Hi,
On 11 May 2011 15:57, Tim Donohue <tdono...@duraspace.org> wrote:
> The missing piece here that you may not have understood is that the DSpace
> "Easy Installer" actually is automating more of the install processes.
>
That's why I said it would be good to know more about it. I realized it
would be doing things in one step vs. following a 20 step process in the
documentation, but I didn't know what shape it would be taking.
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.
>
I think the number of steps are right. But I wonder if it would be worth
prototyping the other form - a zip of the 'regular' dspace/dspace project,
bundled with Maven and Ant, and with script(s) that ask questions to modify
the configuration files and run the Maven and Ant steps for you.
Yes, it would take longer to execute the Maven assembly, and you would have
to have internet connectivity in order to execute it. But in terms of user
steps, it's the same thing, and the advantage is that it gives you a
'proper' environment for customizations (ie. branding).
As long as we aren't doing things like bundling a java db, then there is no
particular reason why this couldn't be used as the basis of creating a
production setup.
Basically, it comes down to asking whether we've understood the pain points
correctly - if we remove / reduce the need to follow documentation, if we
remove the need to obtain the correct version of tools (maven/ant), if we
take the basic config requirements from being buried in the file structure
to being a few simple questions, if we reduce the number of commands typed
and remove the changing up/down of directories - does it really matter if
the unattended portion takes few minutes, and downloads a bunch of things
from the internet? (*)
(* leaving aside for a minute the question of 'what happens when it doesn't
work')
I'm not convinced that we aren't just guessing at that.
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:
>
Whilst this is possible, I'm not sure it's really worth maintaining an
installer to do this, versus simply configuring a VM that people can either
download and run with (free) VMware or VirtualBox, or have it already in the
Amazon public images so that they can simply fire up a new instance there.
That might not have the full reach that an installer does, but it might be a
lot more useful to the ones that do use it, as it could get some things
right with regards to database installation / backup that it could be
reasonably used in a production scenario.
G
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