AP Linux Distribution Tools

aplinx.distribution is part of the aplinux suite. It focuses on the building and distribution of aplinux into any given environment.

Getting Started

Follow the steps below to run a local copy of the application stack. You will need Python 3.6 installed on your system as well as the standard set of build tools.

1. Using a Linux or Mac OS terminal clone the source code from the repository using git:

   git clone git@example.org:adamandpaul/aplinux.distribution.git

2. Change directory to be inside the source:

   cd aplinx.distribution

3. Run the bootstrapping script substituting the location of the bin directory of your python installation:

   PATH=/path/to/python3.6/bin:$PATH bin/bootstrap

4. Run the build script:

   bin/build

   This may take some time.

Subsequent builds can be achieved by running bin/build or bin/build -N if you want to use buildout's non-newest mode (this is faster for minor buildout or dependency changes because it uses cached buildout information)

Development tools

Test runner:

Run bin/test

Tests will be auto discovered from files ending in _test.py

To run the more expensive integration tests which end in _inttest.py specify the integration test suite by running bin/test --test-suite integration_test_suite

Code quality tests:

Run bin/code-analysis. Be aware that this is also run as a git pre-commit hook and code which does not conform will prevent git commits.

Test coverage reporting:

Run bin/createcoverage

The Application Environment/Stack

The built environment uses the zc.buildout package to:

1. Check out source dependencies
2. Develop and install this repository as a python package
3. Build applications that are required in the environment, for example PostgreSQL or Redis
4. Build ConfigParser style python configuration files, for logging configuration and application configuration.
5. Build stack running and monitoring tools and their configuration. Currently supervisord is used.

Various deployments/builds should be somewhat identical - only varying by confidential keys which may be injected into a production environment but each build has two modes of operating. The develop mode and the production mode. Mode specific scripts are built in the bin directory and are prefixed by develop- or production- respectively. For python configuration there are also two .ini scripts which are built in the root directory develop.ini and production.ini. These scripts should not be edited directly but modified using the buildout configuration by extending the sections [configuration], [develop.ini] or [production.ini].

Generally speaking the develop environment uses self contained applications and is heavier to run, whilst the production environment will be dependent on other systems external to the buildout environment specified here. For example, the develop environment may use the postgresql built as part of the buildout, whilst the production environment may use the postgresql distributed with the operating system or provided by an external service. The reason behind this is that in a production environment externally managed services are often far better supported than applications built individually in an environment, whilst in a development environment security patches and uptime monitoring aren't needed but having multiple development environments co-exist together is often required.

Folder Contents

docs/

The documentation source. After building this will be compiledto in the directorybuildout/parts/docs``

buildout/

The buildout environment and configuration.

aplinux.distribution

The package source code as a python module

var/

Created during buildout. Variable application data such as databases etc.