Elixir Release Manager DEB generator

Adds simple [Debian Package][1] (DEB) generation to the exrm package manager.

Functionality list

1. Able to build debian packages:
   1. [x] With changelog
   2. [x] With control file
2. Ability to add in pre/post install/remove scripts
3. Automatically builds init scripts:
   1. [x] Upstart
   2. [x] Systemd
   3. [ ] SysV
4. Validates configuration before completing the build
5. Add ability for you to replace file templates with your own
6. Handle functionality for Hot Upgrades
7. Merge debian to-be-deployed files with your own structure

External dependencies

Before using exrm-deb, you'll need the following commands installed and in your path:

• tar (or gtar if you're on mac - you can brew install gnu-tar if you don't already have it)
• ar
• uname

Configuration

Exrm-deb relies on the following data in the mix.exs file being set:

defmodule Testapp.Mixfile do
   use Mix.Project

   def project do
      [app: :testapp,
      version: "0.0.1",
      elixir: "~> 1.0",
+     description: "Create a deb for your elixir release with ease",
      build_embedded: Mix.env == :prod,
      start_permanent: Mix.env == :prod,
-     deps: deps]
+     deps: deps,
+     package: package]
   end

The package function must be set as per the [hex guidelines][2], but with some extra lines:

def package do
   [
+     external_dependencies: [],
+     license_file: "LICENSE",
      files: [ "lib", "mix.exs", "README*", "LICENSE"],
      maintainers: ["John Hamelink <john@example.com>"],
      licenses: ["MIT"],
      vendor: "John Hamelink",
      links:  %{
        "GitHub" => "https://github.com/johnhamelink/testapp",
        "Docs" => "hexdocs.pm/testapp",
+       "Homepage" => "https://github.com/johnhamelink/testapp"
      }
   ]
end

A list of configuration options you can add to package/0:

• licenses
  • Array of strings
  • Can be something like ["Copyright <date> <company_name>"] if you are building private packages.
• maintainers
  • Array of Strings
  • Should be in the format name <email>
• external_dependencies
  • Array of Strings
  • Should be in the format of package-name (operator version_number) where operator is either <<, <=, =, >=, or >> - [read more about this here.][4]
• maintainer_scripts
  • A keyword list of Strings
  • The keyword should be one of: :pre_install, :post_install, :pre_uninstall, or :post_uninstall
  • The keyword should point to the path of a script you want to run at the moment in question.
• vendor
  • String
  • The distribution vendor that's creating the debian package. I normally just put my name or company name.
• owner
  • A keyword list of Strings
  • If set, requires both user and group keys to be set.
  • This is used when building the archive to set the correct user and group
  • Defaults to root for user & group.

Usage

You can build a deb at the same time as building a release by adding the --deb option to release.

mix release --deb

This task first constructs the release using exrm, then generates a deb file for the release. The deb is built from scratch, retrieving default values such as the name, version, etc using the mix.exs file.

The _build/deb directory tree, along with the rest of the release can be removed with mix release.clean

Please visit [exrm][3] for additional information.

Installation

The package can be installed as:

1. Add exrm_deb to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

   def deps do

    [{:exrm_deb, "~> 0.0.1"}]

   end

2. Ensure exrm_deb is started before your application:

   def application do

    [applications: [:exrm_deb]]

   end

[1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deb_(file_format) [2]:https://hex.pm/docs/publish [3]:https://github.com/bitwalker/exrm [4]:https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/dreq.en.html#control