Build installer

[tobyzerner]

• Should we have this as a separate package/repo, or in core?
• Build a common installation process, which:
  • Writes config (related #121)
  • Runs migrations
  • Seeds some welcome data
• Build a GUI which feeds user input into the installer
• Build a CLI (#120) which feeds user input into the installer?

Also consider how we should do importers. Should they be a part of the installation process, or a separate step after Flarum has been set up?

[franzliedke]

This is what I always thought:

• the installer itself is just a PHAR archive (apparently they can be accessed from the web, too) that takes care of the following:
  • download the actual standalone application and core
  • set up database and general config
  • create initial data (user account) or import data from another forum

So, for the above, that would mean:

• A separate package
• GUI and CLI (the latter may have to be part of the core, because the GUI should only be usable with the standalone app)

[tobyzerner]

OK so something like this?

Web installation

• User goes to flarum.org, clicks "Download", downloads "flarum_web_install.phar.php", and uploads it to their server's public directory.
• They navigate to that file in their browser. The PHAR boots up and shows a GUI prompting them to enter their config details.
• They click "Submit". The PHAR validates their data and gives them an error if something's wrong.
• If it's all good, the PHAR talks to an API hosted on flarum.org to find out the URL of the latest version of the standalone Flarum application (basically the flarum/flarum repo with flarum/core & default extensions & composer deps included, and JS pre-compiled; we'll need to write a build script for this).
• It downloads this zip and extracts its contents into the public directory, while showing a progress bar to the user.
• Once this is done, it writes config.php, then includes Flarum's autoload.php and runs core + default extension migrations, and finally creates initial data.
• The PHAR then presents the user with a success message, and the option to import data from another forum. The PHAR contains various importers that we deem to be stable enough. The user can choose a forum software/version, enter the DB details, and the PHAR will attempt to do the import.

Manual installation (for devs)

• User clones flarum/flarum into their public directory. Retrieves git submodule.
• Runs composer install on system and core.
• Runs php flarum install. (This command is a part of flarum/flarum, not flarum/core. Because flarum/core has no knowledge of what config.php is and where it should be written, right?)
• Prompted for config data, writes config.php, runs flarum/core migrations.
• How do we run importers here?

Laravel integration

• composer install flarum/laravel, which in turn requires flarum/core
• php artisan flarum:install, which prompts for config data, writes config/flarum.php, runs flarum/core migrations.
• How do we run importers here?

[tobyzerner]

This is done