Plug-ins are distributed and installed separately from the base ExSite
system. There are two methods for installing plug-ins into a website.
Method 1: Makefile
The Makefile that is distributed with the base distribution (in the
install
directory) can be used to install plug-ins. The configuration
section of the Makefile must be edited to reflect your local
setup. Once that is done, put a copy of the Makefile in your
cgi-bin directory. Then the following commands will work:
make PLUGIN
where "PLUGIN" is the name of the plug-in you want to install. For example:
make PhotoAlbum
To install multiple plug-ins at once, simply give all their names to make:
make PLUGIN1 PLUGIN2 PLUGIN3
Note that these commands install the basic website files, but do not reconfigure the database. For that, see below.
Method 2: Manual Installation
Each plug-in is distributed in a directory with the following contents:
README
| brief description of the plug-in module
|
| html/* | static files such as images, stylesheets, JS scripts
|
cgi/*
| plug-in code and configuration files
|
If your plug-in repository is $BASE, and the plug-in subdirectory is
$BASE/Plugin, then change to your website's cgi-bin directory, and
execute the following commands:
cp -r $BASE/Plugin/cgi/Modules/* Modules
mkdir dbmap/Plugin
cp -r $BASE/Plugin/cgi/dbmap/* dbmap/Plugin
cp -r $BASE/Plugin/cgi/conf/Plugin.conf conf
If you want to keep the original files in the repository and symlink to them instead, use the following commands:
ln -s $BASE/Plugin/cgi/Modules/* Modules
mkdir dbmap/Plugin
ln -s $BASE/Plugin/cgi/dbmap/* dbmap/Plugin
cp -r $BASE/Plugin/cgi/conf/Plugin.conf conf
(The symlink method makes it easier to upgrade your plugins by
replacing the whole plug-in repository at once. It also makes it easier
to share plug-ins on a server with multiple web sites.)
You should also change to your website's base htdocs directory, and execute the following commands:
mkdir _Modules/Plugin
cp -r $BASE/Plugin/html/* _Modules/Plugin/
(You can change the cp -r to ln -s if you prefer the symlink method.)
Database Configuration
If your plugin has files in its cgi/dbmap directory, then it modifies
the database, and there is an extra setup step to complete the
installation. Starting from your cgi-bin directory, execute the
following command:
$BIN/makesql.pl > make.sql
where $BIN is the location of the bin directory in your ExSite base
distribution. This will create a script, make.sql, which sets up
your database tables. (This script will include your old tables
plus the new ones that the plug-in requires. However, the old
tables will not be affected if you run this script.) To run the
script, type:
mysql -u root -p your_db < make.sql
(you will need to enter the mysql password.) Change "your_db" in
the above command to your database name. If you have a
personal mysql account to do this work, you should also change "root"
to your account name.
Note: it is always wise to make a backup of your database before doing any work that reconfigures it:
mysqldump -u root -p your_db > db-backup.sql