Hi Graham, On 5/11/2011 6:06 AM, Graham Triggs wrote: > At one level, I still find it curious that asking people to run: > > mvn packge > > or > > ant fresh_install > > can be considered to be more confusing/harder than running 'install-dspace'. > > Admittedly, I don't like that we are asking people to do a combination > of Maven and Ant tasks. I don't like that we've made our Maven > configuration more complex than it needs to be.
The missing piece here that you may not have understood is that the DSpace "Easy Installer" actually is automating more of the install processes. So, for example, our *current* DSpace 1.7.x installation instructions includes these basic steps (I've simplified them here, just to save space): 1. Install all Prerequisites (DB, Java, Tomcat,Maven, Ant) 2. Download DSpace 3. Perform initial configuration (by editing dspace.cfg) 4. Package DSpace (mvn package) 5. Install DSpace (ant fresh_install) 6. Deploy DSpace to Tomcat (copy over WARs or configure Tomcat appropriately) 7. Startup Tomcat & access via web. In contrast, the DSpace "Easy Installer" requires the following steps: 1. Install (fewer) Prerequisites (DB, Java, Tomcat) 2. Download DSpace Installer 3. Run Installer (this prompts user with information to auto-fill out their primary settings in dspace.cfg, and auto-install DSpace to specified location, etc.) 4. Deploy DSpace to Tomcat 5. Startup Tomcat & access via web. You'll notice, there are some steps which are now more *automated* in the Easy Installer. The user no longer needs to manually Package & Install (via Maven & Ant commands), AND the user no longer needs to locate the 'dspace.cfg' and figure out how to fill out the main configs there (instead they are presented with more 'user friendly' prompts for much of the basic info required there). Obviously, the system admin still should check & configure DSpace via the dspace.cfg eventually (once they are working towards a production instance). But, the "Easy Installer" lets them get a demo/sample instance up and running more quickly (in a matter of ~10 minutes, once the prerequisites are installed). Obviously, as Mark has mentioned, we could streamline this even further. Eventually, there could even be a "Extremely Quick" install option in the "Easy Installer", wherein perhaps all you need to do is the following: 1. Install Java 2. Download DSpace Installer 3. Run Installer (this prompts user for basic dspace.cfg info, auto-sets up an in-memory DB, and installs an embedded, pre-configured Tomcat option) 4. Startup Tomcat & Access via web. Again, it's worth stressing all of these are just *OPTIONS*. In my opinion, if you wanted to you should always be allowed to continue to build DSpace from Source (via Maven & Ant), and you should always be allowed (and likely encouraged for Production installs) to install a separate DB & Tomcat. (I.e. if an 'in-memory DB' became an option, it definitely should not be recommended for Production installs) Feedback & thoughts definitely welcome! Again, more basic info on the "Easy Installer" prototype is at: https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/DSPACE/InstallerPrototype - Tim ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Achieve unprecedented app performance and reliability What every C/C++ and Fortran developer should know. Learn how Intel has extended the reach of its next-generation tools to help boost performance applications - inlcuding clusters. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-dev2devmay _______________________________________________ Dspace-devel mailing list Dspace-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dspace-devel
