RiscPkg packaging

I noticed you mentioned (on Drobe) you needed volunteers to create RiscPkg packages of some of the available downloads from ROOL. I’m not ready to volunteer yet, but would be interested in at least clearing up some questions I have about the packages here to see what needs to be done. I know how to create RiscPkg packages, so my questions will be about the ROOL packages specificaly. The first thing I would like to know is where you got to with your discussions with Graham Shaw of the RiscPkg project? I’m sure I’ve seen somewhere that such discussions took place.

All we discussed with Graham was whether it was a viable idea and a bit about how the packaging system works. The obvious place to start would be the desktop applications, but we’ve not had time ourselves – hence the request for a volunteer. :)

1. Where are the application built to in the build enviromment?
2. Where should the final packages be put on disc before being uploaded?
3. Where should I put the Obey files, partial Control files and tools I create into the build environment?
4. Who should I put in the maintainer field? I need a name and a email address. Obviously I could just put myself, but it would be better it there was an official ROOL address for this.
5. We need to sort out the Copyright file for the package. I’m thinking of a few lines saying package name and version and released under castle shared source licence with a reference to where this licence can be downloaded. Does this sound OK?
6. I haven’t got the Castle tools or the time to set up a real build environment. Will there be somebody who can test my routines work in the real environment?
7. All files will need to be inside the application directory. The licence is covered above, but can I dispense with the readme in the binary downloads?
8. To increase the automation I want to get the version number from the application itself. With Maestro I notice its in the Messages file. However it doesn’t seem to match the version of the download on the website. Should I be able to use the messages file? Or is there some other technique?

I think that’s all for now, but I may come up with some more questions when I start building the directory structure for the website and add more packages.

I’ve done a bit more testing and now have a system and created packages for Maestro, Paint and MineHunt that seem to work OK from a dummy website on my local disc.

Before trying any more it would be helpful if we could have a go at running my Obeyfiles/programs on a real build machine and uploading the results to a test website.

Can anyone help with this?

• zip
• roolpkg a C program I created with gcc using the SharedCLibrary
• pkgindex a C++ program I created with gcc, this would need the SharedUnixLibrary on the system. Is this a problem?
• Some way of getting the resulting website to the webserver. How is this done for the existing downloads?