Stable/dev branches or should we provide pre-compiled binaries?

[vsab]

KLS - my system could well use these kinds of binaries. My plan is also to have maps and quests and database bundled, because in the past when I've upgraded a server and used older versions of those they don't work properly.

I updated the maps from SVN but I suspect these are using the old map system not your new one, or won't it matter for now?

My aim is to have the simplest install ever for someone who has discovered this site and wants to get a working server running with the smallest amount of hassle.

The user would write this in a command prompt:-

> cinst EQEmu

But the installer I'm writing would:-

1. Download and install ActivePerl-5.16.3-x86, if needed
2. Download and install MariaDb, if needed
3. Download and install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013, if needed
4. Download and install a precompiled EQ Emu binary set. I could actually use yours and just unzip it but I already have an installer, which sets up the folder structure
5. Install maps and quests in the correct location, plugins in the correct locations
6. Set up Maria DB correctly with a default password (probably "password" :P )
7. Install the PEQ database

If I get that working I might make another package to install Apache, the PEQ PHP editor and HeidiSQL. Or maybe a package to install the plugins/mods that Akka has published.

[KLS]

Newer maps are significantly smaller, also you could have it generate new maps from an eq install then copy them over (takes about 5 minutes for me).

[Scorpious2k]

Originally Posted by vsab

My aim is to have the simplest install ever for someone who has discovered this site and wants to get a working server running with the smallest amount of hassle.

I really like this idea.

But the installer I'm writing would:-

1. Download and install ActivePerl-5.16.3-x86, if needed
2. Download and install MariaDb, if needed

WOW! I thought I was the only one using MariaDB - well, me and Google now that they switched. :P

3. Download and install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013, if needed
4. Download and install a precompiled EQ Emu binary set. I could actually use yours and just unzip it but I already have an installer, which sets up the folder structure
5. Install maps and quests in the correct location, plugins in the correct locations
6. Set up Maria DB correctly with a default password (probably "password" :P )

The default always seems to be (in guides) DB name eqemu and password eqemu. If you wanted to get clever you could grab the computer name (system variable COMPUTERNAME) or the current user name (system variable USERNAME) as a password making it unique to each installation, easy for the user to remember, and still a pretty crappy password otherwise.

7. Install the PEQ database

You could also supply them with a startup batch file too. If you do, be aware there is a program called timeout.exe that is FAR better than using ping for delays and it is included with windows.

If I get that working I might make another package to install Apache, the PEQ PHP editor and HeidiSQL. Or maybe a package to install the plugins/mods that Akka has published.

Great!