[Mapserver-dev] Nightly CVS Windows Python MapScript Binaries

[Howard Butler]

List,

With the help of Sean, Norman, and #mapserver on irc.freenode.net, I have 
put together a MSVC nightly build system for Python MapScript.  The build 
includes just about every feature available to MapServer windows, 
including: WMS/WFS servers/clients, almost all of the GDAL and OGR formats, 
SWF, PDF, and GD image outputs.

The build comes in four flavors -- full (SDE and Oracle Spatial), SDE, 
Oracle, and None (neither SDE or Oracle Spatial).  An installer is provided 
for each using Python's distutils executable installer.  Also provided are 
the cvs, mapserver, mapscript, and unittests logs of each build.  The build 
happens each night at 3:00 AM CST.  A cvs update is made, and the four 
builds are built.  I started the process Friday, and it appears to have 
worked fine over the weekend.

I felt it was important to have the freshest, batteries-included, Python 
MapScript available for Windows users.  I think this is the one of the 
easiest ways to get a MapScript developer going with minimal installation 
effort.  I expect that Sean and I will build on this and provide 
documentation on how to create your own WMS server similar to what was done 
in Sean's A Big SWIG of MapScript session at MUM2 and how to cascade that 
WMS into Sean's PyIMS Facade for use in the Arc world.

This build system also gives us the ability to see the effect of our cvs 
changes on a build external to our own working sandboxes.  If the build is 
broken because of a forgotten cvs commit or cvs add, we'll now be able to 
easily see it.  We will also be able to easily see the effect of changes on 
the test framework, and hopefully, this will lead to more tests being 
developed.

http://hobu.stat.iastate.edu/mapserver/build_output

Howard