Introduction

This is a quick guide to installing turbocare using mod_python on Ubuntu. Using Apache to serve the static content makes things nice and fast. This is very much designed as a step by step documenting one way of setting things up. There are other ways to do most things in here.

Commands are indented

like this.

Procedure

Install mysql, turbocare, python, and apache2 packages.

sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list

Remove "#" on deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universe and on deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universe lines.

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gcc libc6-dev  build-essential

sudo apt-get install mysql-server python-reportlab subversion

sudo apt-get install python-pysqlite2 python-mysqldb python-imaging  python-dev python-setuptools

sudo apt-get install apache2 libapache2-mod-python2.4

Install turbogears

sudo easy_install -UZ  setuptools

wget http://files.turbogears.org/eggs/TurboJson-0.9.9-py2.4.egg

sudo easy_install -fZ TurboJson-0.9.9-py2.4.egg

sudo easy_install -Z  TurboGears

wget http://files.turbogears.org/eggs/SQLObject-0.7.1dev_r1860-py2.4.egg

sudo easy_install -fZ SQLObject-0.7.1dev_r1860-py2.4.egg

Note the manual installation of TurboJson and SQLObject is to overcome a conflict with turbocare and the later versions of these modules. In the future it is hoped to correct this problem.

Note when using easy_install we need to specify the install as unziped eggs as this stops apache from trying to extract the eggs into its own home directory.

Additional TurboGears Widgets

Foreign Key look up widget

sudo easy_install TGFKLookup

Install turbocare

cd  ~/

svn checkout http://turbocare.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/  turbocare

Setup database

We should add a password to MySQL's root user but I will add that later.

mysql -u root -p

just press enter if you have no password yet.

at the prompt type:

create database turbocare;

press enter and then ctrl-D to exit.

cd ~/turbocare

python mysql_schema.py -d turbocare -u root -o schema_updt -f turbocare_schema.data

python mysql_schema.py -d turbocare -u root -o restore -f turbocare_backup.data

Check standalone turbocare

cp dev-sample.cfg dev.cfg

vi dev.cfg

Check that all the variables are right. Particularly the sqlobject.dburi string.

cp turbocare/ReportDefinition-Sample.py turbocare/ReportDefinition.py

This file is used for defining custom formatting of reports.

cp turbocare/printer_list.py-example turbocare/printer_list.py

This file is used to setup printers.

python start-turbocare.py

If this loads without errors you have installed turbocare.

Check it's really working by visiting http://localhost:8080/.

If it is congratulations your half way to having turbocare and mod_python installed.

Maybe you should grab a coffee now.

Modpython time

Now to get mod_python working

Setup Turbocare for production

cd ~/turbocare

cp prod-sample.cfg prod.cfg

vi prod.cfg

This is the production configuration file.

Make sure the database variable is right.

sqlobject.dburi="mysql://root@localhost:3306/turbocare"

Make sure turbocare.basedir="/home/USERNAME/turbocare" points to where turbocare username is installed.

You can also change the log file locations if you want to.

cp turbocare/turbocare_modpython-sample.py turbocare/turbocare_modpython.py

vi turbocare/turbocare_modpython.py

Update the configuration file location in this file to where you have installed turbocare. It should be on a line like this turbogears.update_config(configfile="/home/david/turbocare/prod.cfg")

sudo python setup.py install

We need to install the files for apache to be able to find them.

Note after every update you need to run this command.

sudo cp modpython_gateway.py /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/

Copy Modpython Gateway to pythons sitepackages. This lets us use TurboGears with mod_python.

Apache Configuration

sudo cp apache-turbocare.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/turbocare

sudo cp apache-ssl-turbocare.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/turbocare-ssl

Copy Apache def files

sudo vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/turbocare

Change any references to /home/david to the home/USER where user is the user in which you have done the installation with.

sudo vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/turbocare-ssl

Change any references to /home/david to the home/USER where user is the user in which you have done the installation with.

sudo vi /etc/apache2/ports.conf

Add a new line with Listen 443 on it.

sudo apache2-ssl-certificate -days 365

sudo mkdir /var/www/.egg

Setup temp egg directory.

sudo chown -R www-data /var/www/.egg

Install ssl certificate.

Enable sites and modules

sudo a2enmod mod_python

Enable mod_python for apache2

sudo a2enmod  ssl

Enable ssl for apache2

sudo a2dissite default

Disable the default site as we want turbocare to be new default.

sudo a2ensite turbocare

Enable turbocare site

sudo a2ensite turbocare-ssl

Enable ssl version of turbocare.

Reports

Now we need to change some permissions to make sure Apache's user can write reports.

cd ~/turbocare

sudo chown  www-data turbocare/static/reports

sudo chown  www-data turbocare/static/user_reports

Report Writer

There is a file that is used when constructing custom reports. By default, there is a sample of this file. It is necessary to rename the file for the application to run.

cp turbocare/ReportDefinition-Sample.py turbocare/ReportDefinition.py

This file can be customized for your installation.

Finishing off

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Restart Apache2 to get it to load changes.

Go to http://ipaddressofmachine and https://ipaddressofmachine in a Web Browser.

Both should display first page of turbocare.

Upgrades

To upgrade turbocare

cd ~/turbocare

svn update

sudo python setup.py install

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Ubuntu Dapper and SQLite

At the time of writing there were incompatiblities with the current version of turbocare and the version of sqlite which comes with Dapper. To fix this follow these steps

sudo apt-get remove python2.4-pysqlite2

sudo apt-get install libsqlite3-dev

sudo easy_install -Z pysqlite

References

My instructions are based on the following websites. However I was able to simplify as we removed some of the work for mod_python by including necessary files in our svn version of turbocare.

http://trac.turbogears.org/wiki/ModPythonIntegration09

http://www.linode.com/wiki/index.php/Apache2_SSL_in_Ubuntu