Debian Packaging

sudo apt-get install mifos...

Contact

Please email the mifos-developer list if you are interested in helping on this project.

Overview

Work with the Mifos team in packaging Mifos as a .deb.

Terminology

• deb - Debian software package
• war - web archive

Time Estimate

~30 hours

Prerequisite experience

Debian packaging, building Java software.

Background

A Mifos .deb software package would greatly ease installation of Mifos onto platforms supporting the .deb file format.

Details

Requirements for Binary .deb Package(s)

• main deb includes Mifos .war file (yep, all 52 megabytes)
• if the target is a production system with separate database and app/web servers, it's more likely to be:
  • apt-get install mifos-db on the database server
  • apt-get install mifos-app on the app/web server
• depends on
  • MySQL
  • a Java Runtime environment
  • Apache Tomcat
• post-install (or configure?) step helps user set up MySQL database. Run in two parts?
  • create the database and users, and grant permissions in apt-get install mifos-db
  • run the SQL scripts distributed with the release package in apt-get install mifos-app
• package name should be simply "mifos"
  • see previous remarks about a split package for production. Package "mifos" could simply call both sub-packages and only prompt for common information once.
  • debian package names normally reflect the version number, so it's more likely to be something like mifos-1.2.0
• should automate as much as possible of steps listed in UbuntuWARInstall
• package should follow some existing set of sane guidelines for creating Debian packages (please link to which guidelines are followed here). See the apos; Guide for further information.
• package should be ready-to-submit to Debian itself
  • there's quite a process to go through to be accepted on debian.org.
  • may be worth considering setting up a repository on mifos.org.
• package must also work in Ubuntu 8.04 and 9.04

Building

• process (scripts/etc.) to build .deb package also require Subversion and a Java Development Kit
  • is this necessary? Could pick up a pre-built WAR from mifos.org...

Proposed Phased Rollout

• Phase: Initial
  • very simple (almost useless), just drops WAR from mifos.org into a certain directory and provides link to INSTALL file
  • this is just a proof-of-concept that we can create a .deb package
  • DONE see resources/linux/build_deb_package.sh in the head repository
• Phase: Intermediate
  • package has proper dependencies
  • package interactively assists with database connection
  • package is ready to be served from a Mifos-hosted Debian package repository
  • package is installable on latest Ubuntu LTS release
• Phase: Advanced
  • package follows all Debian guidelines (see Apache Solr project debian packages for examples)
  • package interactively assists with Mifos configuration (locale and trapdoor settings)
  • package is ready to submit to Debian itself
  • package is installable on latest Ubuntu non-LTS release