[GRASS5] GRASS 6 extension manager

GRASS GIS GRASS GIS developer
1

For the past weeks, I have been working on a stand-alone program
that allows for compilation and installation of GRASS 6 modules
and libs, called GRASSS Extensions Manager ('gem').

Gem will allow GRASS users to download, compile and install
additional GRASS commands and libraries without the need
to have a complete GRASS 6 source tree or know a lot
about C source code configuration and compilation.

An extension may contain:
- source code written for GRASS 6
- any number of binary sets for specific architectures
- scripts
- ASCII files that describe the contents and dependencies
  of the extension

'gem' can do the following things for the user:
- compile and install extensions from within a directory
  or a compressed archive (tar.gz, tar.bz2, zip) provided
  that tar, gzip and friends are available
- install pre-compiled binaries and scripts
- retrieve extension packages from http and ftp sources,
  provided that wget is available
- query extensions and display information and license
  files
- upgrade extensions
- remove extensions from the system
- manage dependencies on other extensions and specific
  GRASS versions

It is really easy for extension authors to get their source
code into a form that works with 'gem'. I will provide
an extension skeleton with commented ASCII files that extension
authors just need to fill in. Other than that, it should be
possible to keep Makefile and source structure untouched
as 'gem' uses a simplified copy of the original GRASS 6 make
system.

I am going to release a version of 'gem', as well as a
few usefull extensions sometime next month and would like
everyone with some time to spare to try and download and
install some of those on their systems. Otherwise, I will
never be able to know if the simplified compilation scheme
works reliably on different systems.

Before I release 'gem' for testing, I would like to complete
its functionality. For this, I need some help with the following
two items that should also be stored inside an extension package:
- HTML documentation
- Hooks for the GIS manager

My questions are:

- what is the best way to merge an extension's HTML docs into
  the GRASS 6 installation? I think it would be important
  to register the new pages in 'index.html', perhaps in a
  separate paragraph so that the user can quickly see which
  additional commands an extension has added to the system.

- how are we going to make new commands available in the
  GIS manager?
  Should the extension author be able to register them
  in any of GIS manager's menus?
  Or would it be better to have a menu 'Extensions' under
  which every extension registers its commands?

Cheers,

Benjamin

2

Benjamin,

This is very exciting. I am looking forward to being able to manage GRASS
extensions without needing to compile the entire program.

With respect to incorporating them into the GIS manager, probably the
easiest is to have a separate 'extensions' menu; I can add one easily.
However, it should not be that difficult for an extension to integrate into
the existing menu scheme either. ArcView extensions often worked that way.

All GIS Manager menus are handled by a single TclTk script file (in ascii)
called menu.tcl. Any modification of this script file shows up immediately
in the GIS Manager as soon as you restart d.m. It is not necessary to
compile it (which has made it much easier for me to work with). Menu.tcl is
located (in the compiled binary) in the $GISBASE/etc/dm directory. If you
take a look at this file, it should be pretty obvious how the menus are
handled. But basically, each menu item is a single line of TclTk script.
Cascade lines set off submenus. Separator lines produce horizontal rules
that divide up a set of menus into visual groups.

The buttons are a bit more complicated. But again, each button is called by
a single line of TclTk script. These are in tool1.tcl and tool2.tcl. It is
conceivable for an extension to install as a button. However, I haven't left
much room for that. There is a little on the second button bar line
(tool2.tcl), but not much.

I'm happy to help you with this.

Michael

On 4/28/05 12:39 AM, "benducke@compuserve.de" <benducke@compuserve.de>
wrote:

For the past weeks, I have been working on a stand-alone program
that allows for compilation and installation of GRASS 6 modules
and libs, called GRASSS Extensions Manager ('gem').

Gem will allow GRASS users to download, compile and install
additional GRASS commands and libraries without the need
to have a complete GRASS 6 source tree or know a lot
about C source code configuration and compilation.

An extension may contain:
- source code written for GRASS 6
- any number of binary sets for specific architectures
- scripts
- ASCII files that describe the contents and dependencies
  of the extension

'gem' can do the following things for the user:
- compile and install extensions from within a directory
  or a compressed archive (tar.gz, tar.bz2, zip) provided
  that tar, gzip and friends are available
- install pre-compiled binaries and scripts
- retrieve extension packages from http and ftp sources,
  provided that wget is available
- query extensions and display information and license
  files
- upgrade extensions
- remove extensions from the system
- manage dependencies on other extensions and specific
  GRASS versions

It is really easy for extension authors to get their source
code into a form that works with 'gem'. I will provide
an extension skeleton with commented ASCII files that extension
authors just need to fill in. Other than that, it should be
possible to keep Makefile and source structure untouched
as 'gem' uses a simplified copy of the original GRASS 6 make
system.

I am going to release a version of 'gem', as well as a
few usefull extensions sometime next month and would like
everyone with some time to spare to try and download and
install some of those on their systems. Otherwise, I will
never be able to know if the simplified compilation scheme
works reliably on different systems.

Before I release 'gem' for testing, I would like to complete
its functionality. For this, I need some help with the following
two items that should also be stored inside an extension package:
- HTML documentation
- Hooks for the GIS manager

My questions are:

- what is the best way to merge an extension's HTML docs into
  the GRASS 6 installation? I think it would be important
  to register the new pages in 'index.html', perhaps in a
  separate paragraph so that the user can quickly see which
  additional commands an extension has added to the system.

- how are we going to make new commands available in the
  GIS manager?
  Should the extension author be able to register them
  in any of GIS manager's menus?
  Or would it be better to have a menu 'Extensions' under
  which every extension registers its commands?

Cheers,

Benjamin

____________________
C. Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
PO Box 872402
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
USA

Phone: 480-965-6262
Fax: 480-965-7671
www: <www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton>

3

The buttons are a bit more complicated. But again, each button is
called by a single line of TclTk script. These are in tool1.tcl and
tool2.tcl. It is conceivable for an extension to install as a button.
However, I haven't left much room for that. There is a little on the
second button bar line (tool2.tcl), but not much.

Is it possible to have all the x0 -> x6 buttons in one pull-down menu?

e.g.

_______
| | |
| x0 |v|
|____|_|
| |
| x2 |
|____|
| |
| x3 |
|____|
| |
| x4 |
|____|
| |
| x5 |
|____|
| |
| x6 |
|____|

That way you can click the "x0" button most of the time but if you want
another monitor you can click the pull-down menu and get to it that way.

It would make things less cluttered by taking the less used buttons off
the front-end.

or make the buttons smaller & stacked?
_________
|x1|x2|x3|
|--|--|--|
|x4|x5|x6|
---------

(I prefer the first option)

no idea if Tcl/Tk allows this sort of thing.

"x?" -> "Monitor ?" in the GUI?

thanks,
Hamish