As a short term way to deal with my Debian/Ubuntu PHP packages and virtual hosts issue, I have written a pretty crude Python script that I have called “adminstance“.

This script can currently install, update and remove an instance of a web package such as websvn:

vdv@studio:~/Documents/Dyomedea/code/adminstance$ ./adminstance

Usages:  

adminstance -h|--help
  print this message

adminstance -l|--list 
  lists the installed instances for this directory

adminstance -i|–install [-f|--force]  
  installs an instance for a root directory

adminstance -u|–update [-f|--force]  
  updates an instance for a root directory

adminstance -r|–remove [-f|--force] [-p|--purge]  
  removes an instance for a root directory

Options:

  -i, –install : action = installation
  -f, –force   : when action = install, update or remove, install
                  without prompting the user for a confirmation
  -h, –help    : prints this message
  -l, –list    : action = list
  -p, –purge   : when action = remove, remove also files and directories
                  under /var and /etc (by default, these are preserved)
  -r, –remove  : action = remove
  -u, –update  : action = update

To install an instance of websvn named “foo”, type:

vdv@studio:~/Documents/Dyomedea/code/adminstance$ sudo ./adminstance -i /usr/share/websvn/ foo
[sudo] password for vdv:
install an instance of /usr/share/websvn/ named foo? (y|N) y
Copying /var/cache/websvn to /var/cache/adminstance/websvn/foo

Copying /usr/share/websvn to /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo

Copying /etc/websvn to /etc/adminstance/websvn/foo

Creating a symlink from /etc/adminstance/websvn/foo/config.php to /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo/include/config.php
Creating a symlink from /var/cache/adminstance/websvn/foo/tmp to /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo/temp
Creating a symlink from /var/cache/adminstance/websvn/foo to /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo/cache
Creating a symlink from /etc/adminstance/websvn/foo/wsvn.php to /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo/wsvn.php

To update it if you get a new version of websvn:

vdv@studio:~/Documents/Dyomedea/code/adminstance$ sudo ./adminstance -u /usr/share/websvn/ foo
update an instance of /usr/share/websvn/ named foo? (y|N) y
Synchronizing /usr/share/websvn to /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo
rsync -a --delete /usr/share/websvn/ /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo/

Creating a symlink from /etc/adminstance/websvn/foo/config.php to /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo/include/config.php
Creating a symlink from /var/cache/adminstance/websvn/foo/tmp to /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo/temp
Creating a symlink from /var/cache/adminstance/websvn/foo to /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo/cache
Creating a symlink from /etc/adminstance/websvn/foo/wsvn.php to /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo/wsvn.php

To list the instances of websvn:

vdv@studio:~/Documents/Dyomedea/code/adminstance$ sudo ./adminstance -l /usr/share/websvn/
List of instances for the package websvn:
	bar
	foo

To remove the instance foo:

dv@studio:~/Documents/Dyomedea/code/adminstance$ sudo ./adminstance -r /usr/share/websvn/ foo
remove an instance of /usr/share/websvn/ named foo? (y|N) y
Deleting /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo
rm -r /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo

To remove it including its directory under /etc and /var:

vdv@studio:~/Documents/Dyomedea/code/adminstance$ sudo ./adminstance -rp /usr/share/websvn/ foo
remove an instance of /usr/share/websvn/ named foo? (y|N) y
Deleting /var/cache/adminstance/websvn/foo
rm -r /var/cache/adminstance/websvn/foo
Deleting /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo
rm -r /usr/share/adminstance/websvn/foo
Deleting /etc/adminstance/websvn/foo
rm -r /etc/adminstance/websvn/foo

It’s pretty basic and has a few limitations but that should be enough for me for the moment.

In the longer term, it should be possible to pack it as a .deb that uses dpkg triggers to automate the update of all its instances when a package is updated through apt…