path: root/INSTALL.webfaction

Detailed instructions for installing OSQA on WebFaction

Adapted from http://code.pinaxproject.com/wiki/DetailedPinaxWebfaction/

Please email turian at gmail with any updates or corrections.


Installing OSQA on Webfaction
------------------------------------

Details the steps for setting up OSQA on a Webfaction shared-hosting
account, including email setup, using Apache2, mod_wsgi, psycopg2.

If you want to search-and-replace through this file, you will need to replace:
    osqa_server         [name of Webfaction application, which will be in ~/webapps/]
    osqa_static         [name of Webfaction application for static media serving]
    DOMAIN.com          [domain name for OSQA site]
    PORT                [port number assigned by WebFaction to your mod_wsgi application]
    SITENAME            [name you give the OSQA site, which will contain the apache logs]
    MYOSQA              [name of the OSQA project]
    MAILBOX_USERNAME    [username you give the email address]
    MAILBOX_PASSWORD    [password that webfaction gives to this email username]
    OSQADATABASE_NAME   [username you give the database]
    OSQADATABASE_PASSWORD   [password that webfaction gives to this database]
    ~/envs/osqa         [directory for the OSQA python environment, grep for 'env']
    USERNAME            [your WebFaction username]

Some things I'm not sure about:

Here's what I don't know how to do:
    * Set up a nginx server for static media.
    * Configure sphinx search
    * Use PostgreSQL, not MySQL: http://osqa.net/question/13/can-i-use-osqa-with-postgresql


Webfaction Control Panel
--------------------------

(Note: if you sign up and pick django it will create the application
for you, website/subdomain and associate the two for you.)

    If necessary, add or create any domains or subdomains you may need.

        https://panel.webfaction.com/domain/list/

    Let's call the domain DOMAIN.com.

    Create a new Webfaction application with a "Type:" of "mod_wsgi
    2.5/Python2.5", naming it "osqa_server". (These instructions
    might also work with mod_wsgi 2.0, if you like.)

        https://panel.webfaction.com/app_/list

    Note the port number assigned to the mod_wsgi application. Call
    it PORT.

    Create a new Webfaction website which will associate the subdomain
    with the new osqa_server application. Give it name SITENAME, at least one
    domain, and set it to use the osqa_server application for the site's
    root location, "/".

        https://panel.webfaction.com/site/list

    You will need to create a database, typically one for each project
    you create. Change the type to PostgreSql and modify the name (it
    defaults to your webfaction account name) by adding an underscore
    and a project-specific identifier such as "_osqa". Before
    leaving this section of the control panel, you may wish to change
    the password.

        https://panel.webfaction.com/database/create

    Call these OSQADATABASE_NAME and OSQADATABASE_PASSWORD.

    Save the database password for later.

    [The following I haven't figured out yet]
    You will probably want to add a static media server. This is a
    Webfaction application. I created one of type "Static only (no
    .htaccess)" and with the name of "osqa_static".

        https://panel.webfaction.com/app_/create

    To configure email, you need an email mailbox. Add one here. Note
    that your mailbox password shouldn't be the same password you use
    to SSH to webfaction.

        https://panel.webfaction.com/mailbox/list

    Save the mail password for later.
    We will call the username and password MAILBOX_USERNAME and
    MAILBOX_PASSWORD, respectively.
    You might also consider adding an email address like admin@DOMAIN.com,
    here:

        https://panel.webfaction.com/email/list


OSQA Software
--------------

    Log onto webfaction and get the code. I use my fork because I have
    a simple pip installation:
        git://github.com/turian/osqa.git
    In my situation, I keep source code in ~/utils/src, create
    virtual environments in ~/envs/osqa, and create Pinax projects in
    ~/webapps/osqa_server/projects.

    You will need pip + virtualenv installed:

        easy_install --prefix=~/utils/ pip
        easy_install --prefix=~/utils/ virtualenv

        cd ~/utils/src/
        git clone git://github.com/turian/osqa.git
        cd osqa

        # We need python2.5 to be compatible with WSGI
        python2.5 ~/utils/bin/pip install -E ~/envs/osqa -r osqa-requirements.txt 
        source ~/envs/osqa/bin/activate

        # [Optional] If you want a MySQL database
        easy_install-2.5 --prefix ~/envs/osqa/ mysql-python

Additional Software
-------------------

    [Note that PostgreSQL installation doesn't work for me.]

    You will need to install psycopg2 separately for PostgreSQL.
    Psycopg2 requires a little fiddling. Continuing to
    work in the ~/utils/src/ directory:

        cd ~/utils/src/
        wget http://initd.org/pub/software/psycopg/psycopg2-2.0.13.tar.gz
        tar zxf psycopg2-2.0.13.tar.gz
        cd psycopg2-2.0.13
        nano setup.cfg

        # edit the line reading "#pg_config=" so that it reads:
            "pg_config=/usr/local/pgsql/bin/pg_config"

        python2.5 setup.py build
        python2.5 setup.py install


Create a Project
----------------

    In Pinax, you clone a project from OSQA.
    However, OSQA we just copy it.

        cd ~/webapps/osqa_server
        mkdir projects
        cd projects
        cp -R ~/utils/src/osqa MYOSQA
        cd MYOSQA
        export OSQAPROJECT=`pwd`

    Make some directories, as described in the OSQA INSTALL file:
    [okay I haven't actually done this yet]

#        mkdir -p $OSQASITE/upfiles/
#        mkdir -p $OSQALOG
#        sudo chown -R `whoami`:www-data $OSQASITE
#        sudo chown -R `whoami`:www-data $OSQALOG
#        chmod -R g+w $OSQASITE/upfiles
#        chmod -R g+w $OSQALOG


    Edit the settings files:

        cd $OSQAPROJECT
        cp settings_local.py.dist settings_local.py
        vi settings_local.py settings.py 

        Pay attention to the following settings:

            DATABASE_ENGINE = 'mysql'
            DATABASE_NAME = 'OSQADATABASE_NAME'
            DATABASE_USER = 'OSQADATABASE_NAME'
            DATABASE_PASSWORD = 'OSQADATABASE_PASSWORD'

            EMAIL_HOST='smtp.webfaction.com'
            EMAIL_HOST_USER='MAILBOX_USERNAME'
            EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD='MAILBOX_PASSWORD'
            EMAIL_PORT='25'
            DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = 'MAILBOX_USERNAME@DOMAIN.com'
            SERVER_EMAIL = 'MAILBOX_USERNAME@DOMAIN.com'
            # The following setting might not be necessary, it's used in Pinax tho
            CONTACT_EMAIL = "MAILBOX_USERNAME@DOMAIN.com"

            APP_URL = 'http://DOMAIN.com' #used by email notif system and RSS

        [Later on, the install instructions should talk about]
            SERVE_MEDIA = False     # [Not present, not ready yet]

    Create a directory for logs:

        cd $OSQAPROJECT
        mkdir log

    Modify mail cron scripts "cron/send_email_alerts" as follows:
    [Pinax has cron/emit_notices.sh, cron/retry_deferred.sh,
    cron/send_mail.sh, are these also necessary?]

            #!/bin/sh

            WORKON_HOME=~/envs/osqa
            PROJECT_ROOT=~/webapps/osqa_server/projects/MYOSQA/

            # activate virtual environment
            . $WORKON_HOME/bin/activate

            cd $PROJECT_ROOT
            python manage.py send_email_alerts >> $PROJECT_ROOT/log/cron_mail.log 2>&1

        Use command "crontab -e" to add this script to your cron file, to run twice a day::

            1 0,12 * * * ~/webapps/osqa_server/projects/MYOSQA/cron/send_email_alerts

    [Configure sphinx]

    Create the database tables, indices, and so forth:

        python manage.py syncdb

    [Ignore the following static media steps, I haven't tried them]
    Build media directory links within the project and create symbolic
    links on the static media server.
        python manage.py build_media -all
        mkdir ~/webapps/OSQA_STATIC/MYOSQA
        ln -sd ~/webapps/osqa_server/projects/MYOSQA/site_media ~/webapps/OSQA_STATIC/MYOSQA/site_media


    Set up the badges:

        1. You should run the SQL commands in:

                 sql_scripts/badges.sql

        2. Edit paths in the file `cron/multi_award_badges`. (This
        file doesn't yet exist in the git repositories, so just
        copy `cron/send_email_alerts` and make sure the command
        `multi_award_badges` is executed.)

        3. Run `cron/multi_award_badges` to make sure it works okay.

        4. Use `crontab -e` to call `cron/multi_award_badges` maybe
        four times an hour.

            4,19,34,49 * * * * ~/webapps/osqa_server/projects/MYOSQA/cron/multi_award_badges

        5. Repeat steps 1-4 for `cron/once_award_badges`.


Configure Apache2
----------------

    Edit  ~/webapps/osqa_server/apache2/conf/httpd.conf as follows::

        ServerAdmin "MAILBOX_USERNAME@DOMAIN.com"
        ServerRoot "/home/USERNAME/webapps/osqa_server/apache2"
        ServerName DOMAIN.com

        LoadModule dir_module modules/mod_dir.so
        LoadModule env_module modules/mod_env.so
        #LoadModule setenvif_module modules/mod_setenvif.so
        LoadModule log_config_module modules/mod_log_config.so
        LoadModule mime_module modules/mod_mime.so
        LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
        LoadModule wsgi_module modules/mod_wsgi.so

        KeepAlive Off
        Listen PORT
        LogFormat "%{X-Forwarded-For}i %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined
        CustomLog /home/USERNAME/logs/user/access_osqa_server_log combined
        ErrorLog /home/USERNAME/logs/user/error_osqa_server_log
        ServerLimit 2

        #SetEnvIf X-Forwarded-SSL on HTTPS=1

        WSGIPythonPath /home/USERNAME/envs/osqa/lib/python2.5/site-packages/
        WSGIScriptAlias / /home/USERNAME/webapps/osqa_server/projects/MYOSQA/osqa.wsgi

        LoadModule alias_module modules/mod_alias.so
        WSGIDaemonProcess osqaWSGI user=USERNAME group=USERNAME threads=25 python-path=/home/USERNAME/envs/osqa/lib/python2.5/site-packages
        WSGIProcessGroup osqaWSGI

        NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.1:PORT

        #ErrorLog "logs/MYOSQA_2009_05_06.log"
        SetHandler none
        #Alias /site_media /home/USERNAME/webapps/static/MYOSQA/site_media

        #force all content to be served as static files
        #otherwise django will be crunching images through itself wasting time
        Alias /content/ /home/USERNAME/webapps/osqa_server/projects/MYOSQA/templates/content/
        Alias /forum/admin/media/ /home/turian/envs/osqa/lib/python2.5/site-packages/django/contrib/admin/media/
        #AliasMatch /([^/]*\.css) /home/USERNAME/webapps/osqa_server/projects/MYOSQA/templates/content/style/$1
        <Directory "/home/USERNAME/webapps/osqa_server/projects/MYOSQA/templates/content">
        #    Order deny,allow
        #    Allow from all
        </Directory>

    If you want virtual hosts of the admin interface under HTTPS, please
    look at OSQA's install file.

    Create osqa.wsgi and edit it:
        cp osqa.wsgi.dist osqa.wsgi

    Edit  ~/webapps/osqa_server/projects/MYOSQA/deploy/osqa.wsgi as follows::
        
        import os
        import sys
        
        # redirect sys.stdout to sys.stderr for bad libraries like geopy that uses
        # print statements for optional import exceptions.
        sys.stdout = sys.stderr
        
        from os.path import abspath, dirname, join
        from site import addsitedir
        
        # add the virtual environment site-packages to the path
        from site import addsitedir
        addsitedir('/home/USERNAME/envs/osqa/lib/python2.5/site-packages')
        
        sys.path.insert(0, abspath(join(dirname(__file__), "../")))
        sys.path.append(abspath(dirname(__file__)))
        
        from django.conf import settings
        os.environ["DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE"] = "MYOSQA.settings"

        #print sys.path

        from django.core.handlers.wsgi import WSGIHandler
        application = WSGIHandler()

And then you're up and running with:

    ~/webapps/osqa_server/apache2/bin/stop
    ~/webapps/osqa_server/apache2/bin/start

You should log in to the admin interface (http://DOMAIN.com/admin/),
and go to "Sites > Sites", and change the domain name that is used in
all emails.