Re: [docbook-apps] Website build/deploy

[Warren Young <warren@etr-usa.com>]

Dave Pawson wrote:
> I'm assuming your .dbx is a docbook XML file?

Yes.  Change all the "dbx" strings to whatever extension you use, if you 
don't like dbx.

> I'm reluctant to even propose cygwin installation.

Here's how you sell it to them:

Install Cygwin on one of the machines in their office, selecting the 
optional packages you need.  Generate an ssh key pair for it (no 
passphrase), and set up the web server to accept this key.  (I assume 
you know how to do all that already.  If not, let me know and I'll give 
you the step-by-step.)  Then cd into the directory containing the web 
site, set up the Makefile, and test.  When it's working, set up whatever 
GUI thing they'll want to see -- icon on the desktop, integration with 
their XML editor of choice, whatever.  Test that.

All of this should take under an hour the first time you do it, and 10 
minutes after you figure out all the details for every machine thereafter.

Then bring them into the room, make a tiny cosmetic change to a page on 
the site, use the GUI to invoke "make synch", then turn around and ask 
them to time how long it takes.  By the time you finish asking them to 
time it, it'll be done.  Do it again, as many times as it takes to get 
them to realize that within seconds of making a change, it's live on the 
web site, with minimal interruption.

If that doesn't impress them, they're too jaded to benefit from any 
automation work you can do.  Nothing you do will be good enough, so you 
should extricate yourself from an impending disaster ASAP.

> I know the pc support people are near paranoid about
> Linux. They don't know it at all, hence find any reason
> to diss it.

It is just the fear of not knowing it.  This is why you repeat the 
demonstration above to their satisfaction, and hide it behind a GUI. 
They'll begin to trust it when they can see it "just work", repeatedly.

> Again, rsync is a favourite here on Linux systems. Not available
> to me on Windows.

It's part of the Cygwin distribution.  Not installed by default, but you 
just have to drill down to the Net category in the installer to download 
and install it.  OpenSSH and GNU make aren't installed by default, 
either, for that matter; you'll need to bring those in, too.  I think 
openssh is in Net, and GNU make is in Devel.

> windows ftp looks most likely.

Please, don't.  You'd have to either re-upload the whole site each time, 
or build your own synchronization mechanism.  Replacing the whole site 
means every page gets touched on each change, just begging for trouble, 
and reinventing the wheel is never a good way to spend one's time.

If you had to fall back to something other than rsync, I'd suggest 
looking at unison.  But, rsync is the right tool for the job.  You don't 
need bidirectional synchronization here.