Forum OpenACS Development: OpenACS 4.6 Install Doc Changes

Changes:

• Install PG 7.2.3
• Install OpenFTS 0.3.1
• Lots of AOLserver changes
  • Made nsd binaries owned by root so that they can't be moved/hacked by someone who exploits aolserver.
  • Got rid of the nsadmin user and instead run AOLserver as '-u nobody -g web'
  • Moved webroot into the user's home directory
  • Moved the error and access logs into user's home directory
  • Small adjustments in nsd.tcl to accomodate these changes
• Updated PG backup script
• Lots of other minor cleanup

The new docs are temporarily on my home server at http://66.108.4.52:8000/doc/unix-install.html. Please ignore the fact that it still says OpenACS 4.5 in most places. This is easily changeable thanks to Roberto's work on the DocBook files, but I was too lazy to change it yet 😊

Thanks to Pascal Scheffers for pointing out some of the AOLserver security issues to me. He hasn't seen these changes yet, so all errors are completely mine. I would like feedback, but I probably don't have time to make wholesale changes at the moment (this has taken me a while to get it to this point). If I don't hear a lot of negative feedback, I'll commit this over the next couple days.

I've updated the docs to install version 0.3.2. A couple minor things...

* The AOLSERVER.INSTALL file says to 'cp fts.so [aolserver bin directory]', but it should be nsfts.so.

* The configure script doesn't seem to pick up the Tcl headers on a standard Debian install (/usr/lib/tcl8.3). It's easy enough to add a --with-tcl argument, but it would be nice if that was picked up automatically.

* The openfts-driver package still has a param 'openfts_tcl_src_path' that I believe is obsolete now, right?

Thanks again!

I looked at the m4 macro for finding the tclConfig.sh file, and it doesn't look in /usr/lib anything.  Basically it does the following:

1. Checks for --with-tcl and uses that if set.
2. Checks the following for a private tcl install:

../tcl
'ls -dr ../tcl[[8-9]].[[0-9]]* 2>/dev/null`
../../tcl \
`ls -dr ../../tcl[[8-9]].[[0-9]]* 2>/dev/null`
../../../tcl
`ls -dr ../../../tcl[[8-9]].[[0-9]]* 2>/dev/null`

(it's just walking up the directory tree looking for a plain or versioned tcl dir)

3. Then it checks a few common locations:

/usr/local/lib

and

${prefix}/lib

4. Checks relative to ${srcdir}

${srcdir}/../tcl

and

'ls -dr ${srcdir}/../tcl[[8-9]].[[0-9]]* 2>/dev/null`

If it's not found, exit with error.

I'll look around and see if there is a more up to date version of the tcl.m4 macro file that includes things like /usr/lib and so forth.  It doesn't look to hard to fix, so I'll modify it if I can't find a new macro file that works.

Anybody else have a different install directory (standard for other distros like suse, mandrake, etc.)?

I'll try to make the changes that you suggest, but I can't guarantee a timeline. If anyone can help, it would be appreciated.

In the meantime, everything that I know about upgrading is in these two threads: https://openacs.org/forums/message-view?message_id=32581 and https://openacs.org/forums/message-view?message_id=44983. I did install 4.5, install some packages and add some data and then run the upgrade process to 4.6 and things seemed to work, but I've never actually upgraded a production server, so take it with mounds of salt.

This post describes how I clean an OpenACS 4.5 installation off a server completely (for Debian): https://openacs.org/forums/message-view?message_id=28553

How did you find /doc/oracle.html? In any case, both are out-of-date at the moment. There is a CVS ID tag on both documents, but it's at the bottom of the doc. Is that sufficient?

I know Jeff mentioned that he might set up a cronjob to regenerate the docs, but I'm not sure if he's done this yet. If not, I agree with him that it is a great idea!!

As an update, I have committed all the changes that I mentioned above. I also added a change that Jeff and Roberto suggested (I think?) to include a link back to the openacs.org website on all doc pages. That way, comments on locally installed pages can easily be placed on the openacs.org website. Of course, the version of the docs that is *actually* living on the openacs.org website should not have this link, cuz it would just be confusing. So, that part of the XSL stylesheet should be commented out on openacs.org.

• I will be running multiple instances of AOLServer (using Jerry Asher's virtual hosting patch). I believe that means running AOLServer 3.3+ad13.
• We still need to have the server running as web? I'll create a separate user for each server and have them all as members of a renamed "web" group (the group of the log and server directories according to the AOLServer guide). I will also need to change the group of where the socket files (for virtual hosting) live to "web".
• AOLServer maintenance docs suggests I shouldn't worry about rolling the server log (not the access log) in normal use. This thread features people that have worried about server log rolling.
• Should I be worried enough to use SSL (scottg's site) for logins for my personal sites? It doesn't appear that OpenACS.org uses it.

Michael,

Dossy recently patched Jerry's virtual hosting for AOLserver 3.5.1. You can download it from aolserver.sourceforge.net. Dossy's message as posted on the AOLserver list:

Everyone,

After thorough testing, I've finally committed the changes 
to nsvhr and nsunix which originated from Jerry Asher's 
excellent work on these two modules for the AOLserver 3.3.x 
core, which I reviewed and pared down to the minimal changes
and have tested against the AOLserver 3.5.x core.

There are no AOLserver core changes required to use nsvhr 
and nsunix now. nsvhr and nssock should also continue to 
work just fine.

The changes have been checked in and tagged as nsvhr3_5 and 
nsunix3_5.

Any feedback is certainly welcome,

-- Dossy 

Some OpenACS sites do use SSL. Seven Sisters Trading (www.7-sisters.com) is a good example. This eCommerce site uses the ecommerce package, which requires SSL to secure the checkout process.

Be aware that you can secure only one site with SSL if you are combining SSL and virtual hosting.

/Bart

Unfortunately, my dynamic IP has changed (that's redundant); the new link is http://66.65.107.38:8000/doc/unix-install. My changes are also in OpenACS 4.6 which is available in the openacs 4.6 beta tarball. Once it's released as final, I'm sure we'll make the docs available at https://openacs.org/doc

Going to /new-file-storage asks you to register/login because it's redirecting to the old openacs server. Once you login, it will show you the documents

I cleared all cookies and cached content from my browser and closed the browser.

I then launched the browser and tried /new-file-storage directly (no login to openacs.org first). I was directed to the register/login page at sdm.openacs.org. When I entered my credentials, I was allowed access to /new-file-storage.

I then went back to openacs.org and was directed to the register/login page. When I entered my credentials, I was allowed access to openacs.org.

However, now when I try to access /new-file-storage, I'm directed to the (endless loop) register/login page at sdm.openacs.org.