automated installation

mircea · Post by **mircea** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 11:25 pm

Hi everyone,
and congratulations for all the good work ! the 0.7beta3 is just perfect!

I installed it as a shared installation so that I can host different blogs on the same box.
Everything went just fine, I log every new user in a mysql db, I have a set of perl and bash scripts which make everything automatic.
The registered user receiving an email with the url of her blog and her login/passwd to log in.

But well, I was trying to figure out a way to have also the final installation step automated like for example, it would be excellent for the user, when clicking on the url of her blog in the email she receives after registering, to just drop in the administration page where she could just publish a message or choose a template without any other fuss!

Any hint as to how to make this possible will be greatly appreciated!
I'm sure there's a simple way to pass all the variables like INSTALL_CAT_DB_DESC, INSTALL_CAT_SETTINGS_DESC or INSTALL_CAT_PATHS_DESC directly to the right script!
I'm able to send those vars, but I don't know where !

Thank u all!

mircea

Post by **jhermanns** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 3:34 pm

what exactly do you mean? the installation process that asks for all the info like paths, db access and so on?

mircea · Post by **mircea** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 9:45 pm

yes exactly this,
I would like to find a way to avoid going thru this page, as I'll take care of all these informations in the *back office* so to speak.

I would like to make all the process very smooth for my users that have no idea what a database is, or a path, or any configuration option.

When they *register*, I do ask them for a login name, a password and the title and description of the blog, then I'd like to take care myself of the name of the database, of the tables and path.

As serendipity works normally, when you first enter on the page of the blog you've just installed, you have to click on the link :
Serendipity is not installed yet. You may install it now.
I would like to send the user directly on her blog, or on her admin interface without having to make herself that aforementioned step!

Thanks for your time!

mircea!

romulus · Post by **romulus** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 9:53 pm

I'm not a s9y developer but I know that this message only comes when there is no "serendipity_config_local.inc.php" in s9y folder. In this file the database information is stored. You can try to create and fill this file for yourself, create the database and tables and so on and the user should not see this message again.
What I don't know is, if the other config options get set to standard or if they are "not defined".

Try it it should be easy I think

mircea · Post by **mircea** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 10:56 pm

Thanks for the tip and indeed, I've noticed this file which stores all the information by default : ( serendipity_config_local.tpl by me ) but that would not avoid the step of the configuration file, just fill in all the fields with the appropriate values.
I'm afraid, this will still be to confusing for my users, and I'd rather skip alltogether that step by going directly to the administration suite!

Post by **jhermanns** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 10:04 am

romulus is right in a way. while serendipity_config_local.inc.php holds vital information, it's not all you need. it only stores the credentials needed to access the database, from where everyting else is read (paths, other config, etc...).

what you could do, mircea, is simulate the post request that is done when the user fills out the configuration. just read the nessecary variables from the original setup page and perform the http request with your script.

that would work?

romulus · Post by **romulus** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 10:58 am

why not write a installer for youself? Basically you must do what the s9y installer does, only with predefined variables. Take the existing installer as an example what to do, strip the user input stuff and it should work.

mircea · Post by **mircea** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 12:06 pm

jhermanns wrote:what you could do, mircea, is simulate the post request that is done when the user fills out the configuration. just read the nessecary variables from the original setup page and perform the http request with your script.

That's just what I thought I'd do if there was no other way, and I guess it might work, so I'll try and go for it.

romulus wrote:why not write a installer for youself? Basically you must do what the s9y installer does, only with predefined variables. Take the existing installer as an example what to do, strip the user input stuff and it should work.

This would indeed be the best solution.
If the other workaround doesn't work, I'll go for that one!

Thank you both very much for your insights, and I'll keep you informed!

mircea

mircea · Post by **mircea** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 9:15 pm

this message only to tell you that I did as jhermanns proposed and as I originally meant, ie. by simulating a post request, and this works pretty well.
I still think of going someday thru the installer as romulus suggested, but as for now it's ok.
Thank you all for your advices!
mircea