*How to Brand CPX*
WARNING -- ACHTUNG -- AVISO
Let me first state that this document is for those who for business
reasons simply *must* change a few items of the look-and-feel of the
Control Panel. If you can wait a few months longer, we will be adding
functionality which will let you customize all useful aspects of the
CP without orphaning your account from our regular software updates.
The remainder of this document explains how you can customize strings,
and how you can make sure you keep (almost) up to date with changes
that come during our regular software update cycle.
The information presented in this document is supplied as-is; if you
are uncomfortable performing any of the instructions contained in it,
please wait until an official branding mechanism is implemented. I've
asked ViaVerio technical support not to help you make these changes
or fix them if you do something wrong. In other words, these changes
are wholly unsupported (I personally will not look into any accounts
that have applied these changes).
Scare tactics having been completed, we now discuss one example of
branding changes: changing the default copyright notice.
*Changing the Default Copyright Notice*
'#' denotes a root shell prompt on your VPS v2 account:
# cd /usr/local/cp/strings
# touch global.xml
# (open global.xml in your favorite editor)
Now change the <global_footer> tag to be what you want and save the
file.
All done--very easy, no?
*What Happened?*
You've just "owned" the global.xml file. That means that global.xml
is no longer a "virtual link" into our skeleton hierarchy and you will
no longer receive updates or changes we (viaVerio) make to that file.
The effects of this can range from mild (a typo we fix will not be
fixed in your copy) to severe (a new required string we add to
global.xsl is not found in you copy and breaks some functionality in
your Control Panel).
*Mitigating the Effects of Software Updates*
Now that we've made our changes, we need to mitigate any adverse
effects that future updates to the Control Panel might have. Perhaps
the simplest way would be to run a cron job (all one line):
MAILTO=me
0 16 * * Mon-Fri diff --side-by-side --suppress-common-lines /skel/usr/local/cp/strings/global.xml /usr/local/cp/strings/global.xml | egrep -v '(global_footer)'
If you've changed more than one string, add those to the egrep pipe:
egrep -v '(global_footer|gn_bt_controlpanel)'
Now, when a change is made to the global.xsl strings file (via the
regular software update), you'll see it in your cron output
(otherwise, no cron output will be sent). To test your cron, remove
the " | egrep -v ..." and you'll see the line that you changed.
Once you detect a change (for example, the new strings file might have
a string that you're missing in your copy, or a typo has been fixed,
etc.), you can simply copy that new string into the right place in
your own copy. Or you can revert to the official copy and go through
the above steps again.
*Reverting to the Original State*
At any time you may revert your global.xml. This is simple:
# cd /usr/local/cp/strings
# rm global.xml
# relink global.xml
That's all there is to it. Relink restores the "virtual link" to the
skeleton version of global.xml. Now you're back to the official CPX
release (but you can re-apply your changes anytime).
*Future of CPX Branding*
In the future, branding will work roughly the same way: open an XML
strings file in an editor and make your changes. The primary
difference will be that the changes you make will be done in a
separate file hierarchy, independent of the skeleton hierachy.
Enhancements might include an embedded CPX strings editor and branding
distribution system whereby you can propagate your changes to all your
viaVerio VPS v2 accounts. Branding will also be able to be performed
by domain administrators (and possibly end users to a limited degreee)
according to preferences set by the server administrator.
We'd love to hear feedback on what would be most important to you as
resellers.
Scott