Module Package Repository

[DaAwesomeP]

My apologies if this is not the place to discuss features for this module; if so please redirect me to the correct place. I was not sure which space this falls into on Jira.

Shibboleth SP on Debian comes pre-built with FastCGI support (specifically the shibboleth-sp-utils package). This is the most difficult requirement to fulfill, as pkg-oss makes the module compilation simple. But that still requires the user to compile and distribute the module across all of their machines. It seems it would be possible to create a public package repository that builds the Nginx Shibboleth module against one or more of the following repositories:

• Official Nginx Stable (i.e. http://nginx.org/packages/debian bullseye nginx)
• Official Nginx Mainline (i.e. http://nginx.org/packages/mainline/debian bullseye nginx)
• Official Debian repo (i.e. http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main)

The packages could be built and hosted on a free and available platform:

• OpenSUSE Build Service (OBS), which has out-of-the box building and publishing systems for all package repository types
• Launchpad
• GitHub Actions + GitHub Pages

[davidjb]

Thanks for the suggestion @DaAwesomeP.

I'm not a Debian user myself, so creating builds for that platform isn't something I have a need for, but if someone else was willing to set it up and maintain it, please do. I'll leave this issue open in case anyone wants to offer their support.

That said, the 'demonstration' status of pkg-oss is why I've not tried to build automated processes that rely upon it in the past. As software goes, it's been fairly reliable but not without issues; I've had to monkey-patch pkg-oss a few times in the past. OBS could be used to target & build RPM packages alongside Debian packages, which would be nice to have streamlined, but my concern is that it would be somewhat like building on quicksand.

In any case, feel free to chime in if anyone wishes to support or maintain build infrastructure.

(For note, since this relates this "unofficial" Nginx module, there won't be a location on the official Shibboleth Jira issue trackers for this.)

[DaAwesomeP]

It sounds like if this were to be done it should maybe not use pkg-oss then. I will take a look at how Debian provides packages for other module (like headers more) and see what they do.