CKAN help?

[Rocket In My Pocket]

So, I've had several requests to upload both my mods to CKAN but not being a CKAN user I'm not terribly familiar with it at all. (I don't even have it installed.)

On top of that, I just simply haven't had time to look into it and likely won't for a bit due to weather and work. (I plow driveways in the winter so, weather IS work for me lol.)

I often see people offering to upload other's mods to CKAN and I was wondering if anyone one who does this sort of thing regularly wouldn't mind if it's not too much trouble? (I skimmed the CKAN uploading FAQ/help-read-me and it seems like the sort of thing that's pretty easy once you know how to do it and/or have done it a few times.) I would be most grateful, and there would be a public credit on the mod page for you if that sort of thing entices you. Both mods are in my signature if there are any takers. (They are both uploaded to SpaceDock primarily and I hear this makes CKAN compatibility a bit easier?)

If you'd like to explain CKAN uploading to me in layman's terms I'd appreciate that too!

[sebi.zzr]

1 hour ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

If you'd like to explain CKAN uploading to me in layman's terms I'd appreciate that too!

https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN/wiki/Adding-a-mod-to-the-CKAN

I hope it helps you.

[CobaltWolf]

@Rocket In My Pocket I usually just ask the CKAN developers nicely

[Rocket In My Pocket]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'm quite sure I'm capable of doing it lol. I just need to find the time!

We are literally getting buried in snow this week where I live, 8 inches last night, and another 12 coming on Wednesday.

[HebaruSan]

Isn't there a "Add to CKAN" checkbox on SpaceDock? I've never added a mod to SpaceDock, but we get quite a few automated submissions from there. That's probably the easiest way to start.

[Rocket In My Pocket]

1 hour ago, HebaruSan said:

Isn't there a "Add to CKAN" checkbox on SpaceDock? I've never added a mod to SpaceDock, but we get quite a few automated submissions from there. That's probably the easiest way to start.

I don't know? (I've never really used CKAN tbh.) I'll certainly check it out though!

[HebaruSan]

11 minutes ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

I don't know? (I've never really used CKAN tbh.) I'll certainly check it out though!

Would you mind capturing a screenshot of it if you do find an "add to CKAN" checkbox? The SpaceDock guide section of the wiki ought to be updated, since I think it's much easier now than it used to be.

[Rocket In My Pocket]

2 hours ago, HebaruSan said:

Would you mind capturing a screenshot of it if you do find an "add to CKAN" checkbox? The SpaceDock guide section of the wiki ought to be updated, since I think it's much easier now than it used to be.

Maybe I'm just being dense but I can't find any such button for the life of me.

Only thing I could find is this reference to spacedock in the CKAN "readme"/help page.

Spoiler

SpaceDock guide

Because the mod is hosted on SpaceDock, once you set up the .netkan file the first time you shouldn't need to update it since CKAN can get required information from the SpaceDock API.

Copy paste the following into a new file titled <identifier>.netkan (see later for how to choose an identifier):

{
    "spec_version" : 1,
    "identifier"   : "<identifier>",
    "$kref"        : "#/ckan/spacedock/<sdid>",
    "license"      : "<license string>"
}

The spec_version is the version of CKAN required to read the metadata, you should not change this.

You need to change <identifier> to a short, unique, name for the mod that will identify the mod inside the system (end users will not see this name). It may only consist of ASCII-letters, ASCII-digits and - (dash) and it should match the name of the directory that you wish to copy to GameData. Ex: A mod titled "My first ever mod!! I'm so great!$##" that installs to "BestModEver" should have the identifier "BestModEver" because that's where the mod installs to.

If the identifier is not identical to the folder that should be installed you will need to add more information into the .netkan file in order to tell CKAN where to install files to. See the "Special Installations" section.

The <sdid> should be replaced with the SpaceDock ID of the mod. This is an integer number and you can find it in the URL of the mod's page:

spacedock.info/mod/<ksid>/YourModName

The license will usually need to be coded in ex. "license": "CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0". See here for an all-inclusive list of allowable licenses.

if the license on the SpaceDock page exactly matches a license specified in the schema, you can replace the "license" line with "x_netkan_license_ok" : true This tells the CKAN bot that you SpaceDocks's API for licensing information will provide an allowable license string.

If the mod contains a valid .version file for KSP-AVC see this section

If the mod has "Dependencies or Recommended Companion Mods", see the section with that title, if not you can move on to the Verifying Metadata Files section.

 

 

[HebaruSan]

17 minutes ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

Maybe I'm just being dense but I can't find any such button for the life of me.

Only thing I could find is this reference to spacedock in the CKAN "readme"/help page.

Thanks for having a look; you've convinced me to finally make a SpaceDock account to capture it:

• https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN/wiki/Adding-a-mod-to-the-CKAN#automatic

I still haven't uploaded anything fully though. Can you check whether there's an edit screen for an existing mod that also has that checkbox?

[Rocket In My Pocket]

31 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

Thanks for having a look; you've convinced me to finally make a SpaceDock account to capture it:

• https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN/wiki/Adding-a-mod-to-the-CKAN#automatic

I still haven't uploaded anything fully though. Can you check whether there's an edit screen for an existing mod that also has that checkbox?

Aha!

Yes, if you go to the existing mod's "edit" page, that very small button does indeed exist in the bottom right corner.

Thank you very much, you're the man!

Edited February 5, 2018 by Rocket In My Pocket