[IdPv3] Packaging Java code for Linux Package Managers

[Chad La Joie]

So, while waiting for things to compile and other busy work, I've been
kicking around the idea of how we might package IdPv3 (and other
upcoming Java code) for use with Linux and its package managers.
Here's my thoughts on this so far.

We should package the code as RPMs and DEBs.  This will make it easier
for people to keep up to date with releases.

We can not use the "standard" Unix filesystem layout.  There are two
main problems that I see in attempting to do so.  It would be
impossible to install different IdP versions at the same time because
you'd end up with different lib versions being installed in the same
directory and thus on the classpath together.  That is going to be
very problematic for people who do IdP hosting.  Second, the unit of
management within Java (at least for our webapps) is the WAR, which
includes libraries (which presumably would be expected to go in to
/usr/lib somewhere) as well as various other files (e.g., images, text
files like CSSs, conf files like web.xml).  Those other things really
shouldn't go in the /usr/lib directory but do need to be in the same
directory structure as the libs in order to be deployed.  In short,
the Java environment makes assumption that are different than the ones
the Linux environment makes.

So, at this point, I think the RPM/DEB packages are just going to
install/update the IdP in a /opt/shibboleth-idp directory that looks
mostly like it does today.

-- 
Chad La Joie
www.itumi.biz
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