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The basic steps to getting OpenACS up and running are:
Install an OS (Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Appendix A, Install Red Hat 8/9, the section called “OpenACS Installation Guide for Mac OS X”, the section called “OpenACS Installation Guide for Windows2000”).
Install a database (Oracle or PostgreSQL).
Create a unique database and system user. Install the OpenACS tarball, start and AOLserver instance, and use the OpenACS web pages to complete installation (Install OpenACS 5.0.0a4).
The patched version of AOLserver we use is not currently available in a precompiled binary.
The packaged version of PostGreSQL in Debian and Red Hat and FreeBSD ports works fine.
Jonathan Marsden has created RPMs (at http://www.xc.org) for OpenACS 4.5 but there are not yet any for version 5.0.0a4.
An experimental script automates OpenACS checkout and installation.
You will need a PC (or equivalent) with at least these minimum requirements:
Pentium processor
128 MB RAM (much more if you want Oracle)
4 GB hard drive
A Unix-like operating system with tcl, tdom, and a mail transport agent. (the section called “Prerequisite Software”)
All of the software that you will need is free and open-source, except for Oracle. You can obtain a free copy of Oracle for development purposes. This is described in the Acquire Oracle section.
Figure 2.1. Compatibility Matrix
| OpenACS Version | 3.2.5 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.6.1 | 4.6.2 | 4.6.3 | 5.0.0 | |
| AolServer | 3 | Verified | ||||||
| 3.3+ad13 | Verified | |||||||
| 3.3oacs1 | Verified | |||||||
| 3.4.2 | No | |||||||
| 3.4.2oacs1 | Verified | |||||||
| 3.5.5 | Verified | |||||||
| 4 | Verified but not for production | |||||||
| PostGreSQL | 7.0 | Verified | ||||||
| 7.2.x | Verified | |||||||
| 7.3.2 - 7.3.4 | No | Verified | ||||||
| Oracle | 8.1.6 | Verified | ||||||
| 8.1.7 | Verified | |||||||
| 9i | No | Untested | ||||||
This is text you will see on screen, such as a or link in a radio button list or menu.
This is text that you will type.
This is text from a program or file which you may need to examine or edit:
if {$database == "oracle"} {
set db_password "mysitepassword"
}This is text that you will see and type in a command shell, including text you may have to change. It is followed by a list of just the commands, which you can copy and paste.
[root@localhost root]# su - nsadmin
[nsadmin@localhost aolserver]$ svc -d /service/server1
[nsadmin@localhost aolserver]$ dropdb server1
DROP DATABASE
[nsadmin@localhost aolserver]$ createdb server1
CREATE DATABASE
su - nsadmin
svc -d /service/server1
dropdb server1
createdb server1Figure 2.2. Assumptions in this Chapter
None of these locations are set in stone - they're simply the values that we've chosen. The values that you'll probably want to change, such as service name, are marked like this. The other values we recommend you leave unchanged unless you have a reason to change them.
Some of the paths and user accounts have been changed from those recommended in previous versions of this document to improve security and maintainability. See this thread for discussion.
We'll do our best to assure that following our instructions will get you to the promised land. If something goes wrong, don't panic. There are plenty of ways to get help. Here are some tips:
Keep track of the commands you are run and record their output. I like to do my installations in a shell inside of emacs (M-x shell) so that I can save the output if needed. An alternative would be to use the script command.
We'll point out where the error logs for the various pieces of software are. Output from those logs will help us help you. Don't worry if you feel overwhelmed by all the information in the error logs. Over time, you'll find that they make more and more sense. Soon, you'll actually look forward to errors so that you can run to the log and diagnose the problem.
Search the bboards at openacs.org - you'll often find many people who have struggled through the same spot that you're in.
The bottom of each page has a link to OpenACS.org, where you can post comments and read other users comments about the contents of the page.
Ask questions at the irc channel on openprojects.net (#openacs). They're knowledgeable and quite friendly if you can keep them on topic.
Post a question on the bboards. Make sure you've done a search first. When you do post, be sure to include your setup information (OS, etc) as well as the exact commands that are failing with the accompanying error. If there's a SQL error in the TCL error or in the log, post that too.
If you find errors in this document or if you have ideas about making it better, please post them in our BugTracker.