Auto install - OR - Easy install

phaksp · Post by **phaksp** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 6:42 pm

It's looks too me( and for a lot of others i guess) that zone minder is complicated to install...

Is it possible to make things ... more.. herm.. simple ?

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 6:44 pm

2 ways exist already
ross's live cd (abaout as easy as it gets)
or Cordels CTU zm

phaksp · Post by **phaksp** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 4:46 am

what about people who wants to use a debian based system instead of mandrake or red hat ?

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 5:14 am

granted!

How much do you know about debian etc, could you create a package for this distro that i could host to create others, i think the problem is neither Ross or Cordel use debian so they make their packages for the distros they use. ANd id be utterly useless at trying.

But another rpm or however its done would be great if you can raise one.

I beleive there is another forum meber on here that has done a lot of work getting zm on debian and im sure he posted a mini how to.

James

update : http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewto ... ght=debian

Post by **cordel** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 6:50 am

I'm just curious why you have chosen Debian since you seem to be new to linux?
Linux has always used source installs and is considered the native way of installing any thing as you have the most control.
I will be looking into packaging for Debian at some point but, it will be some time before that happens as I don't have the time or resources to make it happen right now.
Regards,
Cordel

boaba · Post by **boaba** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 6:01 pm

Why bother with packaging at all? a sh-script that helps a new user with the settings in configure and runs zmconfig.pl , creates or upgrades the db and so on would be great or you could change approach entirely, start the installation by copying ZoneMinder to the webfolder it will be running from, add the "setup.php" you have made, then install it from a browser with the a "guide"
that might make things a bit easier,so instead of 3 people trying to make packages for 4 or 5 different flavors of Linux you could work together on a "installscript" that is dist-neutral.

only a thought

and by the way, debian is great for beginners

especially if they want a stable, easy to maintain server for surveillance

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 6:11 pm

ok then this script sounds interesting whats involved and how does it handle dependancies and the like? Dont suppose you know enough to start this one off anyone?

Post by **zoneminder** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 7:26 pm

It's possible an install script will be included in a future version, though actually there are only a handful of steps you have to do (though some require some interaction). The problem is there is no one set of configure scripts that suits everyone, people have difference requirements for the database and different versions or permissin set up etc. So there could be one install script but it would have 10-20 options to be passed to define everything. As it is you have to do each of maybe half a dozen steps yourself but it still might only take a couple of minutes to get it installed.

A web only install is a bit more tricky as ZM isn't a web application. It's a server application that happens to have a web interface so several elements require permissions in excess of what the web server would be able to provide.

Phil

phaksp · Post by **phaksp** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 3:43 pm

jameswilson wrote:granted!

How much do you know about debian etc, could you create a package for this distro that i could host to create others, i think the problem is neither Ross or Cordel use debian so they make their packages for the distros they use. ANd id be utterly useless at trying.

But another rpm or however its done would be great if you can raise one.

I beleive there is another forum meber on here that has done a lot of work getting zm on debian and im sure he posted a mini how to.

James

update : http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewto ... ght=debian

Excellent !! thanks man ! i'll test it !

should this package be seen in the download section ?

phaksp · Post by **phaksp** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 3:49 pm

cordel wrote:I'm just curious why you have chosen Debian since you seem to be new to linux?
Linux has always used source installs and is considered the native way of installing any thing as you have the most control.
I will be looking into packaging for Debian at some point but, it will be some time before that happens as I don't have the time or resources to make it happen right now.
Regards,
Cordel

yes sir, i'm kind a n00B, using debian since a year and half only,i'm using debian to learn to use linux in détail, and i was amazed with it's stability and it's apt-get tool.

and i dream about the day of beeing about to do apt-get install zoneminder

Make my dream come true Magik cordel

Post by **cordel** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 4:47 pm

I did some peliminary study on Debian and it looks like the process is simular enough that I should be able to manage producing packages. The chalenges are resources at the moment. Once I finnish the 64 bit distro, I think I'm going to flatten the amd64 box and make it into a virtual machine host. Then it can run several OSs and build for both architectures. I did a bit like that on another machine here and it seemed to work well. I just need to learn some of the more automated tools like mach to manage the builds and proper versioning. I still don't even know how to put the headers in for versioning. The best I can tell it's done by CVS or SVN but I know enough about those to be dangerous

I'm also attempting to reduce the number of machines running here (a recent elecrical storm has helped with that).

I'll look into packaging for Debian again once I get things back up for Cent, Suse and FC4.
Just kep in mind that I also haven't been using Linux all that long. If you look at my join date here on the forum just add a few more months to that so you might say that there are some areas where I am very green.

Regards,
Cordel