packaging for net install

Hello all,

I'm in the midst of developping a modular site generating tool that
would allow people to set-up a base install of the site and then add
"modules" to provide custom functionality for their purposes.  Some early
examples can be seen at http://silly.kicks-ass.net and http://kog.ca (both
sites work with the same "engine" if I can call it that).

At the moment I'm trying to add a feature that would allow users to
choose the modules they want to install from a central server.  The module
listing and descriptions would be served up through an xml file.  When the
user decides to install a module they would simply click install and the
files would be copied directly from the central server through a script.

Now what I'm wondering is: Does anyone have any idea of the best method
to copy the files over through PHP from a central server is?  Would
implememting and anonymous FTP "read only" site make the most sense?  What
about compressing the files?  I know that the gz family of functions is not
part of the default install in PHP 4+ and I hesitate in requiring users to
add them since many people who use ISPs to host their site do not have that
option. I don't even think it's available for the PHP runnning on Windows
and I would like the solution to work on all server types. I would love to
have some ideas thrown at me here.  I'm willing to try anything.

Kogger

In my post I mentioned the http://silly.kicks-ass.net as a working example
of the engine I'm writing.  Please be warned that the content of the
postings can be of dubious taste.  I have no control over the content but I
thought it would be polite to issue a warning.


kogger wrote:
> Hello all,
>
>    I'm in the midst of developping a modular site generating tool that
> would allow people to set-up a base install of the site and then add
> "modules" to provide custom functionality for their purposes.  Some
> early examples can be seen at http://silly.kicks-ass.net and
> http://kog.ca (both sites work with the same "engine" if I can call
> it that).
>    At the moment I'm trying to add a feature that would allow users to
> choose the modules they want to install from a central server.  The
> module listing and descriptions would be served up through an xml
> file.  When the user decides to install a module they would simply
> click install and the files would be copied directly from the central
> server through a script.
>    Now what I'm wondering is: Does anyone have any idea of the best
> method to copy the files over through PHP from a central server is? Would
> implememting and anonymous FTP "read only" site make the most
> sense?  What about compressing the files?  I know that the gz family
> of functions is not part of the default install in PHP 4+ and I
> hesitate in requiring users to add them since many people who use
> ISPs to host their site do not have that option. I don't even think
> it's available for the PHP runnning on Windows and I would like the
> solution to work on all server types. I would love to have some ideas
> thrown at me here.  I'm willing to try anything.
> Kogger

>     Now what I'm wondering is: Does anyone have any idea of the best method
> to copy the files over through PHP from a central server is?  Would
> implememting and anonymous FTP "read only" site make the most sense?  What
> about compressing the files?  I know that the gz family of functions is no
t
> part of the default install in PHP 4+ and I hesitate in requiring users to
> add them since many people who use ISPs to host their site do not have tha
t
> option. I don't even think it's available for the PHP runnning on Windows
> and I would like the solution to work on all server types. I would love to
> have some ideas thrown at me here.  I'm willing to try anything.

just make an fopen on your server.
fopen("http://www.yxc.de?module=blog");

then return php-code which generates the new files. You will make this in a 
loop
and often again call this function to avoid servert timeouts.

Hope this idea helps ...

Greetings Andy

Hi Andreas,

this is a good idea.  I'll try it out and see how it handles things. I'm
curious to see if any problems will come up if I try to transfer some image
(ie binary) files.

thanks for the suggestion.

Andreas Frey wrote: 
>
> just make an fopen on your server.
> fopen("http://www.yxc.de?module=blog");
>
> then return php-code which generates the new files. You will make
> this in a loop and often again call this function to avoid servert
> timeouts.
> Hope this idea helps ...
>
> Greetings Andy

Hey Andreas,

just wanted to pop in and say that your idea worked out great.  I was
enven able to throw in some error handling and rollback if something goes
wrong.

Thanks for the idea.

Andreas Frey wrote: 
>
> just make an fopen on your server.
> fopen("http://www.yxc.de?module=blog");
>
> then return php-code which generates the new files. You will make
> this in a loop and often again call this function to avoid servert
> timeouts.
> Hope this idea helps ...
>
> Greetings Andy

> Hey Andreas,
>
>     just wanted to pop in and say that your idea worked out great.  I was
> enven able to throw in some error handling and rollback if something goes
> wrong.
>
> Thanks for the idea.
NP

I am sure i will need some help as well at another time ...

Greetings, Andreas