[OSGeo-Discuss] Re: The Easy steps to get your project on the FOSS4G Live DVD

[Hamish]

Hi all,


As previously mentioned by Cameron, in preparation for the upcoming
OSGeo conference in Sydney build scripts for free & open source
software are being collected for inclusion on the FOSS4G live DVD +
virtual machine image.

The disc will be handed out to all conference delegates, and so is a
really nice showcase + exposure opportunity for your favourite GeoFOSS
project.

     http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2009_Press_Release_28

Feature Freeze is in less than a week, but it is mostly trivial to
add packages already built for Debian/Ubuntu.

Scripts can both install the app and fetch + install + setup demo
user data. See here for some examples:
  https://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/browser/livedvd/gisvm/trunk/bin/


I have already added scripts for GRASS[1], GpsDrive (+ OSM maps for
navigating around downtown Sydney)[2], and MB-System[3]. Other
contributions are streaming as well. (see above URL)


[1] GRASS GIS: 6.4rc including Spearfish + North Carolina sample
datasets.

[2] gpsdrive: Using a custom debuild for latest version as official
debian package for gpsdrive lags years(!) behind. Mapnik+PostGIS
support for auto tile generation is already built in, but a OSM/
PostGIS/SQL expert is needed to setup/extract just the Sydney area
from world coastlines.shp + australia.osm otherwise the dataset takes
up too much room on the disc to justify inclusion.  (help wanted)
I've got that PostGIS DB running locally for the whole of Australia,
it works nicely. Now that I have the GpsDrive+OSM projections issues
sorted out in GpsDrive SVN I'll patch in the bugfix & add the static
CBD map tiles to the OSGeo build "real soon now".

[3] mbsystem: not activated because I haven't figured out how to get it
to build/link with shared libraries yet. With static libs it takes
up 300mb, which is too much for the disc. (help wanted)




A volunteer to add a QGIS build script (and if at all possible QGIS<->
GRASS plugin) is badly needed! It would be a true shame to not include
that*; it is probably not so bad, see the gpsdrive build script for
automatic .deb package building from SVN using "debuild".
[*] just as it is a shame that that qgis still isn't officially packaged
for Debian/Ubuntu. (DebianGIS is recruiting for volunteers! We badly
need to find someone to take over PostGIS duties as well.)


A nice side effect of all this is that for anything still unpackaged for
Debian/Ubuntu, we can use these as templates for a new package.
e.g. in DebianGIS SVN I've just added the beginnings of official MB-
System packaging:
  http://svn.debian.org/viewsvn/pkg-grass/packages/mbsystem/trunk/debian/
(help wanted here too:)

Also, it is my personal goal that these scripts can be worked into
a live-helper build structure for fully automated builds of both the
DebianGIS and OSGeo Live-Demo Live images using whatever ubuntu/debian
flavour/release/media you like:
  http://svn.debian.org/viewsvn/pkg-grass/packages/debian-gis/
  https://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/browser/livedvd/live-helper/
  http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive/live-helper
With a good collection of build scripts this should be fairly easy.



regards & a big thanks to all helpers so far,
Hamish Bowman