[Live-demo] FOSS4G 2009 Live-DVD and virtual machine, call for scripts

[Hamish]

Hi all,


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

"""
The Easy steps to get your project on the FOSS4G Live DVD
Sydney, Australia. 23 August 2009. http://2009.foss4g.org

The Arramagong Live DVD, GISVM, and OSGeo Live-Demo projects are
collaborating to create a set of simple, automated install scripts for a
wide variety of Free and Open Source GIS projects, and we're calling on
each project to help us write a script for their software. Projects that
can write their install script this week will be included on The
Arramamgong Live DVD which will be given to all delegates at the FOSS4G
conference.

The scripts should cover the installation and configuration of each
project into a base Xubuntu 9.04 system. Separate scripts can optionally
cover data, demos and tutorials. As a bonus, these scripts are exactly
what packagers require to bundle your project into Debian and Ubuntu, so
you will be taking the first steps toward getting your project into a
Linux distribution.

The base version of the FOSS4G2009 GISVM/Arramagong Live DVD can be
trialled as a VMWare virtual machine and downloaded from:
http://download.osgeo.org/livedvd/Arramagong_GISVM_FOSS4G2009_alpha1.7z 

[...]
"""

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 build 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 that 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 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/
With a good collection of build scripts this should be fairly easy.



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