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<property name="context">{/doc/acs-core-docs/ {ACS Core Documentation}} {Basic Steps}</property>
<property name="doc(title)">Basic Steps</property>
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<div class="sect1">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">
<a name="install-steps" id="install-steps"></a>Basic Steps</h2></div></div></div><p>Most of the documentation in this section is kept as a
reference. More up-to-date documentation is in the <a class="ulink" href="http://openacs.org/xowiki/openacs-system-install" target="_top">install sections in the Wiki</a>.</p><p>The basic steps for installing OpenACS are:</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1">
<li class="listitem"><p>Install an OS and supporting software (see <a class="xref" href="unix-installation" title="Install a Unix-like system and supporting software">Install a
Unix-like OS</a> or <a class="xref" href="install-redhat" title="Appendix A. Install Red Hat 8/9">Appendix A,
<em>Install Red Hat 8/9</em>
</a> for more details). See the
<a class="xref" href="individual-programs" title="Table 2.2. Version Compatibility Matrix">Table 2.2,
“Version Compatibility
Matrix”</a>.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Install a database (see <a class="xref" href="oracle" title="Install Oracle 8.1.7">the section called
“Install Oracle 8.1.7”</a> or
<a class="xref" href="postgres" title="Install PostgreSQL">Install PostgreSQL</a>).</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Install AOLserver (<a class="xref" href="aolserver4" title="Install AOLserver 4">Install AOLserver 4</a>) .</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Create a unique database and system user. Install the OpenACS
tarball, start and AOLserver instance, and use the OpenACS web
pages to complete installation (see <a class="xref" href="openacs" title="Install OpenACS 5.9.0">Install OpenACS
5.9.0</a>).</p></li>
</ol></div><p>Specific instructions are available for macOS and Windows2000
(see <a class="xref" href="mac-installation" title="OpenACS Installation Guide for macOS">the section called
“OpenACS Installation Guide for
macOS”</a> or <a class="xref" href="win2k-installation" title="OpenACS Installation Guide for Windows">the section called
“OpenACS Installation Guide for
Windows”</a>).</p><div class="sect2">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="install-rpms" id="install-rpms"></a>Binaries and other shortcuts</h3></div></div></div><p>You can try out OpenACS using some binary installers. In
general, they are not yet supported by the community, so they are
mostly for evaluation purposes. <a class="ulink" href="http://openacs.org/faq/one-faq?faq_id=130897#130917" target="_top">Installing OpenACS</a>
</p><p>You can see a list of <a class="ulink" href="http://openacs.org/projects/openacs/installer" target="_top">current installers</a>.</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1">
<li class="listitem"><p>The packaged version of PostgreSQL in Debian, Red Hat, and
FreeBSD ports works fine.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Once AOLserver and a database are installed, a bash script
<a class="link" href="openacs" title="Installation Option 1: Use automated script">automates the OpenACS
checkout and installation</a>.</p></li>
</ol></div>
</div><div class="sect2">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="install-requirements" id="install-requirements"></a>System Requirements</h3></div></div></div><p>You will need a PC (or equivalent) with at least these minimum
specifications:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li class="listitem"><p>128MB RAM (much more if you want Oracle)</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>1GB free space on your hard drive (much more if you want
Oracle)</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>A Unix-like operating system with Tcl, tDOM, and a mail
transport agent like sendmail or qmail. (see <a class="xref" href="individual-programs" title="Prerequisite Software">the
section called “Prerequisite
Software”</a>)</p></li>
</ul></div><p>All of the software mentioned is open-source and available
without direct costs, except for Oracle. You can obtain a free copy
of Oracle for development purposes. This is described in the
<a class="xref" href="oracle" title="Acquire Oracle">Acquire Oracle</a> section.</p>
</div><div class="sect2">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="how-to-use" id="how-to-use"></a>How to
use this guide</h3></div></div></div><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li class="listitem"><p>
<code class="computeroutput">This</code> is text you will see on
screen, such as a <code class="computeroutput"><span class="guibutton"><span class="guibutton">
<u><span class="accel">B</span></u>utton</span></span></code> or <code class="computeroutput"><span class="guilabel"><span class="guilabel"><u><span class="accel">link</span></u></span></span></code> in a radio button list
or menu.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p><strong class="userinput"><code>This is text that you will
type.</code></strong></p></li><li class="listitem">
<p>This is text from a program or file which you may need to
examine or edit:</p><pre class="programlisting">
if {$database eq "oracle"} {
set db_password "mysitepassword"
}
</pre>
</li><li class="listitem">
<p>This is text that you will <code class="computeroutput">see</code> and <strong class="userinput"><code>type</code></strong> in a command shell,
including <span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">text
you may have to change</span></span>. It is followed by a list of
just the commands, which you can copy and paste. The command prompt
varies by system; in the examples we use the form<code class="computeroutput">[$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME aolserver]$</code>, where
<code class="computeroutput">$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</code> is the
current user and <code class="computeroutput">aolserver</code> is
the current directory. The root prompt is shown ending in # and all
other prompts in $.</p><pre class="screen">
[root root]# <strong class="userinput"><code>su - $OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</code></strong>
[$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME aolserver]$ <strong class="userinput"><code>svc -d /service/<span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</span></span>
</code></strong>
[$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME aolserver]$ <strong class="userinput"><code>dropdb <span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</span></span>
</code></strong>
DROP DATABASE
[$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME aolserver]$ <strong class="userinput"><code>createdb <span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</span></span>
</code></strong>
CREATE DATABASE
<span class="action"><span class="action">su - $OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME
svc -d /service/<span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</span></span>
dropdb <span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</span></span>
createdb <span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</span></span>
</span></span>
</pre><p>
<a name="cut-and-paste-name-var" id="cut-and-paste-name-var"></a><strong>Setting a global shell
variable for cut and paste. </strong>In order to cut
and paste the instructions into your shell, you must set the
environment variable $OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME. In order to set it
globally so that it works for any new users or special service
users you may create, edit the file <code class="computeroutput">/etc/profile</code> ( <code class="computeroutput">/etc/share/skel/dot.profile</code> for FreeBSD)
and add this line:</p><pre class="programlisting">
export OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME=<span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">service0</span></span>
</pre>
</li>
</ul></div>
</div><div class="sect2">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="idp105548900771400" id="idp105548900771400"></a>Paths and Users</h3></div></div></div><div class="table">
<a name="idp105548900772040" id="idp105548900772040"></a><p class="title"><strong>Table 2.1. Default
directories for a standard install</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="Default directories for a standard install" cellspacing="0" width="100%" border="1">
<colgroup>
<col><col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr>
<td>Fully qualified domain name of your server</td><td><span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">yourserver.test</span></span></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>name of administrative access account</td><td>remadmin</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>OpenACS service</td><td>
<a class="indexterm" name="idp105548900776648" id="idp105548900776648"></a><span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</span></span> (set to service0
in default install)</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>OpenACS service account</td><td><span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</span></span></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>OpenACS database name</td><td><span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</span></span></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Root of OpenACS service file tree (SERVERROOT)</td><td><span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">/var/lib/aolserver/$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME</span></span></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Location of source code tarballs for new software</td><td>/var/tmp</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>The OpenACS tarball contains some files which are useful while
setting up other software. Those files are located at:</td><td>/var/tmp/openacs-5.9.0/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Database backup directory</td><td><span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">/var/lib/aolserver/$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME/database-backup</span></span></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Service config files</td><td><span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">/var/lib/aolserver/$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME/etc</span></span></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Service log files</td><td><span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">/var/lib/aolserver/$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME/log</span></span></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Compile directory</td><td>/usr/local/src</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>PostgreSQL directory</td><td>/usr/local/pgsql</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>AOLserver directory</td><td>/usr/local/aolserver</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></div>
</div><br class="table-break"><p>None of these locations are set in stone - they're simply
the values that we've chosen. The values that you'll
probably want to change, such as service name, are <span class="replaceable"><span class="replaceable">marked like
this</span></span>. The other values we recommend you leave
unchanged unless you have a reason to change them.</p><div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>Some of the paths and user accounts have been changed from those
recommended in previous versions of this document to improve
security and maintainability. See <a class="ulink" href="http://openacs.org/forums/message-view?message_id=82934" target="_top">this thread</a> for discussion.</p>
</div>
</div><div class="sect2">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">
<a name="install-stuck" id="install-stuck"></a>Getting Help during installation</h3></div></div></div><p>We'll do our best to assure that following our instructions
will get you to the promised land. If something goes wrong,
don't panic. There are plenty of ways to get help. Here are
some tips:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li class="listitem"><p>Keep track of the commands you are run and record their output.
I like to do my installations in a shell inside of emacs
(<code class="computeroutput">M-x shell</code>) so that I can save
the output if needed. An alternative would be to use the
<code class="computeroutput">script</code> command.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>We'll point out where the error logs for the various pieces
of software are. Output from those logs will help us help you.
Don't worry if you feel overwhelmed by all the information in
the error logs. Over time, you'll find that they make more and
more sense. Soon, you'll actually look forward to errors so
that you can run to the log and diagnose the problem.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Search the <a class="ulink" href="http://openacs.org/forums/" target="_top">forums at openacs.org</a> - you'll often find
many people who have struggled through the same spot that
you're in.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>The bottom of each page has a link to OpenACS.org, where you can
post comments and read other users comments about the contents of
the page.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Ask questions at the irc channel on <a class="ulink" href="http://freenode.net" target="_top">freenode.net</a> (#openacs).
They're knowledgeable and quite friendly if you can keep them
on topic.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>Post a question on the <a class="ulink" href="http://openacs.org/forums/" target="_top">forums</a>. Make sure
you've done a search first. When you do post, be sure to
include your setup information (OS, etc) as well as the exact
commands that are failing with the accompanying error. If
there's a SQL error in the Tcl error or in the log, post that
too.</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>If you find errors in this document or if you have ideas about
making it better, please post them in our <a class="ulink" href="http://openacs.org/bugtracker/openacs/" target="_top">BugTracker</a>.</p></li>
</ul></div><div class="cvstag">($‌Id: overview.xml,v 1.31 2018/07/04 10:20:42
gustafn Exp $)</div>
</div>
</div>
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