARGET=HTML START -->
66: HTML:
67: install -d HTML
68: cp ../../doc/loncapafiles/*.gif HTML
1.7 harris41 69: perl parse.pl ../../doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html HTML > HTML/index.html
1.6 harris41 70: <!-- LONCAPA MAKETARGET=HTML END -->
71: </PRE>
72: </FONT>
1.7 harris41 73: What basically happens is that specially marked-up data in the LON-CAPA
74: cvs repository file <TT>doc/loncapafiles.html</TT> is parsed into a more
75: viewable format by <TT>loncom/build/parse.pl</TT>. The resulting
76: file gives a very well organized view of all the files, directories,
77: links, ownerships, permissions, and brief documentation of what each
78: file does.
1.6 harris41 79: </P>
1.2 harris41 80: <LI><A NAME="makebuild">
1.3 harris41 81: <H2>Compiling the software (make build)</H2>
1.8 harris41 82: <STRONG>Commands</STRONG>
83: <FONT COLOR="#008800">
84: <PRE>
85: cd loncom/build
1.9 harris41 86: make build
1.8 harris41 87: </PRE>
88: </FONT>
89: <STRONG>General description of what happens</STRONG>
90: <P>
91: This is the actual make target code.
92: <FONT COLOR="#880000">
93: <PRE>
94: <!-- LONCAPA MAKETARGET=HTML START -->
95: build:
96: perl parse.pl ../../doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html build > Makefile.build
97: make -f Makefile.build all
98: <!-- LONCAPA MAKETARGET=HTML END -->
99: </PRE>
100: </FONT>
101: <TT>loncom/build/parse.pl</TT> reads in all the build information out
1.10 harris41 102: of <TT>doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html</TT>. A new Makefile named
1.8 harris41 103: <TT>loncom/build/Makefile.build</TT> is dynamically constructed.
104: This dynamically generated Makefile is then run to build/compile
105: all the software targets from source. This currently takes 10 minutes
106: (depends on the speed of the machine you compile with).
107: </P>
108: <STRONG>Example</STRONG>
109: <P>
110: Here is information for one file <TT>tth.so</TT> provided in
111: <TT>doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html</TT>.
1.9 harris41 112: <FONT COLOR="#330066">
1.8 harris41 113: <PRE>
114: <BR><METAGROUP>
115: <BR><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">
116: <BR><DESCRIPTION>
117: <BR>shared library file for dynamic loading and unloading of TeX-to-HTML functionality
118: <BR></DESCRIPTION>
119: <BR><BUILD>
120: <BR>loncom/modules/TexConvert/tthperl/commands
121: <BR></BUILD>
122: <BR><DEPENDENCIES>
123: <BR>../tthdynamic/tthfunc.c
124: <BR>../ttmdynamic/ttmfunc.c
125: <BR></DEPENDENCIES>
126: </PRE>
127: </FONT>
128: <TT>loncom/build/parse.pl</TT> sees the <B>BUILD</B> tags and sets up
129: a dynamic file <TT>Makefile.build</TT> to run the command inside the
130: <B>BUILD</B> tags (currently, <B>DEPENDENCIES</B> is not used for anything
131: besides documentation).
132: </P>
133: <P>
134: Here is an example of a dynamically generated <TT>Makefile.build</TT>
1.11 ! harris41 135: that builds two LON-CAPA files (one of which is <TT>tth.so</TT>).
1.9 harris41 136: <FONT COLOR="#330066">
1.8 harris41 137: <PRE>
138: all: ../homework/caparesponse/capa.so ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/tth.so
139:
140: ../homework/caparesponse/capa.so: ../homework/caparesponse/caparesponse.c ../ho
141: mework/caparesponse/caparesponse.pm alwaysrun
142: cd ../homework/caparesponse/; sh ./commands
143:
144: ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/tth.so: ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/../tthdynam
145: ic/tthfunc.c ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/../ttmdynamic/ttmfunc.c
146: cd ../modules/TexConvert/tthperl/; sh ./commands
147:
148: alwaysrun:
149: </PRE>
150: </FONT>
151: </P>
1.2 harris41 152: <LI><A NAME="loncapafiles">
1.3 harris41 153: <H2>Adding/removing files from the LON-CAPA installation (doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html)</H2>
1.11 ! harris41 154: <STRONG>To add and remove (and alter)</STRONG>
! 155: All that you have to do to alter the behavior of the installation is
! 156: edit a single file (<TT>doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html</TT>).
! 157: Adding, removing, and altering files requires proper attention
! 158: to the syntax of file format of course.
! 159: <STRONG>File Format</STRONG>
! 160: <P>
! 161: The preceding <A HREF=#"makebuild">"make build"</A> documentation
! 162: gives an example <B>METAGROUP</B> entry describing one particular file.
! 163: All data within <TT>loncapafiles.html</TT> is specified according
! 164: to markup tags. The format and syntax of <TT>loncapafiles.html</TT>
! 165: is currently best described by the HTML documentation code at the beginning of
! 166: loncapafiles.html (as well as, by example, seeing how various
! 167: information is coded). All in all, the syntax is quite simple.
! 168: </P>
! 169: <STRONG>Philosophy and notes (the thing nobody reads)</STRONG>
! 170: <P>
! 171: Packaging the software from CVS onto a machine file system requires many
! 172: things:
! 173: <UL>
! 174: <LI>documenting every component of the software,
! 175: <LI>handling CVS <U>source</U> to file system <U>target</U> information
! 176: <LI>handling (according to a hierarchical scheme of grouping) file
! 177: ownership and permissions,
! 178: <LI>handling (according to a hierarchical scheme of grouping) directory
! 179: ownership and permissions,
! 180: <LI>handling symbolic links
! 181: <LI>providing for multiple options of installation targets
! 182: (RedHat versus Debian for instance),
! 183: <LI>providing for different file ownerships and permissions to apply
! 184: to the same file,
! 185: <LI>allowing system software documentation to be automatically generated
! 186: (see information on <A HREF="#makeHTML">"make html"</A>),
! 187: <LI>providing information in an easily adjustable form as new demands
! 188: are made on the software packaging system,
! 189: <LI>providing software package information (for RPM),
! 190: <LI>having information in a format that allows for troubleshooting
! 191: the current status of the machine file system,
! 192: <LI>allow for changes to the structure of the CVS repository,
! 193: <LI>and something that is simple enough for any one to immediately work with,
! 194: without having to learn specifics (or hidden traps) of complicated Makefile's
! 195: or a new macro language (m4?).
! 196: </UL>
! 197: </P>
! 198: <P>
! 199: I looked into, and tried, different ways of accomplishing the above
! 200: including automake and recursive make. The automake system seemed quite
! 201: complicated (and needlessly so in terms of this project since, by and large,
! 202: it works to coordinate many different types of build/compilation parameters
! 203: whereas we are more concerned with installation parameters). Recursive make
! 204: has significant deficiencies in the sense that not all the information
! 205: is kept in one place, and there are significant levels of dependency
! 206: between all the things that must be done to keep software packaging
! 207: up to date. A particularly convincing article I found when looking into
! 208: much of this was
! 209: <A HREF="http://www.pcug.org.au/~millerp/rmch/recu-make-cons-harm.html">
! 210: "Recursive Make Considered Harmful" by Peter Miller</A>. Complicating
! 211: matters was, at the time, it was unclear as to what categories
! 212: of software files we had, and whether or not the directory structure
! 213: of CVS would remain constant. With an ever-developing directory structure
! 214: to CVS, I preferred to organize the information on a per-file basis
! 215: as opposed to a per-directory basis (although there is a successful
! 216: implementation of a standard big Makefile in <TT>loncom/Makefile</TT>).
! 217: Additionally, a standard big Makefile assumes certain "normalcy" to
! 218: the directory structure of different potential operating system directories
! 219: (RedHat vs. Debian).
! 220: </P>
! 221: <P>
! 222: If you take time to look at loncapafiles.html
! 223: (and perhaps run the <A HREF="#makeHTML">make HTML</A> command)
! 224: you will find that the organizing information according to the markup
! 225: syntax in <TT>loncapafiles.html</TT> is simple. Simple is good.
! 226: </P>
! 227: <P>
! 228: <TT>loncom/build/parse.pl</TT> is the script (invoked automatically
! 229: by the various targets in <TT>loncom/build/Makefile</TT>) that reads
! 230: <TT>doc/loncapafiles/loncapafiles.html</TT>. <TT>parse.pl</TT>
! 231: is capable of reading and returning different types of information
! 232: from <TT>loncapafiles.html</TT> depending on how <TT>parse.pl</TT>
! 233: is invoked. <TT>parse.pl</TT> has yet to have introduced new sources
! 234: of error, and has been tested in quite a number of ways. As with
! 235: any parser however, I remain paranoid.
! 236: </P>
! 237: <P>
! 238: My regrets with the current system is that <TT>parse.pl</TT> is
! 239: slow (can take 1 minute to run) and includes a few tidbits of code,
! 240: specific to the make process, that probably should be in
! 241: <TT>loncom/build/Makefile</TT>. Additionally, <TT>loncapafiles.html</TT>
! 242: should have a DTD and all those other good SGML-ish things (and parsing
! 243: should be done with a real SGML-derived parser).
! 244: </P>
! 245: <P>
! 246: On the plus side, the <TT>parse.pl</TT>-<TT>loncapafiles.html</TT>
! 247: combination has been working very efficiently and error-free.
! 248: </P>
1.2 harris41 249: <LI><A NAME="configversusnonconfig">
1.3 harris41 250: <H2>Configurable files versus non-configurable files</H2>
1.2 harris41 251: <LI><A NAME="makeinstall">
1.3 harris41 252: <H2>Updating the non-configurable files on your machine (make install)</H2>
1.2 harris41 253: <LI><A NAME="makeconfiginstall">
1.3 harris41 254: <H2>Updating the configurable files on your machine (make configinstall)</H2>
1.2 harris41 255: <LI><A NAME="makeRPM">
1.3 harris41 256: <H2>Building RPMs (make RPM)</H2>
1.2 harris41 257: </OL>
1.11 ! harris41 258: </BODY>
! 259: </HTML>
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