On Friday 04 September 2009 09:33:19 am Philipp Thomas wrote:
* David C. Rankin (drankinatty@suddenlinkmail.com) [20090904 14:45]:
I'll work on packaging it. How hard can it be? It's just a web app and only requires modifications 3 files in /var/spool/hylafax/...
I've taken a (a bit cursory) look at avantfax myself and I'd say it needs some *major* work:
1) There is no place you could possibly move the whole avantfax directory. Simply moving it to something like /var/www is impossible! It looks like several directories are needed, some of them below /usr/lib, others below /var/lib and /var/cache and so on. *Then* you need to adapt the php scripts to the changed paths.
I set avantfax up as a normal web app with its own directory definition in
/etc/apache2/httpd.conf.local. I can't stand they way they want it to function
as a virtual host. That would be a pain. I just put avantfax in
/srv/www/avantfax and give it the following definition in httpd.conf.local:
#
## AvantFax secure fax system directory
#
Alias /avantfax/ "/srv/www/avantfax/"
Alias /avantfax "/srv/www/avantfax/"
2) Replacing files from hylafax with symlinks to avantfax replacements is a no-go for rpm packages. The name of the scripts to call must be made configurable *in Hylafax*.
This will require more study on my part :-(
3) Having a sudoers entry for HTTPDUSER that includes /sbin/reboot and /sbin/halt will earn you some discussion with our security folks.
I completely disable these in my config. Instead, I use the following sudoers entries. wwwrun ALL= NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/faxdeluser, /usr/sbin/faxadduser -u * -p * * That way, the only way permissions given to wwwrun are faxdeluser and faxadduser. Bouncing or halting the server is reserved for normal management by ssh.
4) You can't simply start all services you need from an rpm package. IMNSHO the only clean solution would be an init script that depends on all services that avantfax needs but otherwise does nothing more than report status.
This is where managing avantfax as a normal web app helps. All you need is the "chkconfig hylafax on" and "chkconfig apache2 on" and avantfax is available. If the user isn't starting them to begin with, then hylafax and avantfax wouldn't be of any use.
5) As we don't have any means for interactive installation a rather extensive README needs to be written that explains the user what and how to configure.
I have an opensuse specific config for avantfax that configures: /srv/www/avantfax/includes/config.php /srv/www/avantfax/includes/local_config.php
I hope SuSE will see fit to use var/spool/hylafax instead of using a /custom directory and being out of sync with the rest of the Linux /community.
+1 Being out of step with the rest of the Linux distros and the packager itself makes it near impossible to stick to the "pristine" source rpm philosophy.
Hylafax currently needs a new maintainer, which can be anyone from the community. This maintainer could change the default to /var/spool/hylafax , though he would have to regard the update path.
Philipp
Regardless of the amount of work these two packages need to be packaged for openSuSE, it is 100% worth the effort. These applications are fantastic and epitomize the elegant way open-source creates vital solutions to real world business application needs. HylaFAX is the #1 fax solution for Linux and Avantfax provides an excellent web interface for fax management. There is something to be said for being able to sit in a Tokyo airport and fax a document from openOffice via your fax server in Texas with nothing more than the push of a button on your laptop or to receive a pdf of a document that was faxed to your office just minutes before either by email or download (your choice). ;-) -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org