Automating the generation of IdP metadata

[Rod Widdowson]

> What I am doing right now is this:
> - wipe out the idp.target.dir directory
> - run install with an idp.merge.properties file
> - then copy my customized files above to the idp.target.dir

It all seems to be terribly complicated.

> I am wondering if there is a place in idp.src.dir where I could put my
> customized files before running install, and if running install will pick
them up
> to copy to idp.target.dir?

No, but no file which exists in conf/* will be removed by an install.  The
same is true of views and flows.

> I see that the source has both conf/ and dist/conf/xxx.xml.dist ... so I
am a bit
> confused?

dist is always wiped and is always populated by the "distribution" files.
This is so someone can look at what they would have got if a file had *not*
been left in place.
This is very useful for looking and any new things which may have come
along, or even to help answer the question "What was I thinking when I
configured this".

You can confirm this all by looking at the build.xml file (if you really
want)

Rod