[mapserver-dev] Rethinking our doc site build workflow (+vote)

[thomas bonfort]

The website at www.mapserver.org now automatically updates every time
a commit is pushed to the mapserver.github.io repository (i.e. each
time there's a build on travis-ci).
Travis builds by default only build the english documentation and not
the translations, unless the commit message contains the magic
[build_translations] keyword (e.g.
https://github.com/mapserver/docs/commit/f0d7d595dfc47ddc46c2b985fce4b34a6ef42f8a)

I've also tweaked the Makefile so that the languages that are
effectively built can be specified on the command line:

#only build english
make html BUILD_LANGUAGES=

#build all translations
make html

#build english, italian and french
make html BUILD_LANGUAGES="fr it"

regards,
thomas

On 10 April 2014 16:07, thomas bonfort <thomas.bonfort at gmail.com> wrote:
> psc,
>
> mapserver.org is now serving a website built by travis-ci. The built
> static website is itself versionned and hosted on github, our osgeo vm
> just needs to update its local copy of its clone in order to stay
> updated. We also have a fallback in case the projects vm falls again,
> at http://mapserver.github.io/ (that could become the master for
> www.mapserver.org if we pointed the mapserver.org DNS to it).
>
> I still need to work on hosting the pdf files, hosting the development
> (master) version of the docs, and automatically updating the
> projectsvm when a commit is pushed to the git repository.
>
> The docs themselves (along with their build scripts) have been
> slightly modified:
> - english docs are not built in the en/ subdirectory anymore but are
> placed in the root of the build directory (to avoid having to setup
> redirects)
> - there is no need for a mapservorg target anymore
> - the cron jobs and the en/ redirects on mapserver.org have been
> disabled to account for these changes
>
> let me know if you see anything strange...
>
> regards,
> thomas
>
>
> On 4 April 2014 22:55, thomas bonfort <thomas.bonfort at gmail.com> wrote:
>> PSC,
>>
>> In light of the recent projectsvm downtime and the (increasing, given
>> the new translations) load we are putting on that server while
>> building our docs, I would like to propose that we transition our
>> build process to use travis-ci for the compilation part.
>>
>> In clear, docs would be automatically built on travis-ci.org once a
>> commit is pushed on the stable or master branch, and would then be
>> scp'd/rsync'd to the public projectvm directory on success.
>>
>> Advantages:
>> - no need to maintain build scripts on the projectsvm
>> - the actual travis config files are simple and minimal:
>> https://github.com/tbonfort/docs/commit/1d178ab6e6d0765adfbb0fea40404a6a1803a969
>> (without the logic to publish to mapserver.org yet, though)
>>
>> Inconveniences:
>> - we rely on an external service we have no control on. we can always
>> switch back to the current solution if needed (no www.mapserver.org
>> downtime, the docs would just not be in sync while we transitioned).
>> - building the PDFs has a non-negligeable impact on build times and
>> apt packages needed to be installed on the travis instances. They
>> would therefore be disabled by default, but might be enabled on a
>> case-by-case basis if the commit message contains a magic keyword.
>> - it might seem we are loosing control as to what is published on the
>> mapserver.org website (given the resulting website is automatically
>> published). In practice this is more or less already the case with the
>> automatic builds happening on the projectsvm.
>>
>> I've had confirmation from the travis team that we are not abusing
>> their system by implementing this:
>>
>> ===================================================================
>> Hey Thomas,
>>
>> Thanks for getting in touch and checking with us!
>>
>> We absolutely don't mind you using our service to build and push your
>> documentation site, quite the opposite.
>>
>> We're always happy to see people adopt Travis CI in unexpected and new
>> ways, so by all means, ship it!
>>
>> Cheers, Mathias
>>
>> --
>> Mathias Meyer
>> =====================================================================
>>
>> Before investing more time on this, I will need a go from the PSC. I'm
>> going to be offline next week and unable to respond, but will start
>> the transition at my return if no -1s are casted.
>>
>> +1 Use Travis-ci platform to build and publish mapserver website
>>
>> best regards,
>> thomas