X-Git-Url: https://code.delx.au/gnu-emacs-elpa/blobdiff_plain/1293830a2582cbc9be9bcf8703c37dc35136eed1..e5ce35751236d77c15904e0f8f0f816ba8b517f8:/README diff --git a/README b/README index 78d4d6a7d..a68804006 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,16 +1,199 @@ - Emacs Web Server +Copyright (C) 2010-2011, 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +See the end of the file for license conditions. -DESCRIPTION - A web server in Emacs running handlers written in Emacs Lisp. -REQUIREMENTS - Emacs 24.3 or later. +This branch contains the sources, deployment scripts, and auxilliary +files for the Emacs Lisp package archive (elpa.gnu.org). -STATUS - This is a new project without much testing or active use. That - said it handles both GET and POST requests and should be usable. +This file explains the branch layout, how to add and edit packages, +and how to deploy the archive (either on elpa.gnu.org, or a local copy +for testing purposes). -EXAMPLES - See the examples/ directory in this repository. The Emacs Web - Server is also used to run https://github.com/eschulte/el-sprunge - and https://github.com/eschulte/org-ehtml/tree/emacs-web-server. + +* DIRECTORY LAYOUT + +** admin/ -- scripts for administering the package archive. +** html/ -- HTML for the elpa.gnu.org website. +** packages/ -- source code for the packages. + + +* PACKAGES + +** Contents of the packages/ directory: +This directory holds the package sources, with one subdirectory for +each package. + +Each directory in here corresponds to a package, which can be +either a single-file package or a multifile package. + +A nightly cron job refreshes the GNU ELPA archive from this repository. + +This cron job only creates a new package when the "version" (as specified in +the "Version:" header) of a package is modified. This means that you can +safely work on the next version here without worrying about the unstable +code making it to GNU ELPA, and simply update the "version" when you want to +release the new code. + +** To add a package: + +*** Add a simple (1-file) package as packages/NAME/NAME.el. + +The file needs to follow the usual coding conventions (most importantly +start with ";;; --- ") and have a "Version:" and +"Maintainer:" pseudo-header. + +*** Add a multi-file package as a directory, packages/NAME. + +It needs to have a file named packages/NAME/NAME.el which follows the same +rules as above. + +*** Commit your changes the usual way ("git add", "git commit", etc). + +Changes in the Git repository do not immediately propagate to the +user-facing archive (what users see when they do `M-x list-packages'). +That is done by deploying the archive, which happens automatically +once a day, and the changes are only reflected when the "Version:" +header changes. + +** Format + +Each package should follow the ELPA packaging conventions, but there are +some differences due to the way the deployment script creates the packages +and the web-pages from this source code: +- Multi-file packages put the package metadata in the main .el file + in the format used for single-file packages: the -pkg.el file is + auto-generated from it. +- Every package should have both a "Version:" *and* a "Maintainer:". +- the "URL:" header can be used to specify the home page + of the package, if it's maintained externally. +- A "News:" section (or "NEWS" file) can/should be used to list the + user-visible changes of each version. +- The "Package-Type:" header can be used to force the type of package + created (can be either `simple' for single-file packages or `multi' for + tarballs). By default the type is decided based on whether there are + several Elisp files in the source. +- If you want some files to not be included in the tarball, you can + put a `.elpaignore' file in the root of your package directory, where you + can list patterns of files to ignore (this file is passed to tar's -X). + +** External branches + +Some packages are maintained in external branches. These should be +appropriately listed in the `externals-list' file. +There are two different cases: subtrees and externals. + +In both cases, a copy of the code is kept in the `elpa' repository and +should be sync'd with the upstream every once in a while. This copy may +include local changes, tho ideally these should be kept to a minimum. + +In the `subtree' case, the copy of the code is kept here in the +corresponding `packages/' directory. You should be able to "git +merge -s subtree" from the upstream branch. + +In the `external' case, the copy of the code is not kept here but in the +`externals/' branch in the `elpa' repository. + +You can check out all the external packages into the `packages' directory +with the command: + + make externals + +You can check out a specific external PACKAGE into the `packages' +directory with these commands: + + cd packages + git clone --reference .. --single-branch --branch externals/PACKAGE $(git config remote.origin.url) PACKAGE + +If you already have a packages/PACKAGE directory with a previous +checkout, you can update it like this: + + cd packages/PACKAGE + git pull + +** Public incubation + +If you want to develop a package publicly prior to its first release (to +benefit from others' feedback, primarily), but not in an external repo, +you have 2 choices: +- you can simply put "Version: 0" to indicate that this should not be + released yet. +- or you can push to an "ephemeral" branch -- subject to rebase and eventual + removal upon finishing merge -- for the duration of the incubation. + +* DEPLOYMENT + +** To install all the packages "in place": + + make externals + make + +This compiles and generates autoloads for all the packages in the +packages/ directory. You can then add that directory, e.g. with: + +(eval-after-load 'package + '(add-to-list 'package-directory-list ".../elpa/packages")) + +** To deploy the package repository as a remotely-accessible archive: + + git clone .../elpa + mkdir build + cd build + (cd ../elpa; git log --format=%H | tail -n 1) >.changelog-witness + ln -s ../elpa/admin + ln -s ../elpa/GNUmakefile + admin/update-archive.sh + +This deploys the packages to the staging/ directory (sibling of "build"). +Unlike "make", this makes a full copy of the packages, tars up +multi-file packages, and doesn't byte-compile any files. + +** To access a deployed archive + +To access the archive via HTTP, have a symlink (say) /var/www/packages +pointing to DEST/packages, and set up Emacs with + + (setq package-archives '(("new-elpa" . "http://foo.com/packages"))) + +You can also access the archive via normal file access. Such "local +archives" are useful for debugging: + + (setq package-archives '(("local-elpa" . ".../elpa/packages"))) + +** Notes specific to elpa.gnu.org + +The way things are set up on this machine, we refresh the archive by +a cron job. You can do it by hand by logging in (access set up by FSF +admins), and + + su elpa + cd ~elpa/build + admin/update-archive.sh + +Which makes a full archive deployment, as discussed above. The symlink +/var/www/packages points to the staging package directory under +/home/elpa/. + +The Org mode dailies are also fetched and added by the script +admin/org-synch.sh, run as a cron job. + + +This file is part of GNU Emacs. + +GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify +it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by +the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or +(at your option) any later version. + +GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, +but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of +MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the +GNU General Public License for more details. + +You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License +along with GNU Emacs. If not, see . + + +Local variables: +mode: outline +paragraph-separate: "[ ]*$" +end: