Shibboleth Developers

[Walter Hoehn <>]

On Jul 25, 2005, at 4:25 PM, Tom Scavo wrote:

> 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.

I'm really glad to hear this.  Thanks for sticking with us through  
the somewhat painful process.  I do think that what we have now is  
pretty generally useful.

> 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.

This is good to know.  I have been consistently against you guys  
relying on our undocumented targets because I don't want them to in  
any way constitute an API that we cannot change readily.  However, if  
you are just using these for "unreleased" things you don't mind us  
breaking, maybe we can meet in the middle.

> 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..

We're completely frozen now, barring any immediate major bug report.   
I do think most of your concerns were addressed before we tagged the  
release.

-Walter