Packaging

It is the same regardless of OS or platform. You have to just plane know how things need to work.

I'm doing a bunch of software packaging right now at work. Do I need file X? Where does it go during install? What are the rights? What is the ownership? How should I place it? What settings do I need to change while installing? What services do I need to start/stop? What are the prerequisites? What needs to be added to the README file? Where are the documents? Where do they go? What updates do they need? OK, now let's move on to file two of 1500 and ask all the same questions.

Once you get all that, then we start with the uninstall process. This process is harder and more destructive than the install process. It's maddening, but required.

Then comes testing. It is the most time consuming and depressing. All your hard work is torn apart by reality of boots on the ground. It hurts, but it is the most important step in the process.

Next, you get to start the whole process over again for the next project. Or, as it happened this last couple of weeks, the same project over and over. OOPS! Thee is another bug. No one will mind version 75.233.13A will they?