packaging for net install

[kogger]

Hello all,

I'm in the midst of developping a modular site generating tool that
would allow people to set-up a base install of the site and then add
"modules" to provide custom functionality for their purposes. Some early
examples can be seen at [url]http://silly.kicks-ass.net[/url] and [url]http://kog.ca[/url] (both
sites work with the same "engine" if I can call it that).

At the moment I'm trying to add a feature that would allow users to
choose the modules they want to install from a central server. The module
listing and descriptions would be served up through an xml file. When the
user decides to install a module they would simply click install and the
files would be copied directly from the central server through a script.

Now what I'm wondering is: Does anyone have any idea of the best method
to copy the files over through PHP from a central server is? Would
implememting and anonymous FTP "read only" site make the most sense? What
about compressing the files? I know that the gz family of functions is not
part of the default install in PHP 4+ and I hesitate in requiring users to
add them since many people who use ISPs to host their site do not have that
option. I don't even think it's available for the PHP runnning on Windows
and I would like the solution to work on all server types. I would love to
have some ideas thrown at me here. I'm willing to try anything.

Kogger

[kogger]

In my post I mentioned the [url]http://silly.kicks-ass.net[/url] as a working example
of the engine I'm writing. Please be warned that the content of the
postings can be of dubious taste. I have no control over the content but I
thought it would be polite to issue a warning.


kogger wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm in the midst of developping a modular site generating tool that
> would allow people to set-up a base install of the site and then add
> "modules" to provide custom functionality for their purposes. Some
> early examples can be seen at [url]http://silly.kicks-ass.net[/url] and
> [url]http://kog.ca[/url] (both sites work with the same "engine" if I can call
> it that).
> At the moment I'm trying to add a feature that would allow users to
> choose the modules they want to install from a central server. The
> module listing and descriptions would be served up through an xml
> file. When the user decides to install a module they would simply
> click install and the files would be copied directly from the central
> server through a script.
> Now what I'm wondering is: Does anyone have any idea of the best
> method to copy the files over through PHP from a central server is? Would
> implememting and anonymous FTP "read only" site make the most
> sense? What about compressing the files? I know that the gz family
> of functions is not part of the default install in PHP 4+ and I
> hesitate in requiring users to add them since many people who use
> ISPs to host their site do not have that option. I don't even think
> it's available for the PHP runnning on Windows and I would like the
> solution to work on all server types. I would love to have some ideas
> thrown at me here. I'm willing to try anything.
> Kogger

[Andreas Frey]

> Now what I'm wondering is: Does anyone have any idea of the best method

> to copy the files over through PHP from a central server is? Would
> implememting and anonymous FTP "read only" site make the most sense? What
> about compressing the files? I know that the gz family of functions is not
> part of the default install in PHP 4+ and I hesitate in requiring users to
> add them since many people who use ISPs to host their site do not have that
> option. I don't even think it's available for the PHP runnning on Windows
> and I would like the solution to work on all server types. I would love to
> have some ideas thrown at me here. I'm willing to try anything.

just make an fopen on your server.
fopen("http://www.yxc.de?module=blog");

then return php-code which generates the new files. You will make this in a loop
and often again call this function to avoid servert timeouts.

Hope this idea helps ...

Greetings Andy

[kogger]

Hi Andreas,

this is a good idea. I'll try it out and see how it handles things. I'm
curious to see if any problems will come up if I try to transfer some image
(ie binary) files.

thanks for the suggestion.

Andreas Frey wrote:

>> Now what I'm wondering is: Does anyone have any idea of the best
>> method to copy the files over through PHP from a central server is? Would
>> implememting and anonymous FTP "read only" site make the most
>> sense? What about compressing the files? I know that the gz family
>> of functions is not part of the default install in PHP 4+ and I
>> hesitate in requiring users to add them since many people who use
>> ISPs to host their site do not have that option. I don't even think
>> it's available for the PHP runnning on Windows and I would like the
>> solution to work on all server types. I would love to have some
>> ideas thrown at me here. I'm willing to try anything.

>
> just make an fopen on your server.
> fopen("http://www.yxc.de?module=blog");
>
> then return php-code which generates the new files. You will make
> this in a loop and often again call this function to avoid servert
> timeouts.
> Hope this idea helps ...
>
> Greetings Andy

[kogger]

Hey Andreas,

just wanted to pop in and say that your idea worked out great. I was
enven able to throw in some error handling and rollback if something goes
wrong.

Thanks for the idea.

Andreas Frey wrote:

>> Now what I'm wondering is: Does anyone have any idea of the best
>> method to copy the files over through PHP from a central server is? Would
>> implememting and anonymous FTP "read only" site make the most
>> sense? What about compressing the files? I know that the gz family
>> of functions is not part of the default install in PHP 4+ and I
>> hesitate in requiring users to add them since many people who use
>> ISPs to host their site do not have that option. I don't even think
>> it's available for the PHP runnning on Windows and I would like the
>> solution to work on all server types. I would love to have some
>> ideas thrown at me here. I'm willing to try anything.

>
> just make an fopen on your server.
> fopen("http://www.yxc.de?module=blog");
>
> then return php-code which generates the new files. You will make
> this in a loop and often again call this function to avoid servert
> timeouts.
> Hope this idea helps ...
>
> Greetings Andy

[Andreas Frey]

> Hey Andreas,

>
> just wanted to pop in and say that your idea worked out great. I was
> enven able to throw in some error handling and rollback if something goes
> wrong.
>
> Thanks for the idea.

NP

I am sure i will need some help as well at another time ...

Greetings, Andreas