Shibboleth Developers

[Tom Scavo <>]

Just wanted to bring you up-to-date on the new GridShib install
process that's emerging.  After spending the last few days studying
and testing the new Shib build files, I'm happy to say that a GridShib
build file is no longer necessary.  Step 1 of the GridShib install
process is to unpack GridShib into Shib's custom/ directory and run
'ant install' on the Shib buildfile, followed by a number of one-time
manual operations, mainly modifications to the IdP config file
(idp.xml).

This is what we agreed on earlier and it's about as easy as it gets. 
Thanks to the new Shib install process, we don't have to maintain a
GridShib-specific buildfile, which is really nice.

GridShib will, however, have a buildfile for developers (in CVS but
not in the tarball).  This buildfile will have targets for compiling
source code, running unit tests, creating JAR files and javadocs, and
other stuff developers routinely do.  In that sense, it's similar to
the Shib build file.  The difference is that the GridShib buildfile
for developers will inherit its functionality from the Shib buildfile,
that is, it will invoke the targets of the Shib buildfile to do its
work.  It just doesn't make sense to reinvent the wheel by
reimplementing the targets of the Shib build file.

While implementing the GridShib buildfile for developers, I discovered
some bugs in the Shib ant scripts, which I reported in a separate
thread.  Nothing too serious, just some things you'll want to fix
eventually.  As far as I know, there are no bugs that prevent a normal
GridShib install.  I've run the install test numerous times under
various conditions with no problems..

Thanks,
Tom