[SOLVED] Where should one place support scripts and resources within a Catalyst project?

JNW has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Esteemed Monks

I am about to embark on a project, using Catalyst, where I know that the project will eventually be installed on many machines. The project is reliant on a database, which won't necessarily exist before the installation of the Catalyst project. Within the project, I would like to place both: a set of SQL creation/upgrade scripts; and a program that runs at "make install" time to either install, upgrade, or skip, the database installation, as defined by human response. I know how to do everything except add this install-upgrade-skip program to the install section of the make file, after running "perl Makefile.PL"

There are a number of possibilities:

My understanding of the configuration of Module::Install is limited and I am incapable of understanding the documentation
The documentation for this feature doesn't exist
There is a way to do this, but not using Module::Install
I have to handcraft the Makefile after running perl Makefile.PL
I am committing heresy and should not place these files in the Catalyst project

Please could some generous monk point me in the right direction?

Thank you for your time!

Comment on [SOLVED] Where should one place support scripts and resources within a Catalyst project?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Where should one place support scripts and resources within a Catalyst project? by Anonymous Monk on Aug 24, 2011 at 12:51 UTC
My understanding of the configuration of Module::Install is limited and I am incapable of understanding the documentation This. Drop distname_any-file.pl you wish to install into script subdirectory and `install_script glob('script/*.pl');` in Makefile.PL takes care of installing it Its a good idea to follow the catalyst naming convention	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Where should one place support scripts and resources within a Catalyst project? by JNW (Novice) on Aug 25, 2011 at 08:23 UTC
A very excellent suggestion and certainly part of the story, thank you :) My understanding is that `install_script` will perform all of the necessary work to install the various additional scripts. Is there a way to additionally include the execution of distname_any-file.pl as part of the `make install` procedure? Perhaps it's easier with a working example to explain what I am doing (disclaimer: I have substituted my project name for the standard Catalyst tutorial myapp): Leaning on the advice of another reply to my original post (and to keep this explanation as simple as possible), I have created a database directory called `database` in the root directory of the project (so it's a sibling of `script`, `root`, `lib`, etc.), with the database update-upgrade script `myapp_database.pl`, and a directory called `sql` containing the necessary SQL files. The relevant part of the output of `tree -fi` is: `./database ./database/myapp_database.pl ./database/sql ./database/sql/create-tables.sql ./database/sql/create-data.sql` [download] My Makefile.PL now also includes: `install_script glob('database/myapp_database.pl'); install_share ( 'dist', 'database/sql');` [download] This nicely places the script and the SQL files in sensible places within the blib directory (genuinely impressed at how easy this was!) What I would like to do at this point is add something like: `post_install_execute 'myapp_database.pl';` Is this, or something equivalent, possible? Thank you again!	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Where should one place support scripts and resources within a Catalyst project? by Anonymous Monk on Aug 25, 2011 at 08:46 UTC
Is this, or something equivalent, possible? Lets see http://search.cpan.org/grep?cpanid=ADAMK&release=Module-Install-1.01&string=post&i=1&n=1&C=0 preamble, postamble (Module::Install::Makefile) looks like a candidate Checking ?node_id=3989;HIT=Module%3A%3AInstall;re=N Adding additional targets to Module::Install custom behavior with Module::Install/MakeMaker during standard CPAN install sequence yup, postamble seems promising	[reply]
Re^4: [SOLVED] Where should one place support scripts and resources within a Catalyst project? by JNW (Novice) on Aug 25, 2011 at 09:00 UTC
Re: Where should one place support scripts and resources within a Catalyst project? by Your Mother (Archbishop) on Aug 24, 2011 at 13:54 UTC
The previous advice regarding install_script is good. I recommend however not putting your scripts into `myapp/script` but instead something like `myapp/bin` or `myapp/tool`. This is a logical separation because of the many Catalyst Helper packages that automatically create or upgrade stuff in `script`. If you have them separated, programmatic v in-house, you will never have mysteries or in-line "forks" to solve.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Where should one place support scripts and resources within a Catalyst project? by chromatic (Archbishop) on Aug 24, 2011 at 14:31 UTC
I haven't used it yet beyond small experiments, but DBIx::Class::DeploymentHandler looks like a great tool.	[reply]
Re^2: Where should one place support scripts and resources within a Catalyst project? by JNW (Novice) on Aug 25, 2011 at 08:27 UTC
Great recommendation, thank you! `DBIx::Class::DeploymentHandler` is now my reading this morning :) Looks good!	[reply] [d/l]