nut/docs/packager-guide.txt

NUT Packager and Integrators Guide
==================================
Arnaud Quette <arnaud.quette@free.fr>

WARNING: this is a Work In Progress document.

Abstract
--------

The aim of this document is to describe the best way to package the
Network UPS Tools, and the best practices across the various packaging
implementation of NUT.

So as to these can be spread on all supported platforms as a standard,
and as a foundation block to build upon.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
*sandbox*
that have been done to help those improving, and give advice on what's
the best way to package NUT for the remaining "not yet packaged"
platform (Sun, Aix, Mac, ...). The ultimate aim is to have NUT
well packaged (all NUT features available) on all supported
platforms.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Introduction
------------
Packaging is a final aim for software. It eases and completes the
software integration into an OS, and allows users to have an easy
software installation and support out of the box.

NOTE: making NUT packaging more uniform should help its documentation,
support and maintenance across the supported OSes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
*sandbox*
This document assumes that you have read the other NUT document such
as INSTALL.nut, FAQ, config-notes.txt, ...

Facts about NUT packaging
=========================

NUT has so much evolved those two last years (with USB and SNMP
support, the premises of libraries, ...) that the simple
"1, 2 or 3  package(s)" approach is no more suitable.

This fact has reached a high level since NUT 1.4. Actually,
doing this would result in either being forced to install hosts
of unneeded dependencies (net-snmp, gd, ... as seen on SuSE),
to have a partially broken package [1] or not being able to
use all NUT features [2].

Let's now have an overview on how NUT is currently packaged:

	1) Debian:
	http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nut.html
		nut, nut-dev, nut-usb, nut-snmp, nut-xml, nut-cgi, nut-doc

	2) Mandriva
	http://cvs.mandriva.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/SPECS/nut/
		nut-server
		nut
		nut-cgi

	3) SuSE / Novell
		nut

	4) RedHat

	5) PLD
	http://cvs.pld-linux.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/SPECS/nut.spec

	... (FreeBSD, Gentoo Linux, IRIX, NetBSD, OpenBSD)

This shows how much the packages name split is now scattered.
The result is:
- that a user of several systems will be lost, and will
waste time
- there is a big waste of energy
- this makes things hard to create standard configuration
wizards

[1] NUT build on Debian GNU/Linux m68k and Hurd was once
broken due to hiddev dependencies, and usb support still
included in the core package.

[2] 
- snmp-ups driver is not available under Mandrake GNU/Linux,
but its man is present. See
http://rpms.mandrakeclub.com/rpms/mandrake/9.1/i586/Mandrake/RPMS/nut-server-1.2.1-4mdk.i586.html
- secured ssh network mode not available (due to deps and/or non free)
- some systems don't provide libupsclient lib/header/.pc so as to
client application (such as wmnut) can't be built
- the logger function is not (well) used, same goes for the syslog (triple
redundancy in Mandriva)
- the solution is partial in every system: lost of tests
case / feedback could be shared
...

------------------------------------------------------------------------


Packagers involved
------------------

The following packagers are working on this subject:

- Debian (and derivatives): Arnaud Quette <aquette@debian.org>
- SuSE/Novell:	Stanislav Brabec <sbrabec@suse.cz>

NOTE: the people below should be contacted to (re)launch discussions!
 
The following packagers should be interested in working on this subject:

- FreeBSD: Thierry Thomas? <>
- Mandriva: Oden Erikson? <>
- RedHat / Fedora Core: <>
- Gentoo: <>
- NetBSD: <>
- OpenBSD: <>
- PLD: Andrzej Zawadzki <zawadaa@wp.pl>
- E-Smith: Charlie Brady <charlieb-nut-upsdev@e-smith.com>
- openSolaris: <> 

- Windows: check with WinNUT author?!
- MacOS: <> => Charles Lepple? <>
- HP-UX: <>
- IBM AIX: <>



Possible use cases
------------------
- standalone (1 system + 1-n UPS)
- network server (same as standalone, but serving data to network clients)
- network monitoring client
- network supervision client

TO BE COMPLETED...

Optimised packaging proposal
----------------------------

NOTE: The below proposed packages split is subject to discussion.

The aim of this is to:

- rationalise split according to the above use cases,
- share ressources (descriptions, i18n, ...)
- find the best compromise between available features and dependencies,
- standardize nut packages name,
- create the foundation for the upcoming and underway improvements,
- improve nut integration
- ease and improve user experience.


This standard was created by:

- capitalizing the experience of existing packages,
- using and improving the use of all nut features
- considering upcoming nut changes and improvements
- working closely with packagers.

Overview of the package tree
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FIXME: make a dependency graph

- <<pkg-nut,nut>>
- <<pkg-libupsclient1,libupsclient1>>
- <<pkg-libupsclient1-dev,libupsclient1-dev>>
- <<pkg-nut-cgi,nut-cgi>>
- <<pkg-nut-powerman-pdu,nut-powerman-pdu>>
- <<pkg-nut-snmp,nut-snmp>>
- <<pkg-nut-xml,nut-xml>>

- <<pkg-nut-clients,nut-clients>>
- <<pkg-python-pynut,python-pynut>>
- <<pkg-python-nut-gui,python-nut-gui>> (or nut-control-center or Ultimate NUT Tool...)
- <<pkg-nut-doc,nut-doc>>

Detailed view of the package tree
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[NOTE]
========================================================================
- The *Desc* field represent the package's description, as exposed by
the packaging system. Each package's description is composed of a
paragraph common to all NUT packages, and a part that is specific to the
package. The common part (further referenced by *COMMON DESC*) is:
________________________________________________________________________
 Network UPS Tools (NUT) is a client/server monitoring system that allows computers to share
 uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and power distribution unit (PDU)
 hardware. Clients access the hardware through the server, and are notified
 whenever the power status changes.
________________________________________________________________________
- The *Files* field lists the content of the package.
- The mentioned *Size* is a rough estimation of packaged and installed
size. This may varies across the systems and architecture, and is based
upon the Debian x86 packages.
- The *Deps* field lists the dependencies of the packages. The exact
name may vary across the various systems.
- The *Comment* field is used to place comment for points subject to
discussion.
========================================================================

[[pkg-nut]]
nut
^^^
- Desc:
- Files: dummy/serial/USB drivers + upsd + upslog
- Size: 
- Deps: 

[[pkg-libupsclient1]]
libupsclient1
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- Desc:
- Files:
- Size: 
- Deps:

[[pkg-libupsclient1-dev]]
libupsclient1-dev
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- Desc:
- Files:
- Size: 
- Deps:

NOTE: the "-dev" suffix is to be replaced by "-devel" on RPM based platforms.

[[pkg-nut-cgi]]
nut-cgi
^^^^^^^
- Desc:
- Files:
- Size: 
- Deps:


[[pkg-nut-powerman-pdu]]
nut-powerman-pdu
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- Desc:
- Files:
- Size: 
- Deps:

[[pkg-nut-snmp]]
nut-snmp
^^^^^^^^
- Desc:
- Files:
- Size: 
- Deps:

[[pkg-nut-xml]]
nut-xml
^^^^^^^
- Desc:
- Files:
- Size: 
- Deps:

[[pkg-nut-clients]]
nut-clients
^^^^^^^^^^^
- Desc:
- Files:
- Size: 
- Deps:

[[pkg-python-pynut]]
python-pynut
^^^^^^^^^^^^
- Desc:
- Files:
- Size: 
- Deps:

[[pkg-python-nut-gui]]
python-nut-gui
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(or nut-control-center or Ultimate NUT Tool...)

- Desc:
- Files:
- Size: 
- Deps:

[[pkg-nut-doc]]
nut-doc
^^^^^^^
- Desc:
- Files:
- Size: 
- Deps:


------------------------------------------------------------------------
*sandbox*
nut-server
^^^^^^^^^^
			Desc:
			Files: dummy/serial/USB drivers + upsd + upslog
			Size: 
			Deps: nut-client, libusb, libc/ld

		B) nut-snmp

			Desc:
			Files: SNMP driver [/ manager ]
			Deps: nut-server, net-snmp, libc/ld

		C) nut-client

			Desc: don't force to have the server part/deps if not needed
			Files: upsmon, upsc, upscmd, upsrw + driver.list [+nut-dev (lib, .h, .pc, man]
			Deps: libc/ld

		E) nut-cgi
			
			Deps:
			Files: snmp-ups and powernet + manpages

		F) nut-doc:

			Deps:
			Files: dummycons + manpage

		G) nut-dev:

			Deps:
			Files: upsmon, upsc, upscmd, upsrw



Note: "nut" can be a meta package

This kind of tree obviously need modification on the conf/make
files of NUT to allow build/install in a separate way.


...
TO BE CONTINUED
...

Configuration option
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
name= "ups" or "nut"
./configure \
            --prefix=/ \
            --sysconfdir=/etc/$name \
            --mandir=/usr/share/man \
            --libdir=/usr/lib \
            --includedir=/usr/include \
            --datadir=/usr/share/$name \
            --with-statepath=/var/run/nut \
            --with-altpidpath=/var/run/nut \
            --with-drvpath=/lib/nut \
            --with-cgipath=/usr/lib/cgi-bin/$name \
html-path
            --with-pidpath=/var/run/$name \
            --with-user=$name \
            --with-cgi \
            --without-ssl
...

------------------------------------------------------------------------