The multisite installer script #

This page is for developers who change or debug the sevenx_multisite install, and for hosts who need to know what a default install does to a database and to settings/. It answers: what settings/sevenx-multi-site-installer.php runs, when, and in which order. All facts are from the file itself (7692 lines in 6.0.15) and from the kernel's kernel/setup/steps/ezstep_create_sites.php and kernel/classes/ezsiteinstaller.php.

Contents #

1. The class and when it runs
2. Phase 1: settings the installer works out
3. Phase 2: the pre-install
4. Phase 3: settings, roles and preferences
5. Phase 4: the post-install steps
6. When a step fails
7. The command-line install method

The class and when it runs #

The file defines class sevenxMultiSiteInstaller extends eZSiteInstaller. The kernel's eZSiteInstaller constructor calls initSettings( $parameters ) and then initSteps(), so every new sevenxMultiSiteInstaller(...) works out its settings and its list of post-install steps first. The small wrapper files of the package (see What it is made of) each create one and call one method:

CreateSites (kernel/setup/steps/ezstep_create_sites.php)
  include every <settings-file> of the site package
  eZSitePreInstall()            -> preInstall()
  install the required packages (classes, then content)
  eZSiteINISettings()           -> siteINISettings()
  eZSiteAdminINISettings()      -> adminINISettings()
  eZSiteCommonINISettings()     -> commonINISettings()
  eZSiteRoles()                 -> siteRoles()
  eZSitePreferences()           -> sitePreferences()
  eZSitePostInstall()           -> postInstall() = the 50 steps of initSteps()
  then: exp_adminui in the admin siteaccess, the editor siteaccess, the adminui siteaccess

The setup front ends (web wizard, kickstarter, exp:install) all run CreateSites, so this is the same for every install method. See How the setup wizard uses packages and How the kickstarter and console use packages.

Phase 1: settings the installer works out #

initSettings() reads the parameters the setup passes and stores what the later steps need:

Phase 2: the pre-install #

eZSitePreInstall() creates the installer with array( 'var_dir' => 'var/site' ) and calls preInstall(), before any package is installed:

1. Records the highest node id and object id of the base data in $GLOBALS['sevenxBaseMaxNodeID'] and $GLOBALS['sevenxBaseMaxObjectID']. The post-install fix uses them to tell base data from package content.
2. Adds tags (ezkeyword) and publish_date (ezdatetime) to the folder class.
3. Sets [FileSettings] VarDir=var/site for the running process, so images and files land in the site's var directory.
4. activateSiteExtensionSettings(): adds the settings/ folder of every extension in extension_list to the running configuration, so the datatypes and INI files of those extensions are known while the classes and objects are imported.
5. Registers the datatype directories ezstarrating, ezgmaplocation, exp_enhanced_link, eztags and the datatypes ezsrrating, ezgmaplocation, ngenhancedlink, eztags in content.ini [DataTypeSettings].
6. When extension/sevenx_authentication_2fa exists, adds the "Two-step sign-in" field to the user class.
7. dropExtensionTables(), then insertDBFile() for each extension schema: this is where the layout tables and their rows come in. See Layouts data and the share .dba files.
8. Corrects the language ids of eng-GB rows in eztags_keyword and eztags.

Phase 3: settings, roles and preferences #

While CreateSites builds the settings it asks the package for its own. The installer returns lists of INI groups:

The settings/override/site.ini group is written with discard_old_values: what it does not set is gone after the install. siteRoles() and sitePreferences() return the roles and the administrator's preferences; see Roles and policies.

Phase 4: the post-install steps #

postInstall() runs the step list of initSteps() through executeSteps(). In order:

The details of steps 35 to 41 are on Post-install fixes.

When a step fails #

executeSteps() stops at the first step that reports an error the installer does not handle; the installer's own handleError() commits the open transaction on an abort. The setup then reports EZSW-080: "The post-install of site package '...' stopped at step N of M (...): the steps after it did not run". That is why the code orders the steps the way it does: the two cosmetic logo steps run last "because executeSteps aborts the whole chain on the first step that reports an error", and several kernel steps are overridden (swapNodes, removeContentObject, setSection, setRSSExport) to log a notice and carry on when what they name is not there.

The command-line install method #

The class also has an install() method for use outside CreateSites. It writes the user siteaccess, admin siteaccess and settings/override groups itself, then calls updateRoles(), updatePreferences() and postInstall(). The setup front ends do not use it; they go through the hooks above.

Related pages #

• sevenx_multisite
• Install scripts in a site package
• Post-install fixes
• Changing the installer script
• 4.3 Site packages: what is installed
• Site packages: start here
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.