Consider the following valid installation file:

{
   "name":"Demo installer",
   "install":[
      {
         "package":"parcks",
	 "alternative-names":["php", "dsjgdosfihgsdhg"],
         "post-installation":[
            {
               "type":"remote",
               "name":"composer",
               "url":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Parcks/plugins/master/testPlugin.ppl"
            },
            {
               "type":"shell",
	       "name":"demo shell",
               "cmds":[
                  {
                     "root":true,
                     "do":[
                        "whoami",
                        "ls -al"
                     ]
                  },
                  {
                     "root":false,
		     "work-dir":"/opt",
                     "do":[
                        "pwd"
                     ]
                  }
               ]
            },
	    {
		"type":"file-create",
		"name":"test file create as root",
		"destination-path":"/opt/tester",
		"root":true,
		"contents":"Dummy contents\On a new line!"
	    },
	    {
		"type":"file-create",
		"name":"test file create normal",
		"destination-path":"/home/jvalck/test-core",
		"contents":"Dummy contents\On a new line!"
	    },
	    {
		"type":"file-append",
		"name":"test file append normal",
		"destination-path":"/home/jvalck/test-core",
		"contents":"Appended line"
	    },
	    {
		"type":"file-append",
		"name":"test file append as root",
		"destination-path":"/opt/tester",
		"root":true,
		"contents":"Appended line"
	    }
         ]
      }
   ]
}

As you may have noticed, this is a JSON-like file.

Root

At the root level you will need to specify a name for your installer. This is required. The name will be displayed to the user. Next you will specify (as an array) what to install.

Package

Example:

{
         "package":"parcks",
	 "alternative-names":["php", "dsjgdosfihgsdhg"],
         "post-installation":[]
}

Only the package-field is required. To allow that your installer is working on other distro's, it's not a bad idea to add alternative names for the package. You can do this by adding an array containing the alternative names. For example: Debian 8 doesn't has a package called php, it's called php5. Therefore following example allows successful installation of PHP:

{
         "package":"php",
	 "alternative-names":["php5]
}

As stated above, the post-installation-field isn't required either. So you can safely remove it.

Fields

Name	Required	Type
package	Yes	string
alternative-names	No	array
post-installation	No	array

Post-installation scripts

Remote

Example:

{
    "type":"remote",
    "name":"composer",
    "url":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Parcks/plugins/master/testPlugin.ppl"
}

A Remote will download a plugin and execute it. A plugin can contain one or more post-installation scripts. If the url is an unverified one, Parcks will display a warning message. You can find verified plugins in the repository.

Fields

Name	Required	Type
type	Yes	string
name	Yes	string
url	Yes	string

Shell

Example:

{
  "type":"shell",
  "name":"demo shell",
  "cmds":[
    {
      "root":true,
      "do":[
        "whoami",
        "ls -al"
      ]
    },
    {
      "root":false,
      "work-dir":"/opt",
      "do":[
        "pwd"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

A Shell is a bit more complex (but more powerful) post-installation type, as it contains so-called Shell Commands. The Shell Commands are specified by the cmds-field. We will discuss it below. A Shell is simply a wrapper for one or more Shell Commands.

Fields

Name	Required	Type
type	Yes	string
name	Yes	string
cmds	Yes	array

Shell Commands

For each Shell Command you must specify if it should be executed with root privileges. In the do-field you specify the commands.

Fields

Name	Required	Type
root	Yes	boolean
work-dir	No	string
do	Yes	array

File create

Example:

{
  "type":"file-create",
  "name":"test file create as root",
  "destination-path":"/opt/tester",
  "root":true,
  "contents":"Dummy contents\n a new line!"
}

As the name suggest this will create a file in the file system. You can specify the destination of the file with the destination-path-field. The contents are specified in the contents-field.

Warning! As the file is JSON-like, you will need to escape special characters!

If you set the root-field to true, the file will be created as root.

Fields

Name	Required	Type
type	Yes	string
name	Yes	string
destination-path	Yes	string
contents	Yes	string
root	No	boolean

File append

{
  "type":"file-append",
  "name":"test file append normal",
  "destination-path":"/home/jvalck/test-core",
  "contents":"Appended line"
}

The functionality and fields of a File append post-installation script are similar to the File create. The only difference is that it will append to a file instead of creating one.