[pmwiki-users] RE: Re: How to 'automatically' keep a deployed PmWiki install up to date?

[chr at home.se]

On Sun, 25 Sep 2005, Crisp, Steve [UK] wrote:

> On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, Crisp, Steve [UK] wrote:
> 
> Use of CVS is a good idea for the repository and transport mechanism
> perhaps with a more 'intelligent' front end comparing what you have
> installed and what versions are available.

I like 'tkcvs' on unix in case you'd like a GUI. There's tortoiseCVS (or 
something like that) on Windows. 

>  Usually you would not want
> to checkout from a CVS branch but the static revision tag of a component
> indicating it's release.

Just use something like

	cvs checkout -r latest-stable pmwiki

where I assume that Patrick has tagged the 'latest-stable' release
accordingly. (Don't use this example verbatim, it's just an illustration 
that it can be done).

> Going down the CVS route, I think each PmWiki plug-in would need to
> include a common named file e.g. ReadMe at the top level.  The
> intelligent front end could parse the CVS log on the ReadMe to present
> to the user the (latest) release revision(s) available for download.

I think we ought to use wiki pages... what about having change logs placed
on wiki pages? I'm pretty sure Patrick keeps a changelog for the wiki
engine at least.

>  I still think a separate repository, let's call it a staging area might
> simplify things especially if the update mechanism needed nothing more
> than you already have to run PmWiki (php, web server, browser).  Unless
> there is a php CVS client class out there that can be reused!

There might be such a client (I'd be surprised if there weren't), but it's 
probably not that diffucult to extend pmwiki to invoke CVS - *except*, 
that the web-server account probably won't have sufficient permissions to 
update the installation...

> Agreed with a Wiki farm as a good practice - centralising the management
> of more than one site.

Here's a slightly related idea about starting a single, separate
sourceforge project for various cookbooks. I'll post about it separately.

/Christian

-- 
Christian Ridderström, +46-8-768 39 44               http://www.md.kth.se/~chr