[horde] Automated Easy Install

[Martin Fraser]

Hey all.

I am thinking about putting together a nice easy install routine for 
Horde, something like a script with a curses front end that would ask 
questions ala Debian packages and automatically fill in any config files 
from Horde. Questions like asking for the domain name and the admin 
email name and automatically filling in the relevant details in all 
horde apps (loads seem to ask for a system email address for reminders, 
changes to a wiki or forum, that kind of thing).

So, I'm doing an initial Q and A with you guys to make sure I've got 
everything before I start.

This is based on a small shell script I have that pulls Horde from cvs. 
I thought for a business use this could be used to pull FRAMEWORK_3 and 
eventually grow to an auto install and configure.

So, what needs to be done to install a working horde system and is 
pulling from CVS the best way?

What I've got so far:
1 - Ask if you want stable (FRAMEWORK_3) or dev (HEAD)
2 - Give a list of available modules and pick what you want.
3 - Ask generic questions for setup.
4 - Ask modules specific questions for each selected module
5 - login to cvs and for each module (including horde and framework)
   a - download
   b - create config files from dist files
   c - Run any installation scripts (ldap or sql)
   d - Auto populate conf.php from answers given earlier

The select list for part 2 and options for part 1 could be determined 
automatically from CVS. All questions should be asked at the start so a 
busy admin could start the install and let it do it's thing.

Generic questions could be system setup specific. This would include 
system domain name, admin user email, LDAP/SQL user passwords, 
installation paths and the like, as much being determined automatically 
as possible.

I think this could be a good little tool and would greatly speed up the 
initial install of a system for an admin to then tweak a little with the 
normal setup page.

So, any advice? Am I on the right track here? Is anyone else already 
doing something like this? Have I missed something important?

Obviously details are to follow once I get started.

Thanks for any advice you may have.

Martin...