Create Debian Package

[Techwolfy]

Are there currently any plans to create a Debian package for RainLoop? Currently, it can only be installed by downloading a .zip file and running a few commands, which doesn't fit nicely into my Ansible deployment scripts. Additionally, updates can only be done manually via this method.

I've looked into creating a Debian package, and it seems to be fairly simple; I was able to convert the Community edition ZIP download into a package in a few hours (having never done it before).

I'm not sure how to submit this as a pull request, as it's version-dependent and the git repo doesn't appear to be versioned. I can create a script to repackage the .zip file if you'd like, and I'll submit a pull request for the repo version once I finish figuring out dependencies.

[Techwolfy]

Here's the script I wrote to build the package from the .zip file (currently ignores dependencies):

#Build RainLoop Debian Package

#Working directory
mkdir rainloop-deb-build
cd rainloop-deb-build

#Get zip download
wget https://www.rainloop.net/repository/webmail/rainloop-community-latest.zip;
unzip rainloop-community-latest.zip;
find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

#Set up package directory
VERSION=$(cat data/VERSION);
DIR="rainloop_$VERSION-0";
mkdir -m 0755 -p $DIR;
mkdir -m 0755 -p $DIR/usr;
mkdir -m 0755 -p $DIR/usr/share;
mkdir -m 0755 -p $DIR/var;
mkdir -m 0755 -p $DIR/var/lib;

#Move files into package directory
mv rainloop/v/$VERSION $DIR/usr/share/rainloop;
rmdir -p rainloop/v;
mv data $DIR/var/lib/rainloop;
rm $DIR/usr/share/rainloop/index.php $DIR/usr/share/rainloop/index.php.root;
mv index.php $DIR/usr/share/rainloop/index.php;

#Set up Debian packaging tools
cd $DIR;
mkdir -m 0755 DEBIAN;

#Create Debian packging control file
echo "Package: rainloop" > DEBIAN/control;
echo "Version: $VERSION" >> DEBIAN/control;
cat >> DEBIAN/control <<-EOF
	Section: web
	Priority: optional
	Architecture: all
	Depends:
	Maintainer: Rainloop <support@rainloop.net>
	Installed-Size: 20330
	Description: Rainloop Webmail
	 A modern PHP webmail client.
EOF

#Build Debian package
cd ..;
dpkg-deb -b $DIR;

Settings and user data are stored in /var/lib/rainloop, and application files are stored in /usr/share/rainloop so they can be symlinked to the desired web-accessible directory. Note that tabs vs. spaces are important in the DEBIAN/control section (tabs will be truncated, spaces won't and will cause issues outside of the description block).

[zeigerpuppy]

looks interesting, have you tried how it handles upgrades?

[Techwolfy]

It should work automatically thanks to the way Debian handles packages. However, this sort of script isn't the way packages are meant to be built, so it might be necessary to uninstall the old one first.

[Techwolfy]

This script had a few issues (most notably a few missing redirects that caused Rainloop to not work at all), so I've polished it up a bit and submitted a pull request for the new version.

Here's a patch to make the new script standalone, like the previous one (save as makedeb.patch, then apply with patch makedeb.sh makedeb.patch):

5,9d4
< #Build rainloop
< gulp build;
< cd build/dist/releases/webmail;
< cd $(ls -t);  #Most recent build folder
<
14,15c9,11
< #Prepare zip file
< unzip ../rainloop-community-latest.zip;
---
> #Get zip download
> wget https://www.rainloop.net/repository/webmail/rainloop-community-latest.zip;
> unzip rainloop-community-latest.zip;

[allo-]

@Techwolfy If you can make it into a Makefile, it's almost a debian package like it's meant.
You can create with a source package (like the zip) and dh_make a template for a package, where you need to implement the debian/rules Makefile, which installs to debian/target/usr/bin and similiar paths. Updating the package with a new version is often then just building with a new source file and adding a changelog entry (which works as version indicator) for the new version.
All details here: https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/

But before creating complicated debian makefiles yourself, look at cdbs, which has templates for many things: https://build-common.alioth.debian.org/cdbs-doc.html

[camlafit]

Hi

To generate a package from zip , it's possible to use also fpm project
Packaging complexity is hide by its process. Looks great to generate a "latest" package