Install OpenACS on Mac OS X 10.5 / 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Using Macports

Created by Malte Sussdorff, last modified by Gustaf Neumann 03 Nov 2011, at 02:26 PM

I worked off the work of Dave Bauer and used Macports.

Unfortunately, the default configuration of Mac OS X does not allow suitable amounts of shared memory to be created to run the database server. 

Therefore you should edit your /etc/sysctl.conf

On a MacBook Pro with 2GB of RAM, the author's sysctl.conf contains:

Download and install MacPorts from http://www.macports.org/install.php and get the latest version (1.7.1 as of 2009-04-18)

Install PostgreSQL 8.4

sudo port -k install postgresql84
cd `port work postgresql84`/postgresql-8.4.7/contrib/ltree
make all
sudo make install
sudo port install postgresql84-server

To create a database instance, after install do
sudo mkdir -p /opt/local/var/db/postgresql84/defaultdb
sudo chown postgres:postgres /opt/local/var/db/postgresql84/defaultdb
sudo su postgres -c '/opt/local/lib/postgresql84/bin/initdb -D /opt/local/var/db/postgresql84/defaultdb'

Then after initdb postgres says to start postgresql. Before that edit the config file to make it compatible with ACS

sudo emacs -nw /opt/local/var/db/postgresql84/defaultdb/postgresql.conf

autovacuum = on
add_missing_from = on
default_with_oids = on
regex_flavor = extended 

Now start the PostgreSQL Server 

sudo su postgres -c  '/opt/local/lib/postgresql84/bin/postgres -D /opt/local/var/db/postgresql84/defaultdb' &

Install plpgsql as a language

/opt/local/lib/postgresql84/bin/createlang plpgsql template1 -U postgres

Last but not least, put postgresql under launchctl so you can start and stop it: 

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.postgresql84-server.plist 

To start it from then on just call

sudo launchctl start org.macports.postgresql84-server

To stop it:

sudo launchctl stop org.macports.postgresql84-server

Install AOLserver 4.5

sudo port install tcl +threads +headers

This will install Tcl with threads enabled, which is needed for AOLserver.

sudo port install aolserver

    cd /usr/local/src
    mkdir aolserver 
    cd aolserver 
    TCLLIB=1.13
    XOTCL=1.6.7
    # Path for the AOLserver installation 
    NS=/opt/local/aolserver
    cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@aolserver.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aolserver co nssha1 
    cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@aolserver.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aolserver co nspostgres
    echo "Getting TDOM ..." 
    git clone git://github.com/tDOM/tdom.git
    echo "Getting TCL modules ..." 
    curl -L -O http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tcllib/tcllib-${TCLLIB}.tar.bz2 
    curl -L -O http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tcl/thread2.6.5.tar.gz 
    curl -L -O http://media.wu-wien.ac.at/download/xotcl-${XOTCL}.tar.gz

Now install nssha1

 
    cd nssha1
    sudo make install NSHOME=${NS} 
    cd ..

Now go for nspostgres

 
    cd nspostgres/

    # Edit the Makefile so it reads (adding the "-lnsdb")
    MODLIBS = -L$(PGLIB) -lpq -lnsdb
    
    sudo make install AOLSERVER=/opt/local/aolserver/ PGCONFIG=/opt/local/lib/postgresql84/bin/pg_config POSTGRES=/opt/local PGINC=/opt/local/include/postgresql84/ PGLIB=/opt/local/lib/postgresql84/ ACS=1
    cd ..

tDOM

 
    cd tDOM-0.8.2/unix
    ../configure    --mandir=/usr/local/share/man    --libdir=/opt/local/aolserver/lib    --with-tcl=/opt/local/lib   --with-aolserver=/opt/local/aolserver
    sudo make install 
    cd ../..

Thread

 
    tar xvfz thread2.6.5.tar.gz 
    cd thread2.6.5/unix 
    ../configure    --mandir=/usr/local/share/man    --libdir=/Library/Tcl    --with-tcl=/System/Library/Frameworks/Tcl.framework    --with-tclinclude=/System/Library/Frameworks/Tcl.framework/Headers    --with-aolserver=/opt/local/aolserver 
    sudo make install
    cd ../..

XOTcl

The private header files of Tcl are missing, therefore I got the source and recompiled Tcl:

  curl -L -O http://downloads.sourceforge.net/tcl/tcl8.5.9-src.tar.gz
  tar xfz tcl8.5.9-src.tar.gz
  cd tcl8.5.9/unix
  ./configure --enable-threads --prefix=/opt/local --disable-corefoundation 
  sudo make install
  cd ../..

  tar xvfz xotcl-1.6.7.tar.gz 
  cd xotcl-1.6.7
  NS=/opt/local/aolserver/ 
  ./configure --enable-threads --enable-symbols --prefix=${NS} --exec-prefix=${NS} --with-tcl=/opt/local/lib
  sudo make install-aol
  cd .. 

Now we finish off with tcllib

 
  tar xvfj tcllib-1.13.tar.bz2 
  cd tcllib-1.13
  ./configure --prefix=/opt/local/aolserver/ 
  sudo make install

  ulimit -n 256

# Change the server root
set serverroot                "~/Sites/${server}"

# Make sure that OpenACS finds PostgreSQL. Add two lines to the $database if statement

if { $database eq "oracle" } {
    set db_password           "mysitepassword"
} else {
    set db_host               localhost
    set db_port               ""
    set db_user               $server
    ns_section "ns/db/driver/postgres"
    ns_param   pgbin              /opt/local/lib/postgresql84/bin/
}

# Change the AOLserver location
set homedir                   /opt/local/aolserver

Now you can start up your server. First try ist with /opt/local/aolserver/bin/nsd -t ~/Sites/yourserver/etc/config.tcl. If this works you might want to create a launchctl entry as you did above for postgresql

Edit /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openacs.YOURSERVER.plist and enter the following

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>org.openacs.YOURSERVER</string>
        <key>OnDemand</key>
        <false/>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>/Users/youruser/Sites/yourserver/etc/daemontools/run</string>
        </array>
        <key>ServiceDescription</key>
        <string>OpenACS Service</string>
        <key>UserName</key>
        <string>youruser</string>
        <key>GroupName</key>
        <string>staff</string>
    </dict>
</plist>

Now put yourserver under launchctl so you can start and stop it: 

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openacs.yourserver.plist 

To start it from then on just call

sudo launchctl start org.openacs.yourserver

To stop it:

sudo launchctl stop org.openacs.yourserver 

It is a good idea to schedule regular backups for your server(s). To do this create a shell script, e.g. backup.sh which executes your backups and then create a launchdaemon plist to run your backups nightly

Edit /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openacs.backup.plist and enter the following

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>org.openacs.backup</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
        <string>/Users/youruser/Sites/backup.sh</string>
        </array>
        <key>LowPriorityIO</key>
                <true/>
                <key>Nice</key>
                <integer>1</integer>
                <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
                <dict>
                        <key>Hour</key>
                        <integer>3</integer>
                        <key>Minute</key>
                        <integer>15</integer>
                </dict>
    </dict>
</plist>

If you intend to run AOLserver on a continous basis remember that it is a great idea to make sure it responds properly. To do this you can run a keepalive service.

Edit /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openacs.keepalive.plist and enter the following

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>org.openacs.keepalive.plist</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>/Users/youruser/Sites/keepalive.sh</string>
	    <string>yourserver</string>
            <string>yourport</string>
        </array>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
        <key>StartInterval</key>
        <integer>180</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

#!/bin/bash 
GREP=/usr/bin/grep
HEAD="/usr/bin/head -1"

INSTANCE="$1";
PORT="$2"

[ -z "$1" ] && exit
[ -z "$2" ] && exit

MAIL_ADDR=""
WGET_FILE=/tmp/.output-keepalive-${INSTANCE}
URL_TEST="http://127.0.0.1:${PORT}/SYSTEM/dbtest"
[ -f ${WGET_FILE} ] && rm -f ${WGET_FILE}  

_restartwebserver ()
{

/bin/launchctl start org.openacs.$INSTANCE
sleep 3
/bin/launchctl start org.openacs.$INSTANCE
}

_sendmail ()
{
echo "${1}" |mailx -s AolWebserver ${MAIL_ADDR}
}

while [ 1 -eq 1 ];
do
        [ -f ${WGET_FILE} ] && /bin/rm -f ${WGET_FILE}
        /usr/bin/curl -s -o $WGET_FILE --connect-timeout 3 --retry 3 "${URL_TEST}"

        if [ -f ${WGET_FILE} ] 
                then
                FIRST_LINE=`${HEAD} ${WGET_FILE} | ${GREP} -i "success"`
                [ -z "${FIRST_LINE}" ] && _restartwebserver && _sendmail "I just restarted the $INSTANCE webserver on `uname -n`" && echo "`date +'%D-%H:%M'` :: FAILURE" || echo "`date +'%D-%H:%M'` :: success $INSTANCE" >>/Users/malte/Sites/keepalive.log 
                else
                _restartwebserver && _sendmail "I just restarted the $INSTANCE webserver on `uname -n`"
#               _restartwebserver
                echo "`date +'%D-%H:%M'` :: FAILURE"
        fi
done

If you intend to run AOLserver on a continous basis remember that it is a great idea to restart your server once per night, otherwise the memory footprint will grow and grow and grow.

Edit /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openacs.restart.plist and enter the following

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>org.openacs.restart</string>
        <key>OnDemand</key>
        <false/>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>/Users/youruser/Sites/restart.sh</string>
        </array>
         <key>LowPriorityIO</key>
        <true/>
                <key>Nice</key>
                <integer>1</integer>
                <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
                <dict>
                        <key>Hour</key>
                        <integer>4</integer>
                        <key>Minute</key>
                        <integer>15</integer>
                </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openacs.backup.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openacs.restart.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openacs.keepalive.plist

Your restart.sh could look like this

  #!/bin/bash
  echo "cognovis"
  sudo launchctl stop org.openacs.yourserver
  sleep 10
  sudo launchctl start org.openacs.yourserver 

Testing with TCLWebtest

Created by OpenACS community, last modified by Ryan Gallimore 10 Apr 2010, at 06:49 PM

Testing with TCLWebtest

by Simon Carstensen and Joel Aufrecht

Tclwebtest is primarily for testing user interface and acceptance testing.

API testing is only part of testing your package - it doesn't test the code in our adp/tcl pairs. For this, we can use TCLWebtest (see sourceforge). TCLWebtest provides a library of functions (see command reference) that make it easy to call a page through HTTP, examine the results, and drive forms. TCLwebtest's functions overlap slightly with acs-automated-testing; see the example provided for one approach on integrating them.

TCLWebtest must be installed for to work. Since automated testing uses it, it should be part of every OpenACS installation. Note that TCLwebtest is installed automatically by Malte's install script.

Forum Posts:

• Speeding up TclWebtest
• ACS Automated Testing Primer
  

Command Reference:

• http://tclwebtest.sourceforge.net/doc/api_public.html 

Articles:

• Automated Testing Best Practices see: https://openacs.org/doc/automated-testing-best-practices.html
  
• testing packages for release en:Package_Testing_Process_
  

Tools:

• Webtest-Recorder Firefox extension (TwtR) see http://www.km.co.at/km/twtr This module is a plugin for Firefox. It is used to generate/edit a tclwebtest script which can be used later for regression testing without the need of a browser. There is a certain overlap of the application range between selenium and TwtR. This plugin was developed by Åsmund Realfsen for regression/load testing of the assessment module.

Here are some guidelines on how to write automated tests with TCLWebtest. It is a joy to work with automated testing once you get the hang of it. We will use the "myfirstpackage" as an example.

Create the directory that will contain the test script and edit the script file. The directory location and file name are standards which are recognized by the automated testing package:

[$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME www]$ mkdir /var/lib/aolserver/$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME/packages/myfirstpackage/tcl/test
[$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME www]$ cd /var/lib/aolserver/$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME/packages/myfirstpackage/tcl/test

[$OPENACS_SERVICE_NAME test]$ emacs myfirstpackages-procs.tcl

Write the tests. This is obviously the big step :) The script should first call ad_library like any normal -procs.tcl file:

ad_library {
    ...
}

To create a test case you call aa_register_case test_case_name.. Once you've created the test case you start writing the needed logic. We'll use the tutorial package, "myfirstpackage," as an example. Let's say you just wrote an API for adding and deleting notes in the notes packages and wanted to test that. You'd probably want to write a test that first creates a note, then verifies that it was inserted, then perhaps deletes it again, and finally verifies that it is gone.

Naturally this means you'll be adding a lot of bogus data to the database, which you're not really interested in having there. To avoid this I usually do two things. I always put all my test code inside a call to aa_run_with_teardown which basically means that all the inserts, deletes, and updates will be rolled back once the test has been executed. A very useful feature. Instead of inserting bogus data like: set name "Simon", I tend to generate a random script in order avoid inserting a value that's already in the database:

set name [ad_generate_random_string]

Here's how the test case looks so far:

aa_register_case mfp_basic_test {
    My test
} {
    aa_run_with_teardown \
       -rollback \
       -test_code  {

       }
}

Now look at the actual test code. That's the code that goes inside -test_code {}. We want to implement test case API-001, "Given an object id from API-001, invoke mfp::note::get. Proc should return the specific word in the title."

      set name [ad_generate_random_string]
      set new_id [mfp::note::add -title $name]
      aa_true "Note add succeeded" [exists_and_not_null new_id]

To test our simple case, we must load the test file into the system (just as with the /tcl file in the basic tutorial, since the file didn't exist when the system started, the system doesn't know about it.) To make this file take effect, go to the APM and choose "Reload changed" for "MyFirstPackage". Since we'll be changing it frequently, select "watch this file" on the next page. This will cause the system to check this file every time any page is requested, which is bad for production systems but convenient for developing. We can also add some aa_register_case flags to make it easier to run the test. The -procs flag, which indicates which procs are tested by this test case, makes it easier to find procs in your package that aren't tested at all. The -cats flag, setting categories, makes it easier to control which tests to run. The smoke test setting means that this is a basic test case that can and should be run any time you are doing any test. (a definition of "smoke test")

Once the file is loaded, go to ACS Automated Testing and click on myfirstpackage. You should see your test case. Run it and examine the results.

Example

Now we can add the rest of the API tests, including a test with deliberately bad data. The complete test looks like:

ad_library {
    Test cases for my first package.
}

aa_register_case \
    -cats {smoke api} \
    -procs {mfp::note::add mfp::note::get mfp::note::delete} \
    mfp_basic_test \
    {
        A simple test that adds, retrieves, and deletes a record.
    } {
        aa_run_with_teardown \
            -rollback \
            -test_code  {
                set name [ad_generate_random_string]
                set new_id [mfp::note::add -title $name]
                aa_true "Note add succeeded" [exists_and_not_null new_id]
                
                mfp::note::get -item_id $new_id -array note_array
                aa_true "Note contains correct title" [string equal $note_array(title) $name]
                
                mfp::note::delete -item_id $new_id
                
                set get_again [catch {mfp::note::get -item_id $new_id -array note_array}]
                aa_false "After deleting a note, retrieving it fails" [expr $get_again == 0]
            }
    }

aa_register_case \
    -cats {api} \
    -procs {mfp::note::add mfp::note::get mfp::note::delete} \
    mfp_bad_data_test \
    {
        A simple test that adds, retrieves, and deletes a record, using some tricky data.
    } {
        aa_run_with_teardown \
            -rollback \
            -test_code  {
                set name {-Bad [BAD] \077 { $Bad}} 
                append name [ad_generate_random_string]
                set new_id [mfp::note::add -title $name]
                aa_true "Note add succeeded" [exists_and_not_null new_id]
                
                mfp::note::get -item_id $new_id -array note_array
                aa_true "Note contains correct title" [string equal $note_array(title) $name]
                aa_log "Title is $name"
                mfp::note::delete -item_id $new_id
                
                set get_again [catch {mfp::note::get -item_id $new_id -array note_array}]
                aa_false "After deleting a note, retrieving it fails" [expr $get_again == 0]
            }
    }


aa_register_case \
    -cats {web smoke} \
    -libraries tclwebtest \
    mfp_web_basic_test \
    {
        A simple tclwebtest test case for the tutorial demo package.
        
        @author Peter Marklund
    } {
        # we need to get a user_id here so that it's available throughout
        # this proc
        set user_id [db_nextval acs_object_id_seq]

        set note_title [ad_generate_random_string]

        # NOTE: Never use the aa_run_with_teardown with the rollback switch
        # when running Tclwebtest tests since this will put the test code in
        # a transaction and changes won't be visible across HTTP requests.
        
        aa_run_with_teardown -test_code {
            
            #-------------------------------------------------------------
            # Login
            #-------------------------------------------------------------
            
            # Make a site-wide admin user for this test
            # We use an admin to avoid permission issues
            array set user_info [twt::user::create -admin -user_id $user_id]
            
            # Login the user
            twt::user::login $user_info(email) $user_info(password)
            
            #-------------------------------------------------------------
            # New Note
            #-------------------------------------------------------------
            
            # Request note-edit page
            set package_uri [apm_package_url_from_key myfirstpackage]
            set edit_uri "${package_uri}note-edit"
            aa_log "[twt::server_url]$edit_uri"
            twt::do_request "[twt::server_url]$edit_uri"
            
            # Submit a new note

            tclwebtest::form find ~n note
            tclwebtest::field find ~n title
            tclwebtest::field fill $note_title
            tclwebtest::form submit
            
            #-------------------------------------------------------------
            # Retrieve note
            #-------------------------------------------------------------
            
            # Request index page and verify that note is in listing
            tclwebtest::do_request $package_uri                 
            aa_true "New note with title \"$note_title\" is found in index page" \
                [string match "*${note_title}*" [tclwebtest::response body]]
            
            #-------------------------------------------------------------
            # Delete Note
            #-------------------------------------------------------------
            # Delete all notes

            # Three options to delete the note
            # 1) go directly to the database to get the id
            # 2) require an API function that takes name and returns ID
            # 3) screen-scrape for the ID
            # all options are problematic.  We'll do #1 in this example:

            set note_id [db_string get_note_id_from_name " 
                select item_id 
                  from cr_items 
                 where name = :note_title  
                   and content_type = 'mfp_note'
            " -default 0]

            aa_log "Deleting note with id $note_id"

            set delete_uri "${package_uri}note-delete?item_id=${note_id}"
            twt::do_request $delete_uri
            
            # Request index page and verify that note is in listing
            tclwebtest::do_request $package_uri                 
            aa_true "Note with title \"$note_title\" is not found in index page after deletion." \
                ![string match "*${note_title}*" [tclwebtest::response body]]
            
        } -teardown_code {
            
            twt::user::delete -user_id $user_id
        }
    }

Install OpenACS on Linux

Created by Gustaf Neumann, last modified by Gustaf Neumann 06 Dec 2008, at 10:36 AM

The following pre-packaged installations for OpenACS and .LRN under Linux are available:

• Installing OpenACS/.LRN for ubuntu
• Installing OpenACS/.LRN for debian

OpenACS and .LRN can be installed certainly as well from scratch using the guidelines for stepwise installation of all necessary components.

In general, OpenACS and its components works very well under Linux. It is used in many large installation with up to 10 million hits per day. For most applications, the systems runs nicely with a wide range of versions of Linux and its components. Due to some library changes in some Linux versions (especially in the native Linux thread installations), some precautions might be necessary. In case of problems on sites with high loads (e.g. server hangs) we recommend the following versions

• Linux Kernel <2.6.9 or better,  >2.6.25
  
• NTPL >= 2.7
• gcc >= 4.2
  
• Tcl libthread should be > 2.6.5 (including changes from 2008-05-22)

Install Postgresql

Created by OpenACS community, last modified by Ryan Gallimore 03 Oct 2008, at 06:27 PM

A quick install guide for Postgres 8.2 which takes everything into account can be found at http://cognovis.de/developer/en/pg82 

For RPMs, see http://yum.pgsqlrpms.org/

These instructions should work for 7.4 to 8.2.

Get the source code

http://www.postgresql.org/download/

Install from source

Unpack PostgreSQL 7.4.7. If you have downloaded the postgresql tarball to /var/tmp/postgresql-7.4.7.tar.gz

[root root]# cd /usr/local/src
[root src]# tar xzf /var/tmp/postgresql-7.4.7.tar.gz
[root src]# 
cd /usr/local/src
tar xzf /var/tmp/postgresql-7.4.7.tar.gz

If you have downloaded the postgresql tarball to /var/tmp/postgresql-7.4.7.tar.bz2

[root root]# cd /usr/local/src
[root src]# tar xfj /var/tmp/postgresql-7.4.7.tar.bz2
[root src]# 
cd /usr/local/src
tar xfj /var/tmp/postgresql-7.4.7.tar.bz2

Create the Postgres user. Create a user and group (if you haven't done so before) for PostgreSQL. This is the account that PostgreSQL will run as since it will not run as root. Since nobody will log in directly as that user, we'll leave the password blank.

[root src]# groupadd web
[root src]# useradd -g web -d /usr/local/pgsql postgres
[root src]# mkdir -p /usr/local/pgsql
[root src]# chown -R postgres.web /usr/local/pgsql /usr/local/src/postgresql-7.4.7
[root src]# chmod 750 /usr/local/pgsql
[root src]#
groupadd web
useradd -g web -d /usr/local/pgsql postgres
mkdir -p /usr/local/pgsql
chown -R postgres.web /usr/local/pgsql /usr/local/src/postgresql-7.4.7
chmod 750 /usr/local/pgsql

Set up postgres's environment variables. They are necessary for the executable to find its supporting libraries. Put the following lines into the postgres user's environment.

[root src]# su - postgres
[postgres ~] emacs ~postgres/.bashrc

Paste this line into .bash_profile:

source $HOME/.bashrc

Paste these lines into .bashrc:

export PATH=/usr/local/bin/:$PATH:/usr/local/pgsql/bin
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/pgsql/lib

Test this by logging in as postgres and checking the paths; you should see /usr/local/pgsql/bin

[root src]# su - postgres
[postgres pgsql]$ env | grep PATH
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=:/usr/local/pgsql/lib
PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/X11R6/bin:/root/bin:/usr/local/pgsql/bin:/usr/local/pgsql/bin
[postgres pgsql]$ exit

Don't continue unless you see correct output from env | grep PATH

Compile and install PostgreSQL. Change to the postgres user and run ./configure to set the compilation options automatically. This is the point at which you can configure PostgreSQL in various ways. To see what the possibilities, run ./configure --help.

[root src]# su - postgres
[postgres pgsql]$ cd /usr/local/src/postgresql-7.4.7
[postgres postgresql-7.4.7]$ ./configure
creating cache ./config.cache
checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
(many lines omitted>
linking ./src/makefiles/Makefile.linux to src/Makefile.port
linking ./src/backend/port/tas/dummy.s to src/backend/port/tas.s
[postgres postgresql-7.4.7]$ make all
make -C doc all
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.4.7/doc'
(many lines omitted)
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.4.7/src'
All of PostgreSQL successfully made. Ready to install.
[postgres postgresql-7.4.7]$ make install
make -C doc install
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.4.7/doc'
(many lines omitted)
Thank you for choosing PostgreSQL, the most advanced open source database
engine.
su - postgres
cd /usr/local/src/postgresql-7.4.7
./configure 
make all
make install

Start PostgreSQL. The initdb command initializes the database. pg_ctl is used to start up PostgreSQL.

[postgres postgresql-7.4.7]$ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb -D /usr/local/pgsql/data
The files belonging to this database system will be owned by user "postgres".
This user must also own the server process.
(17 lines omitted)
or
    /usr/local/pgsql/bin/pg_ctl -D /usr/local/pgsql/data -l logfile start
[postgres postgresql-7.4.7]$ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/pg_ctl -D /usr/local/pgsql/data -l /usr/local/pgsql/data/server.log start
postmaster successfully started
[postgres postgresql-7.4.7]$
/usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb -D /usr/local/pgsql/data
/usr/local/pgsql/bin/pg_ctl -D /usr/local/pgsql/data -l /usr/local/pgsql/data/server.log start

PostgreSQL errors will be logged in /usr/local/pgsql/data/server.log

Install Pl/pgSQL.Set up plpgsq and allow your user to have access. Plpgsql is a PL/SQL-like language. We add it to template1, which is the template from which all new databases are created. We can verify that it was created with the createlang command in list mode.

[postgres postgresql-7.4.7]$ createlang plpgsql template1
[postgres pgsql]$ createlang -l template1
Procedural languages
  Name   | Trusted?
---------+----------
 plpgsql | t
(1 row)

[postgres pgsql-7.4.7]$
createlang plpgsql template1
createlang -l template1

If you are installing Postgres 8.x, follow additional instructions at en:How_to_install_in_Postgres_8.x

If you are installing tsearch2, follow additional instructions at en:postgresql-tsearch2

Test PostgreSQL (OPTIONAL). Create a database and try some simple commands. The output should be as shown.

[postgres pgsql]$ createdb mytestdb
CREATE DATABASE
[postgres pgsql]$ psql mytestdb
Welcome to psql, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.

Type:  \copyright for distribution terms
       \h for help with SQL commands
       \? for help on internal slash commands
       \g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
       \q to quit

mytestdb=# select current_timestamp;
          timestamptz
-------------------------------
 2003-03-07 22:18:29.185413-08
(1 row)

mytestdb=# create function test1() returns integer as 'begin return 1; end;' language 'plpgsql';
CREATE
mytestdb=# select test1();
 test1
-------
     1
(1 row)

mytestdb=# \q
[postgres pgsql]$ dropdb mytestdb
DROP DATABASE
[postgres pgsql]$ exit
logout

[root src]#

Set PostgreSQL to start on boot. First, we copy the SERVERROOT/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/postgresql.txt init script, which automates startup and shutdown, to the distribution-specific init.d directory. Then we verify that it works. Then we automate it by setting up a bunch of symlinks that ensure that, when the operating system changes runlevels, postgresql goes to the appropriate state. Red Hat and Debian and SuSE each work a little differently. Be sure to check OS distribution notes for specifics (and examples)

Once installed, PostgreSQL should start automatically each time you boot up and it should shutdown gracefully each time you shut down.

Conditional CREATE Index for Postgresql and Oracle

Created by Gustaf Neumann, last modified by Dave Bauer 21 Nov 2007, at 03:03 PM

In order to create an index conditionally (e.g. only, if it does not exist) in postgresql or in oracle, one can use the following two idioms

Postgres

Oracle

These examples were  posted by Dave Bauer OpenACS Development forum and can be used in a similar style for conditionally creating tables, etc.

Installing OpenACS on Solaris

Created by OpenACS community, last modified by Torben Brosten 07 Mar 2007, at 05:18 AM

Should you decide to Install OpenACS from source using general en:openacs-system-install instructions, refer to these notes for changes:

See threads:

• Tips or Gotchas for Install on Solaris 10
• Solaris 10 fails to unpack openacs-5-2-*.tar.gz
• Missing tclsh on Solaris [9] - how to fix?

PostgreSQL

Created by OpenACS community, last modified by Torben Brosten 25 Oct 2006, at 10:37 AM

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is an open-source, ACID-compliant RDBMS

What others say about PostgreSQL

• about PostgreSQL (postgresql.org)

OpenACS uses Postgresql with PL/PgSQL.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PL/PgSQL
• http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/plpgsql.html

Using PostgreSQL with OpenACS

Install PostgreSQL en:postgresql-install

Administrating PostgreSQL en:postgresql-admin

OpenACS system

Created by OpenACS community, last modified by Torben Brosten 25 Aug 2006, at 10:51 PM

OpenACS is a n-tier architecture web application toolkit built on these software components:

1. OpenACS toolkit en:openacs-subsystem
2. an interpretive, markup language en:tcl
3. a robust, http server en:aolserver
4. a mature, relational database management system (RDMS) en:postgresql or en:oracle that follows the SQL standard (Why not MySQL?) and uses a procedural language (PL/SQL or PL/pgSQL).
5. unix-like operating system en:os-nix

And works well with minimum hardware requirements (en:docs-install).

Chart Showing the parts of OpenACS

The blue dotted line hints at the path of a dynamic page request --from client to server and back. Each of the subsystems on the left can be directly accessed by a page request, whereas the database is only indirectly accessible. The arrows represent the pools of database connections that help manage queries --one of the key reasons that OpenACS performs well.

tDOM with OpenACS

Created by OpenACS community, last modified by Torben Brosten 10 Aug 2006, at 11:12 PM

Using tDOM with OpenACS

• See AOLserver installation instructions en:aolserver-install for info on installing tDOM
• A tDOM Tutorial http://wiki.tcl.tk/8984

PostgreSQL's Tsearch2

Created by OpenACS community, last modified by Robert Taylor 07 Aug 2006, at 03:22 AM

Install Full Text Search using Tsearch2

By Dave Bauer, Joel Aufrecht, and Malte Sussdorff, with help from Tsearch V2 Introduction by Andrew J. Kopciuch

Install Tsearch2 module

This is a PostgreSQL module that the OpenACS tsearch2-driver package requires.

If you want full text search (FTS), and you are running PostgreSQL version 7.3 or greater, install this module to support FTS. Do this step after you have installed both PostgreSQL and AOLserver. The tsearch2 module is included with the PostgreSQL full source distribution. It is also available with the PostgreSQL contrib package provided by most distribution ports.

1. For PostgreSQL 7.3, refer to the Installation docs for details, because the Tsearch2 project has revised the installation since PostgreSQL 7.3 was deprecated.

   For PostgreSQL 7.4, download the http://www.sai.msu.su/~megera/postgres/gist/tsearch/V2/regprocedure_7.4.patch.gz tsearch2 patch to correctly restore from a pg_dump backup. To apply this patch, download the mentioned file and place it in your postgreSQL source tree ($PGSQL_SRC). This patch makes the backup and restore procedures very simple.

               [postgres pgsql]$ cd /tmp
               [postgres tmp]$ wget http://www.sai.msu.su/~megera/postgres/gist/tsearch/V2/regprocedure_7.4.patch.gz
               [postgres pgsql]$ cd /usr/local/src/postgresql-7.4.5/
               [postgres postgresql-7.4.5] gunzip /tmp/regprocedure_7.4.patch.gz
               [postgres postgresql-7.4.5] patch -b -p1 < regprocedure_7.4.patch
                 

   If you installed tsearch2 from a ports package, you can use the http://www.sai.msu.su/~megera/postgres/gist/tsearch/V2/regprocedure_update.sql regprocedure script to update the database after tsearch2 is installed into it.

   If you have a working version of tsearch2 in your database, you do not need to re-install the tsearch2 module. Just apply the patch and run make. This patch only affects the tsearch2.sql file. You can run the SQL script found : [right here] This script will make the modifications found in the patch, and update the fields from the existing data. From this point on, you can dump and restore the database in a normal fashion. Without this patch, you must follow the instructions at the Tsearch2 project website for backup and restore.

   Postgresql 8.0 and above include the latest stable release with the above patch(es) applied.

2. Install Tsearch2. These instructions assume you are using the latest point release of PostgreSQL 7.4.5.

   [root root]# su - postgres
   [postgres pgsql]$ cd /usr/local/src/postgresql-7.4.5/contrib/tsearch2/
   [postgres tsearch2]$ make
   [postgres tsearch2]$ make install
   mkdir /usr/local/pgsql/share/contrib
   mkdir /usr/local/pgsql/doc/contrib
   (2 lines omitted)
   /bin/sh ../../config/install-sh -c -m 755 libtsearch.so.0.0 /usr/local/pgsql/lib/tsearch.so
   [postgres tsearch]$ exit
   logout
   
   [root root]#
   su - postgres
   cd /usr/local/src/postgresql-7.4.5/contrib/tsearch2
   make
   make install
   exit