[FLOW3-general] Getting started (again)

[Christian Kuhn]

Hey list.

I run and test FLOW3/phoenix once in a while to keep some parts in sync 
with v4. I've always been running into problems with the setup, but 
somehow managed to get a working setup - until now ;) So I would like to 
ask some stupid and basic questions about the structure.

I have a running nginx webserver with recent php, all based on debian 
squeeze. This should be ok, at least phoenix/flow3 did run successfully 
for me in the past.

My primary goal is a running setup to execute the unit tests - via cli 
and browser. I'd like to hack on minor things and push to the 
subprojects of a distribution.

Questions:
- Which distribution should I clone (to get latest development versions 
of flow3)? FLOW3 or Phoenix? It seems the testing package is not 
included in FLOW3 distribution. How do I get it and activate it?
- Are the documents at [1] and [2] still fully valid?
- How are the distributions interweaved with the subprojects? I know 
that hudson always does some 'raised pointer' things, but if I clone one 
of the distributions and checkout the master of flow3 package, is this 
really 'latest version'? What exactly is this pointer thing in hudson 
and how do I work with it? How do I update everything to latest head?
- Please give some advice on the new cli interface (Robert demonstrated 
some fancy stuff on t3board, which I would like to replay). I always get 
some 'class "" not found' messages and no help at all. The infos of the 
Welcome package doesn't seem to work anymore.
- I managed to hack my db credentials into Settings.yaml and the phoenix 
distribution even created the basic db layout for me. The backend login 
failed however ... and: How can I execute the tests from here? The FLOW3 
distribution has some happy link in the Welcome package, but it didn't 
work (testing package missing?), and I was unable to download and 
activate the testing package for this distribution because I have no 
idea on how to do this.
- The FLOW3 distribution has some hint on how to render the youngest 
documentation (there are parts I'd like to review), but the required 
phing binary does not seem to be included in debian squeeze ... any 
hints on this one?
- What about a documentation about needed pear packages (eg. flow3 
testing once came with an own phpunit package, but I think this changed 
somewhere, what is the situation now?)

About documentation:
The overall documentation and project structure on forge and other 
various subdomains is complicated. Example: Why is the documentation 
about cloning the distributions hidden at 
'other'->'forge.typo3.org'->'wiki'? The whole documentation is spread 
between the demo pages, flow3.typo3.org, the various distributions and I 
don't know where else. FLOW3 distribution has a readme with a hint on 
the fix permission script and the testrunner, while the phoenix misses 
something like that. On forge main site, three main menu points affect 
v5: FLOW3, TYPO3 Phoenix and Other. Parts of the documentation is 
outdated (like the Welcome package with it's cli hints). This is really 
complicated for a beginner (with developer aims) and should imho be 
structured better ... A simple overview page, explaining structures and 
resources and 'where to look if you want to do xy', 'how to start' and 
'we have this list of maintained web resources' would be great! I'm 
currently stuck at this point, don't know which web resources are valid 
and how all this works together. Take old things offline again, so that 
they do not confuse users. Could the documentation be tagged along with 
the flow3 version ('this docu is valid for alpha13, this one for HEAD')?

Well, these are all simple problems every experienced developer laughs 
about, but the spread out documentation and missing structure of things 
for beginners doesn't make first steps really easy.

Regards
Christian

[1] 
http://forge.typo3.org/projects/team-forge/wiki/Cloning_the_TYPO3_Phoenix_Base_Distribution
[2] 
http://forge.typo3.org/projects/team-forge/wiki/Cloning_the_FLOW3_Base_Distribution