Linux Packaging project

The Linux Packaging project is a project to improve GNU/Linux integration of Kiwix.

Properties

• Legal name of organization or individual requesting this grant: Emmanuel Engelhart
• Project contact name: Emmanuel Engelhart
• Project contact username or email: Kelson
• Project contact title (position): Project manager
• Project leader name: Emmanuel Engelhart
• Project leader username or email: Kelson
• Project leader title (position), if any: Project manager
• Full project name: Kiwix Linux Package Project
• Provisional target start date: 01-01-2013
• Provisional completion date: 01-05-2013

Goals

Kiwix is a software which works and although we still try to improve it, its big challenge is currently to be known by people. That why we need to bring Kiwix to people and organization as near as possible. This is the main purpose of this project, here are the details:

• Package for Ubuntu + official repository
• Package for Fedora + official repository
• Package for OpenSuse + official repository
• Package for Archlinux + official repository
• Package for FreeBSD + official repository
• Package for openWRT and DDWRT

Activities

This project would be split in 3 work-packages:

1 - Compilation

• Integrate Mozilla source code to Kiwix source code
• Compile Kiwix against Mozilla source code (avoid using Xulrunner and Xulrunner SDK)
• Check that everything compile and run fine like that for what we already release and support (Sugar, WIN, OSX, static&dynaimc + debian package)
• Integrate the work in the compilation farm
• Everything should work as good like before

2 - Package creation

• Create the packages for the recent version of the listed GNU/Linux distributions
• Create the packages with the compile farm
• Check that everything works fine

3 - Package integration in official distribution repositories

• Take contact with packagers, find an official packager or do it yourself
• Do the necessary to integrate Kiwix to the distribution, at least in the testing version (experimental/testing for Debian)
• Post-project, do the necessary that everything run fine and that Kiwix finaly land to the current release repository

4 - [Open/DD WRT] Integration

• Create the packages (one click install using the router WEB UI) for those two WRT distributions
• Muss work with the most common model using this distributions (mips architecture?)
• Package must have an easy interface to chose/change the content to spread, configure the interface (local network/internet)) and other mandatory things
• Take care that this package will be integrated in official catalogs of thus distributions

Wins

• Fully deployment of Kiwix in the most known and used GNU/Linux distributions
• Remove the Xulrunner dependency which is an almost unmaintained piece of software
• Improve the global quality of Kiwix compilation scripts
• Create the packages to use kiwix-serve for the time with routers (widely used and really cheap)

Resources

• 680 hours of professional development
• 40 hours of volunteer time for the project management
• 4 months of time
• 10.000 CHF

People

This project would be lead by Kelson and executed by the company Yeleman which has a long experience with Kiwix codebase.