Luci - how to test app deployment

Greetings,

I've read dev documents, searched this forum, and the general interwebs to no avail. So a post for help it is...

I have developed a little Luci app, Lua code only. It works fine in my OpenWRT VM. I also have a local git branch with the directory layout as per https://github.com/openwrt/luci/blob/master/documentation/Modules.md. But I would like to test deploying the app on a fresh VM or my actual device. I can't find any documentation on how to do this. In short:
(1) How do I create an .ipk for my app?
(2) How do I install the above (opkg), when it is not coming from a feed on the 'net?
(3) Where is the documentation for this process?

Thank you for your time and help.
tjk :slight_smile:

https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-developer/packages

and looking at a similar package's Makefile, then build in the OpenWrt build system.

https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-developer/build-system/start

You can use http://luci.subsignal.org/~jow/luci-app-standalone.tar.gz as an example for a standalone LuCI application.

Extract the tarball into the package/ folder of a buildroot or SDK and run „make package/luci-app-standalone/compile“ to build it.

jeff, thank you for the links. I came across and read those before posting, but those pages seemed to be meant to build the core system, as for porting to new hardware, or fixing bugs. I am in Luci land, and from what I've read should be much easier process.

jow, thanks for the archive. I'll play with it, and see how far I go. But right away your Makefile is more complex, than what's at https://github.com/openwrt/luci/wiki/Modules, which is what mine is. I'll see how it goes, and most likely will be back with more questions.

Thank you both!
tjk :slight_smile:

The Makefile described in the LuCI wiki only applies if you build an application for inclusion in the LuCI repo itself. If you plan to ship your module standalone (otside of the LuCI tree) then you need a more complete makefile like the example skeleton I linked.

So, I pulled myself an SDK, ran make, and... whoa!... menuconfig. That's something I haven't seen in a while - used to be a Gentoo fan. The compile promptly failed, but I don't have a plan to investigate. This is indeed more than I needed. The .ipk for a no-c luci-only package is very simple. I am sure one could come up with a script to create simple luci packages. But I can see how it doesn't have much value, and could just be extra trouble. And I also understand why there's no mention of packaging at https://github.com/openwrt/luci/wiki/DevelopmentEnvironmentHowTo. So, I am done with my packaging task.

Thanks!
tjk :slight_smile: