VulcanJS Starter Kit.

This kit gives you all you need to quickly launch your own VulcanJS projects.

Installation Overview

If you already have Meteor and/or Vulcan up & running then use the Quick Install version.

The Complete Install steps will get you going on a freshly built Ubuntu desktop machine (including installing Node, Meteor, etc.) using the "two-repo" install.

Quick Install

These steps assume an environment where you have already had Vulcan working.

Step 1 - Clone

git clone [email protected]:VulcanJS/Vulcan-Starter.git
cd Vulcan-Starter

Step 2 – Settings

Copy sample_settings.json into a new settings.json file.

export METEOR_PACKAGE_DIRS=${ YOUR VULCAN HOME }/packages;

Step 3 – Run

npm install
npm start

Congrats! You just gained a cornucopia of functionality you no longer have to develop yourself. You've saved yourself months of work! Take the rest of the day off!

Complete Install

The steps below assume a machine that has not previously been used for software development.

They were tested Oct 15/2017, on an 8Gb Qemu/KVM virtual machine running a freshly installed Xubuntu Desktop 16.04 LTS. Expect other environments to behave differently but, sufficiently similar that, adaptation should not be difficult.

Critical prerequisite

Note that, to use the scripts below, you must already have SSH access to GitHub. You'll need that in any case for properly managing version control of your project. Learn more at GiHub Bootcamp : Connecting to GitHub with SSH

Step 1 - Preparation

# Specify where things should go
export NEW_PROJECT_NAME="myVulcan";                # a name for your new project
export PROJECTS_DIRECTORY="${HOME}/projects";      # the installation path for your new project
export VULCAN_HOME="${PROJECTS_DIRECTORY}/Vulcan"; # the path to the root of your Vulcan installation

# Prepare dependencies
sudo apt install -y git curl build-essential;
# Need git for managing your project's source code.
# Need curl to get the other stuff.
# Need C++ build tools for fast bcrypt installation

# Install 'meteor'
curl https://install.meteor.com/ | sh;

# Sanity check your Meteor installation
echo -e "\nMeteor version...";
meteor --version;
export METEOR_NODE_VERSION=$(meteor node --version);
echo -e "Meteor Node version...\n ${METEOR_NODE_VERSION}";


# Install 'nvm', so as to be able to easily switch NodeJs versions
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.5/install.sh | bash;

# Prepare to use 'nvm' immediately
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"  # This loads nvm bash_completion


# Set Meteor version of Node as your default for NodeJS work outside of Meteor
nvm install ${METEOR_NODE_VERSION};
nvm alias default ${METEOR_NODE_VERSION};

# Create a projects folder and step into it
mkdir -p ${PROJECTS_DIRECTORY}
cd ${PROJECTS_DIRECTORY}

# Clone Vulcan core into its own folder and step into it
git clone [email protected]:VulcanJS/Vulcan.git

# install and pre-cache all of Vulcan's NodeJS dependencies
cd ${VULCAN_HOME};
meteor npm install;

Step 2 - Test Vulcan installation

Check it works with a browser at http://localhost:3033 then kill it with <ctrl-c>

# Run Vulcan so it pre-caches all its Meteor dependencies
[ -f settings.json ] || cp sample_settings.json settings.json;
meteor  --port 3033 --settings settings.json;

Step 3 - Prepare your project

cd ${PROJECTS_DIRECTORY};

# Clone Vulcan starter kit as your named project
git clone [email protected]:VulcanJS/Vulcan-Starter.git ${NEW_PROJECT_NAME}

# Step in your project folder
cd ${NEW_PROJECT_NAME};

# Make sure your app uses the same Meteor release as Vulcan
cp ${VULCAN_HOME}/.meteor/release ./.meteor;

# install and pre-cache all of your named app's NodeJS dependencies
meteor npm install;

# Make a startup environment variable that tells Meteor to refer
# to the Vulcan folder for packages that Vulcan supplies
export PKGDIRVARKEY="METEOR_PACKAGE_DIRS";
export PKGDIRVARVAL="export METEOR_PACKAGE_DIRS=${VULCAN_HOME}/packages;";
export PROFILE=${HOME}/.profile;
grep "${PKGDIRVARKEY}" ${PROFILE} >/dev//null \
  && sed -i "\|${PKGDIRVARKEY}|c${PKGDIRVARVAL}" ${PROFILE} \
  || echo "${PKGDIRVARVAL}" >> ${PROFILE};

# Confirm the setting was added to ~/.profile
grep -C 2 "${PKGDIRVARKEY}" ${PROFILE};

Step 4 - Test your project installation

Check it works with a browser at http://localhost:3000 then kill it with <ctrl-c>

# Run your Vulcan project
[ -f settings.json ] || cp sample_settings.json settings.json;
source ${PROFILE};
echo -e \"Starting app with packages from '\${METEOR_PACKAGE_DIRS}'\";
meteor --port 3000 --settings settings.json;