Hi, I'm working (much slower than what I'd like because of Real World
issues) in the packaging of web2py.
Most of the work is done, excepting for a recurrent problem:
permissions
Trying to fullfil the FHS (
http://wiki.debian.org/FilesystemHierarchyStandard ) , I've moved the gluon
libraries to its python place (no problem at all, it works perfectly),
prepared a web2py launcher in /usr/bin [1] , and move some things to
/usr/share/web2py/ :
applications deposit logs site-packages VERSION web2py.py welcome.w2p
making a directory applications at any place at the computer directory, an
user can execute web2py to launch it all.
The application directory will be created by the web2py launcher, adding the
folder option to the gluon.widget.start option.
The application contains a symbolic link to
/usr/share/web2py/applications/admin and another
to /usr/share/web2py/application/welcome.
But I'm fighting against permissions in the admin folder all the time. First
for cron (I don't see why starting with cron=True needs to open the file
with wb permissions, if not new cron is created), but this issue is solved
using cron=False when launching the process.
Next step is with permissions in the welcome application (appart of creating
the databases, errors, sessions, private, uploads and cache directories).
It's clear that this application database directory must be in the user
homeland to be able to administrate the applications he adds or creates .
So, I'm thinking of doing a complete copy (better rsync for future updates)
of the welcome application directory to the directory where web2py is
launched. Anyway, I don't like this approach as it's not very clean from my
point of view, so I wonder if it would be possible to use a database
directory for an application (I only need the welcome application, but maybe
it makes sense for other cases) in a place different from
application_name/databases.
Also, maybe I should explain the rationale behind this directories
movements: keeping the FHS design in linux, but giving to the user the
possibility of creating where he wants (and has permissions) the structure
of the applications. Also, when the debian package is updated (updating the
/usr/share/web2py, gluon libraries and web2py launcher) , the user must be
using the latest web2py version installed, not a previous one. If anyone has
better ideas they're welcome, as well as any help in the modification of the
web2py routes. I'd prefer not to patch any code in the original web2py
sources, to follow totally the web2py development, but if I have to patch
the welcome application I'll do it. Anyway I know I'll have to patch the
admin application in order to remove the remote upgrade of web2py as this
option is not allowed in Debian packages (it's removed from firefox or
openoffice too).
Regards
José L.
[1] /usr/bin/web2py script:
#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import os
import sys
try:
path = '/usr/share/web2py'
os.chdir(path)
except NameError:
path = os.getcwd() # Seems necessary for py2exe
try:
sys.path.remove(path)
except ValueError:
pass
sys.path.insert(0, path)
# import gluon.import_all # This should be uncommented for py2exe.py
import gluon.widget
# Start Web2py and Web2py cron service!
gluon.widget.start(cron=False)
