Remember those changes we made to your README on day 1? A common area for improvement was around setup instructions.
Know what’s even better than a list of setup instructions to follow? A setup script that does them for you!
Here’s an example that I’ve used on Rails apps to good success: https://gist.github.com/r00k/ab4dce37603cd94466c9955eee88ffe1
I name this script setup and throw it in the bin directory.
Ideally, this one command is all someone needs to run before developing on your app or using your tool. But even if you can’t reach this ideal, a bin/setup script will save your users or team members time and frustration.
Today, please spend 20 minutes creating a similar script. You should be able to crib heavily from the example above, but here are a few ideas for things you might include:
- Download and install dependencies
- Create necessary databases
- Seed the database with useful data, like an admin account
- Set up useful git remotes
- Set configuration variables / copy config files
- Print helpful info
If you already have a setup script, try cloning your app into a new directory and running the script. Make sure it still works, and consider if you should add anything to it.