Forum OpenACS Q&A: Q1 - install - Response to Newbee documentation

1. Two preliminary actions are further required: installing the right FreeBSD ports collection and installing the web-ftp tool called wget.

2. FreeBSD comes with access to a huge amount of ports, i.e. open source programs that are consistently packed with configuration- and compilation scripts (Makefiles) so they can be compiled and installed easily. The reason to write this documentation is mainly that these ports are frequently updated and that the conventions for locating libraries, object files etc. are constantly being adjusted. The result is, for instance, that the excellent OpenACS/FreeBSD installation guide at http://www.orchardlabs.com/library/freebsd/ leads to a few errors of the irritating file-not-found type if it is applied to the installation of newer software versions (like aolserver-3.4.2 and postgresql-7.2.1). Since this documentation will soon suffer the same deficit, I will give some hints on solving this type of problems where they may be expected.

3. In order to get access to the ports collection, one port has to be installed in a particular way. Its name is cvsup-without-gui (I use this, because I do not need Xwindows on my server). Since my server does not have (or need) a dedicated screen and keybourd, I assume you work from your client machine using PuTTy.

4. Get the cvsup binaries:

# ftp -a ftp.freebsd.org

ftp> cd /pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-stable/net

ftp> ls cvsup-without-gui*

Remember the version number of the cvsup-without-gui package

ftp> bin

ftp> get cvsup-without-gui-versionnumber.tgz

ftp> quit

5. Install the binaries:

# pkg_add cvsup-without-gui-versionnumber.tgz

# rehash

6. Prepare cvsup for downloading the ports collection:

# cd /usr/src/share/examples/cvsup/

# edit ports-supfile

In ports-supfile change the cvsup mirror to your nearest mirror. This is the line you need to change:

*default host=cvsup2.FreeBSD.org

For the Netherlands it becomes:

*default host=cvsup.nl.FreeBSD.org

Leave the editor - save the changes.

The ports-supfile controls cvsup's action. You may not find this file at the location metioned (I found its location changed in the currently experimental FreeBSD 5.0 nightly tarball). It is unlikely that the name of this file will change, however. So, if needed, a relatively safe line of action would be to search for the location of the ports-supfile using the find command and edit that file in its location as found. Also remember that the online documentation is often up-to-version (the change was documented in man cvsup).

7. Download the ports collection. The location, configuration and compilation information is brought to your machine, not the sources themselves. To download all of them took me about an hour:

# /usr/local/bin/cvsup -g -L 2 ports-supfile

8. Check de versions of the relevante ports - there are several ports collection versions.

# cd /usr/ports/www/aolserver

# cat distinfo

The version number of the aolserver port should be greater than or equal to 3.4.2

# cd /usr/ports/databases/postgresql7

# cat distinfo

The version number of the postgresql7 port should be greater than or equal to 7.2.1.

If not, you should upgrade your ports collection through editing the ports-supfile, based on the information in the man pages for cvsup.

9. Get, compile and install the wget port - you will use it to ftp files from web pages:

# cd /usr/ports/ftp/wget

# make install

We're all set for the next question.