Forum OpenACS Development: AOLserver 4 Setup

I've seen several folks mention that they are using AOLserver 4b (call it AS4) without problems and I've seen mention of certifying oacs 5.x for operation under AS4. The current oacs installation instructions do not address the use of AS4 except to mention that it could be done. In addition, there are no links that I am aware of on the oacs web site that point to the download locations of the various modules required to run AS4 with oacs 5.

I've tried it with oacs 5.0d and AS4 hangs for me after a few requests, so I'm probably not doing something right.

Would those that are running AS4 care to share the install instructions and software links in this forum thread? Maybe a page (possibly an ETP page) could be put up on https://openacs.org/projects/openacs/5.0/ that would hold this info? If we can get more folks testing with AS4, we should be able to identify existing problems and start moving toward certifying it to run oacs.

So, If you have detailed AS4 install/config notes, would you please post them here?

Randy

Vinod,

No error messages at all. This isn't a real high priority item since I can do what I have to do with the older 331_oacs1 version. I'm trolling and collecting information that will help when I attack this issue again.

Malte,

You mentioned (on Oct 31 2003 02:56:34 https://openacs.org/forums/message-view?message_id=135959) that you had created detailed instructions that work (unmodified) for both OS X and Linux. Can you post them here?

I would like to have your new docs available when/if I get time to look at this again. So, if you don't want to post them here publically, could you send them privately? The first thing that I would do is establish the *exact* versions and pedigree of all components. Does your doc provide concrete links to each required component? nsrewrite was one component I questioned the last time around.

BTW, there's another user over in the dotlrn forum (today) that says his service hangs after some number of page requests. It's by no means certain that this is the same issue. But it could be a second data point. Essentially the same OS (RH AS vs. RH 9), different DB (oracle vs. pg), same oacs code base (oacs5/dotlrn2 vs. oacs HEAD). I've asked the poster to provide AS version.

Randy

This is just a quick rundown on what I did and how I succeded in getting OpenACS to run using "OS X" or Linux. The first version deals with Postgres.... If you think it looks fairly alike to Vinods instructions, no wonder, they are based on them 😉.

Installing Postgres

1. Get and install Readline (unless it is already installed on your system):
   1. Download readline from http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/readline/readline-4.3.tar.gz into /usr/local/src
   2. Extract readline in /usr/local/src:
      $ cd /usr/local/src
$ tar xvfz readline-4.3.tar.gz
   3. Change into readline directory, configure and compile:
      $ cd readline-4.3
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install
2. Get Postgres 7.3.4 (or newer) from one of the mirrors at http://www.postgresql.org/mirrors-ftp.html
3. Extract Postgres in /usr/local/src:
   $ tar xvfz postgresql-7.3.4.tgz
4. Change into Postgres directory, configure and compile:
   $ cd postgresql-7.3.4
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install
5. Add the binary location of Postgres to your path:
   echo "PATH=\$PATH:/usr/local/pgsql/bin" >>~/.profile
6. Initialize your database. You might have to add "--no-locale" to it, if you get an error here:
   $ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb -D /usr/local/pgsql/data
7. Start Postgres:
   $ pg_ctl -D /usr/local/pgsql/data -l /usr/local/pgsql/server.log start
$ createlang plpgsql template1
$ createdb openacs
$ createuser openacs
(Answer 'Y' twice)
8. Make it start automatically:
   1. OS X: You can easily create a StartupItem for OS X to achieve this. If you would like PostgreSQL to start up automatically when the system comes up, then you can untar this archive into /Library/StartupItems: postgres-startup-item.tgz
   2. Linux: Depending on your Linux Distribution, create a startup-script in /etc/init.d/. Check chapter 8 of the Postgres Installation Instructions at https://openacs.org/doc/openacs-HEAD/postgres.html

Install TCL 8.4.4 or newer

1. $ cd /usr/local/src
2. Download TCL from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/tcl/tcl8.4.4-src.tar.gz.
3. Extract TCL:
   $ tar xvfz tcl8.4.4-src-tar.gz
4. Change into TCL directory, make and install:
   $ cd tcl8.4.4/unix
$ ./configure --enable-threads
$ make
$ sudo make install

Install AOLserver

I'm using the CVS checkout of AOLserver for the time beeing. Not sure if it is very wise, but it works.

1. Get AOLserver and a couple of modules needed
   $ mkdir /usr/local/src/aolserver
$ cd /usr/local/src/aolserver
$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aolserver login (and hit return)
$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aolserver co aolserver
$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aolserver co nscache
$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aolserver co nsrewrite
$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aolserver co nspostgres
$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aolserver co nssha1
2. Configure, compile and install AOLserver
   cd aolserver
/usr/local/src/aolserver/aolserver/$ ./configure --with-tcl=/usr/local/lib/
/usr/local/src/aolserver/aolserver/$ sudo make install
3. Make and install the modules
   $ cd ../nscache
/usr/local/src/aolserver/nscache$ sudo make install
/usr/local/src/aolserver/nscache$ cd ../nsrewrite
/usr/local/src/aolserver/nsrewrite$ sudo make install
4. nssha1 doesn't compile without editing nssha1.c. Comment out the following 2 lines (lines 139-140):
   // typedef unsigned int u_int32_t;
// typedef unsigned char u_int8_t;
5. Compile nssha1:
   /usr/local/src/aolserver/nssha1$ sudo make install
/usr/local/src/aolserver/nssha1$ cd ../nspostgres
6. nspostgres doesn't link out ouf the box. Add -lnsdb to the MODLIBS var in the Makefile:
   MODLIBS = -L$(PGLIB) -lpq -lnsdb
7. Compile nspostgres:
   $ sudo make install POSTGRES=/usr/local/pgsql ACS=1
8. If you run into ranlib problems with libpq.a, do the following:
   sudo ranlib /usr/local/pgsql/lib/libpq.a

Installing tDOM

1. Get and extract tdom from http://tdom.org/tDOM-0.7.8.tar.gz:
   /usr/local/src/$ wget http://tdom.org/tDOM-0.7.8.tar.gz
$ tar xvfz tDOM-0.7.8.tar.gz
$ cd tDOM-0.7.8
2. Edit /usr/local/src/tDOM-0.7.8/unix/CONFIG:
   Uncomment the instructions meant for AOLserver 4, but edit it to look like this:
   ../configure --enable-threads --disable-tdomalloc \
--prefix=/usr/local/aolserver --with-tcl=/usr/local/lib
3. Configure tdom:
   $ cd /usr/local/src/tDOM-0.7.8/unix
$ sh CONFIG
4. Make,install and link tdom into AOLserver (no need to load the module in config.tcl or call package require):
   $ sudo make install
sudo ln -s /usr/local/aolserver/lib/tdom0.7.8/tdom.tcl /usr/local/aolserver/modules/tcl/

Tclwebtest, Daemontools and OpenACS download

1. Download tclwebtest:
   $ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/tclwebtest login
$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/tclwebtest co tclwebtest
sudo mv tclwebtest /usr/local/
2. Install Daemontools following the docs at http://cr.yp.to/daemontools/install.html
3. Download OpenACS to /web:
   /web/$ cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anonymous@openacs.org:/cvsroot co openacs-4
4. If you want to have dotlrn:
   $ cd /web/openacs-4/packages
$ cvs -q -d :pserver:anonymous:@dotlrn.openacs.org:/dotlrn-cvsroot login
$ cvs -q -z3 -d :pserver:anonymous@dotlrn.openacs.org:/dotlrn-cvsroot co dotlrn-core

Install OpenACS

1. Edit nsd.tcl (a.k.a. config.tcl).
   1. Change server to whatever you want to call your server.
   2. Set serverroot to wherever you put your OpenACS CVS (should be /web/servername, see step above)
   3. Add nsdb to the modules list ns_section ns/server/${server}/modules ns_param nsdb ${bindir}/nsdb.so
   4. Remove libtdom.so from the modules list
   5. If you get:
      [15/Sep/2003:19:08:02][1997.2684358124][-main-] Notice: PostgreSQL loaded. nsthreads: pthread_attr_setstacksize failed in NsCreateThread: Invalid argument Abort trap
      Change the stacksize to 2048000 (or any number divisible by 4096)
2. Set some permissions:
   chmod 755 /usr/local/aolserver/log
3. Start it!
$ /usr/local/aolserver/bin/nsd -b your_ip_address:your_port_number -ft /web/openacs/etc/config.tcl
4. If it worked, start it with daemontools:
   1. Edit /web/yourserverlocation/etc/daemontools/run. Change the "exec" line to reflect your startup above. Note the additional "i" switch.
   2. Link it with SVC:
      ln -s /web/yourserverlocation/etc/daemontools/ /service/yourservername
   3. It should have been automatically started.

An extra data point for you:

my installation of 5.0's core tarball + the photo album from cvs, locked up after uploading a one individual 500kb photo followed by a 10mb tarball of photos.

AOLServer itself appears to be completely hung as it will not respond to HEAD, GET or OPTIONS requests.

interestingly, right as it locked up it appears to have reloaded the db drivers.  Looking through the logs of other sessions, I haven't seen it reload the db drivers in the middle of things like that.

[02/Nov/2003:14:44:56][13100.1093004528][-conn:daviesinc.com::3] Notice: dbdrv: opening database 'postgres:localhost::daviesinc.com'
[02/Nov/2003:14:44:56][13100.1093004528][-conn:daviesinc.com::3] Notice: Opening daviesinc.com on localhost
[02/Nov/2003:14:44:56][13100.1093508336][-conn:daviesinc.com::4] Notice: dbdrv: opening database 'postgres:localhost::daviesinc.com'
[02/Nov/2003:14:44:56][13100.1093508336][-conn:daviesinc.com::4] Notice: Opening daviesinc.com on localhost
[02/Nov/2003:14:44:56][13100.1093004528][-conn:daviesinc.com::3] Notice: Ns_PgOpenDb(postgres):  Openned connection to localhost::daviesinc.com.
[02/Nov/2003:14:44:57][13100.1093508336][-conn:daviesinc.com::4] Notice: Ns_PgOpenDb(postgres):  Openned connection to localhost::daviesinc.com.

love the typo in 'Opened'  :)

I've been running AOLserver 4 exclusively for development for some months now, haven't seen the photo load lock-up being described (though I'm running beta8 not beta10).

As far as PG not building under Panther, this is a known issue and yes, it is due to a later version of gcc being used.  Someone posted a workaround on the PG hackers list a few days ago, and supposedly the PG 7.4 CVS HEAD compiles fine.

New to the list here so please bear with me.

Setting up the aol server on FC3 core. Postgresql installed as an rpm. I removed the tcl rpm and manually installed it with threads enabled. Compiled the aol server but I am having trouble with the modules.

nspostgres: Here is my error...

sudo make install POSTGRES=/var/lib/pgsql ACS=1
/bin/rm -f nspostgres.so
gcc -pipe -shared -nostartfiles -L../nsthread -L../nsd -o nspostgres.so nspostgres.o -L/var/lib/pgsql/lib -lpq -lnsdb -lnsthread -lnsd -L/usr/local/lib -ltcl8.4 -ldl -lpthread -lieee -lm -lz -lgcc_s -Wl,-rpath,/usr/local/aolserver/lib -Wl,-rpath,/usr/local/lib
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lnsdb
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [nspostgres.so] Error 1

psql is located in /var/lib/pgsql I think. I took a look at the Makefile but I can't tell much that I need to change. I have followed Malte's instructions (https://openacs.org/forums/message-view?message_id=139390).

I also seem to have trouble with paths on the other modules. aol server src is at /usr/local/src/aolserver-4.0.9/ and the modules, obtained by cvs, are located in directories under that. For example:

nsrewrite]# sudo make install
../aolserver/include/Makefile.module:108: /include/Makefile.global: No such file or directory
make: *** No rule to make target `/include/Makefile.global'. Stop.

I have played with INST=/usr/local/src/aolserver-4.0.9 but with the same problem:

nsrewrite]# sudo make install INST=/usr/local/src/aolserver-4.0.9
/usr/local/src/aolserver-4.0.9/include/Makefile.module:108: /include/Makefile.global: No such file or directory
make: *** No rule to make target `/include/Makefile.global'. Stop.

I can confirm that /usr/local/src/aolserver-4.0.9/include/ holds Makefile.global

I would greatly appreciate any ideas on the matter.

-William Painter

In the FreeBSD port I had to call modules with:
INST=${NSBASE} AOLSERVER=${NSBASE}
and for nspostgres also: POSTGRES=${PGBASE} ACS=1

Where you should substitute ${PGBASE} and ${NSBASE} respectively with the directories where PostgreSQL and AOLserver are installed (/usr/local/pgsql and /usr/local/aolserver for example)

William: this is definitely not your fault.

The Aolserver 4.09 install process was (silently) changed slightly. I updated the docs on HEAD to reflect this, but I'm not sure they've been regenerated yet.

The change is that whenever you compile any of the modules, you have to specify where AOLSERVER is.

make install AOLSERVER=/usr/local/aolserver40r9

for example.

Seems like you are running into the same problem over and over again and it doesn't have to do with the way you type "make install ...." . There are just troubles with lnsdb. I don't know the linker works nor do I know if there are specifics you need to know on FC3. I remember having trouble with the linker once and the fastest way out was to reinstall. Can you?

If you are not tied to FC3 you could try FreeBSD 5.3 , but I suppose the problem you have is not specific to FC3. However, the installer I recently posted could speed you up. Good Luck.