Forum OpenACS Q&A: Re: OpenACS is not working.

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Posted by Mattia Righetti on
In my machine I can install only Ubuntu 12.04 or Ubuntu 13.10 for a certain reason. I find out that when I install OpenACS via apt-get install open acs command, it installs the 5.5.1 version of OpenACS. So I checked on the matrix compatibility table and it works with AOLserver 4.5 (that has been installed with the command above) and PostgreSQL 8.4.
I tried to install OpenACS 5.8 with PostgreSQL 9.2 and AOLserver 4.5 uploading it and then trying to configure AOLserver root on /usr/share/openacs/ (that is where I put it), but it did not work.
I'm just a beginner. I like OpenACS and developing software in it, but sometimes it's so difficult to install...
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Posted by Jim Lynch on
do the logs have any indication as to why it won't work?
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Posted by Mattia Righetti on
No, I've just tried to create a new package and then add it to the application in the main page. Logs are the same... I mean that they are not changed.
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Posted by Antonio Pisano on
Mattia, I've bumped my head a lot on openacs installed by Debian packages and really, it's not worth the effort. It's not that they don't work, they somehow do, but there is a lot of tweaking needed to have a properly configured instance, so that the main purpose of the package is nullified. Also, you are getting software like 5 years old now and sometimes this is noticeable.

As Gustaf suggested, try installation scripts found at
https://openacs.org/xowiki/naviserver-openacs

They assume Debian/Ubuntu as distro, so they should be perfectly suitable to your requirements, and they are also very easy to use.

For assistance you can ask here and I will gladly help you.

Ciao

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Posted by Antonio Pisano on
Regarding OpenAcs5.8 on Aolserver4.5, I would suggest you to don't go that way 😊

Go for the scripts we linked to you, they will automatically download, compile and configure Naviserver from sources and OpenAcs5.8 from sources. There won't be much to do beside waiting!

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Posted by Benjamin Brink on
Definitely use the install script; or manually install by reading and following the script process 😉

Issues with installing OpenACS packages via an Ubuntu-based install may be due to the aolserver start-up script not setting a dependent environmental variable --or using a broken value.

My experience with installing OpenACS on Ubuntu 10, 11 and 12 suggests that the Ubuntu software installation process for OpenACS is fraught with issues largely introduced by Ubuntu/Debian packaging system and version conflicts with each Ubuntu release; If you get OpenACS to work in these conditions, you might run into some fairly esoteric errors.

The admin hurdles can be avoided by running the referenced installation script.

By installing from the script you'll have a reference standard that is more easily diagnosed;

Also any errors you post will be providing useful feedback for maintaining the installation script.

cheers,

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Posted by Mattia Righetti on
The problem is that with those scripts, OpenACS is installed in a strange way, perhaps because of NaviServer (that I've never used). For example it creates a user 'nsadmin' and the OpenACS directory is in /var/www/.
I always used to install OpenACS in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (and I've never used to have big problems) but now I can install on my VPS only Ubuntu 12 or 13.
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Posted by Mattia Righetti on
Ok, I've just tried to install OpenACS from scripts and I got this error:
------------------------ Installing Naviserver ---------------------------
install-ns.sh: line 288: cd: naviserver: No such file or directory

:(
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Posted by Gustaf Neumann on
I've recently updated the scripts to allow in addition to the installs from released version as well installations directly from the source code repositories (either git or mercurial; not activated by default).

It seems, i've not tested the non-HEAD version. Please refetch, unless i've made some typos, it should work now.

Sorry for the inconveniance