How to add a CLI file to the /CLI directory as part of a component install

Question

I have a component that needs a CLI file for use with cron. Is there a proper way to use the components manifest file to specify that the component includes a CLI file and that CLI file should be placed into the root CLI directory?

I know that I could easily do this via using the install stub in my components script.php file and just directly copy my file into the correct location, but I was wondering if there was a proper way to do this using the manifest file?

Answer 1

Use file manifest to install files not belonging to any extension:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<extension version="3.9" type="file" method="upgrade">
    <name>files_cli_example</name>
    <author>Example</author>
    <version>1.0.0</version>
    <creationDate>January 2019</creationDate>
    <description>FILES_CLI_EXAMPLE_XML_DESCRIPTION</description>
    <fileset>
        <files target="cli">
            <file>cli_example.php</file>
        </files>
    </fileset>
</extension>

Create a Package to install the component and custom files at once.

Answer 2

In the end I went with the script method I'd suggested in my question. Id did this because it meant that I could keep the cli file within the component, add it to the correct location when the component installed and remove it on uninstall.

I did this by adding a new cli folder to the root of my component, which contained the cli file I wanted to add com_mycomponent_cron.php.

Then in the script file, pointed to by the <scriptfile>script.php</scriptfile> in the components manifest xml, I added the following to both the install and update methods.

function install($parent)
{
    $source = \JPath::clean($parent->getParent()->getPath('source') . '/cli/com_mycomponent_cron.php');
    if ( !file_exists($source) ) {
        throw new RuntimeException('File cli/com_mycomponent_cron.php does not exist', 500);
    }
    $dest = \JPath::clean(JPATH_ROOT . '/cli/com_mycomponent_cron.php');

    //attempt to copy the file
    if ( !\JFile::copy($source,$dest) ) {
        throw new RuntimeException('Could not copy com_mycomponent_cron.php to cli folder.',500);

    }
}

and for the uninstall method I have this:

function uninstall($parent)
{
    $cli_script_path = \JPath::clean(JPATH_ROOT . '/cli/com_mycomponent_cron.php');
    if ( file_exists($cli_script_path) ) {
        \JFile::delete($cli_script_path);
    }
}

I've decided not to accept @Sharky's answer or mark my own as correct, as I don't think either are the 'correct' Joomla way to do things. Although I suspect that there probably isn't a 'correct' way.

Answer 3

The current Joomla package manifest has the ability to block child uninstalls so only the full package can be uninstalled, not individual components. Use the following in your package manifest:

<blockChildUninstall>true</blockChildUninstall>