Publish Debian packages

[codyebberson]

We would like to make it easier to install and run Medplum server on Debian/Ubuntu. While publish basic instructions to build from source but (1) that requires building from source and (2) it still requires the user to do additional setup work in server config settings.

The goal is to make installing Medplum effortless. As requested by one user, "don't make me think."

One possible way to improve the Debian/Ubuntu installation would be to publish .deb packages. The goal state would be:

apt install medplum

And everything Just Works ™

Create packages

There are a wealth of guides on creating .deb packages. The Medplum package should be straightforward (famous last words), as it is just .js and .json files.

Guides:

• https://wiki.debian.org/HowToPackageForDebian
• https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/
• https://askubuntu.com/questions/1345/what-is-the-simplest-debian-packaging-guide
• https://www.iodigital.com/en/history/intracto/creating-debianubuntu-deb-packages
• https://www.internalpointers.com/post/build-binary-deb-package-practical-guide

Publish packages in Debian official archive

This is a good long term goal. Medplum already meets all of the licensing requirements. This would be the optimal easy of installation. This would reach the maximum number of potential Debian/Ubuntu users.

1. This is apparently a long process, and can take months.
2. We will have less control over release cycle in official archives. While this would be easiest for users, it will be the most difficult for our release process.

Publish packages in self-hosted archive

This is the most realistic short term goal. It appears that it's mostly a matter of hosting static files plus some manifest metadata.

By using the self-hosted model, the installation process would be something like this (based on Node.js setup):

curl -fsSL https://deb.medplum.com/setup | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install medplum

Considerations

Node.js runtime dependency

Node.js uses a self-hosted archive at https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x. Need to research how to reference that as a dependency.

Node.js package dependencies

While the Medplum package should only .js and .json files, there is a npm ci step. Need to research what are the common conventions for installing dependencies, or if the .deb should pre-include them.

Package name

medplum vs medplum-server

Version semantics

We currently append git hash to semver (i.e., 2.0.4-77fe4afc). That would need to change (doesn't sort correctly, doesn't meet Debian requirements).

The semver recommended format would be: major.minor.patch+buildNumber-gitHash, for example 2.0.4+4000-77fe4afc. This would be compatible with Debian version requirements.

See:

• https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/xenial/man5/deb-version.5.html
• https://semver.org/#spec-item-10
• https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/253306/why-is-build-number-an-abuse-of-semantic-versioning

Alternatives

FHIR Servers

IBM LinuxForHealth FHIR Server provides instructions to "download and install": https://linuxforhealth.github.io/FHIR/guides/FHIRServerUsersGuide#2-installation

HAPI FHIR provides pointers to github repos to build and install: https://hapifhir.io/hapi-fhir/docs/server_plain/get_started.html

Other popular open source projects

Spark provides instructions to "download and install": https://cloudinfrastructureservices.co.uk/how-to-install-apache-spark-on-ubuntu-20-04/

Nextcloud provides instructions to "download and install": https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/23/admin_manual/installation/example_ubuntu.html

Mattermost provides instructions to "download and install": https://docs.mattermost.com/install/installing-ubuntu-2004-LTS.html

Jenkins uses a self-hosted Debian archive: https://www.jenkins.io/doc/book/installing/linux/