[Gnumed-devel] Too many package options

[Sebastian Hilbert]

Hi all,

GNUmed on Windows has been a first class citizen for a few releases now. We 
have come from barely installable to easy installation.

In the beginning one had to install a bunch of packages like pythoh, then 
GNUmed, then postgresql, then bootstrap.

We have made it to a version that will install all dependancies for you. The 
server package will pepare everything for a clean bootstrap environment.

That was still too complex for many Windows users as they are used to pint and 
click without any configuration effort.

Then there were the Portable packages. Those even do away with the bootstrap 
process. Somehow those are still reported as being too complex.

At this point we get into a discussion on how easy is too easy or even 
dangerous.

Due to the number of 7 or so (client only, server, client all-in-one, client 
portable, server portable, postgresql) Windows targeted packages I had to 
maintain and keep in sync lately  I had to make a decision on how to proceed.

In the future there will be exactly 4 packages in 3 Windows distributions. 

1.) Portable distribution : PortableClient and PortableServer
2.) Basic distribution : Single workstation 
3.) Professional distribution: Networked setup oriented

package 1

The new basic distribution will install client and server (postgresql and 
data) into the same directory. It will neither ask for a postgres password , 
nor bootstrap. It will run postgres on port 5433 and coexist next to a 
properly installed postgres. It is intended as a single workstation solution. 
The server will be started when GNUmed client is started. This will be 
invisible to the user. The client will not install python and such but rather 
contain them in the gnumed.exe itself. 

package 2

The new professional edition will be split into a client part and a server 
part. Those will ship in one package. That means the client py files and the 
server bootstrap files will ship in one package.Different from the basic 
distribution the client will be not be an exe file containing python and 
wxpython. Those will be installed as needed. There will be no more server 
package. This ensures that client and server files always match. One does not 
have run the bootstrap process but the files will be copied to the drive 
nevertheless. It will be handled as install option in the installer. 
Postgresql will be shipped in the package and installed system wide in a 
silent install if selected in the install options.  Pro: No more fishing 
around for packages and files. Con: Huge package overhead if you just want to 
install the updated client.

package 3

No questions asked portable client

package 4

No questions asked portable server on port 5433