Jono's technical notes

Labels: Scala web frameworks lift

Labels: Scala IDE eclipse netbeans

The following are notes on how to install and configure trac on OS X with multiple projects with a dedicated user to maintain the trac installation. These notes have been derived from several sources and are primarily so I can reproduce this at a later date without thinking, they are, unsurprisingly

• http://trac.edgewall.org/
• http://modpython.org/

You'll need the following

• sudo / root access
• internet access
• python 2.3.5
• sqlite3

You will need to download

• Apache 2.2.4
• Mod_python 3.3.1
• setuptools
  

1. Install Apache 2.2.4
   
   
   
   • Follow Richard's instructions, see step 6 for an overview

     ./configure --prefix=/Users/jono/Applications/apache/2.2.4 --enable-mods-shared=most --enable-ssl --with-mpm=worker --without-berkeley-db --enable-proxy  
     
     make
     sudo make install
     cd ~/apache/2.2.4/bin
     sudo ./apachectrl start
     

     check there is something sane here http://127.0.0.1/
     


2. Install mod_python 3.3.1
   
   
   
   • configure and install
     

     ./configure --with-apxs=/Users/jono/Applications/apache/2.2.4/bin/apxs
     make
     sudo  make install

   • tell apache about it

     add
     

     LoadModule python_module /Users/jono/Applications/apache/2.2.4/modules/mod_python.so

     to
     

     /Users/jono/Applications/apache/2.2.4/conf/httpd.conf

   • test apache is talking to python

     1. edit httpd.conf add
        
        <Location /mpinfo>
        SetHandler mod_python
        PythonHandler mod_python.testhandler
        </Location>
        

     2. restart apache and see what we get

        cd ~/apache/2.2.4/bin
        sudo ./apachectrl
        http://127.0.0.1/mpinfo

        you should get a table showing various System information about apache, python and the request headers, including who the process is running as. In our case it is daemon - make a note of this you'll need it later.

     3. clean up

        remove the following from httpd.conf

        <Location /mpinfo>
        SetHandler mod_python
        PythonHandler mod_python.testhandler
        </Location>
        
        
3. Install python modules required by the latest version of trac ( 0.11)
   
   
   
   • install setuptools
     
     
     
     1. this will need to be done as root so you have write permissions to /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.3/bin
sudo python ez_setup.py
        

     2. link it to a bin directory in your path - This should be a single line!

        sudo ln -s /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.3/bin/easy_install easy_install
        
     
     
     3. test it, type eas and you should get tab completion, well, assuming you are using bash.
     
     
     4. install Genshi
        easy_install Genshi
        
     
     
     5. install pysqlite
        
        
        
        • make sure easy_install is going to install the correct version,it should be 2.3.2 or above
          easy_install -n pysqlite
          
        
        
        • if the above seems okay, install it
          easy_install pysqlite
          


4. Install trac
   

   This is some what more convoluted than it needs to be, once edgewall release a complete version (0.11) of trac, this will be

   
   easy_install trac
   

   However at present this installs 10.4, which is not what we want, so it is worth trying easy_install -n trac to see if it is going to install 0.11, until then, there is :

   • check out the latest code from svn, in my case this was revision 6049.
     svn co http://svn.edgewall.org/repos/trac/trunk trac
     
   
   
   • install trac
     sudo python ./setup.py install
     
   
   
   • link the trac binaries to a bin directory in your path.
     sudo ln -s /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.3/bin/ trac-admin trac-admin
sudo ln -s /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.3/bin/ tracd tracd
     
   
   
   • If you want to be sure trac is installed and working before continuing ( probably a good idea ) check the Observations notes below.
     
     
5. set up trac user and environment
   
   
   
   • create a trac user - see my previous post
     
   
   
   • add them to the daemon group - or whatever user apache is running at
     sudo nicl / -merge /groups/daemon users daemon
     
   
   
   • as the trac user create the projects and set the correct permissions
     
     
     
     1. create projects
        trac-admin project00 initenv
trac-admin project01 initenv
        
     
     
     2. set the permissions on the trac projects
        chown -R :daemon project00
chown -R :daemon project01
chmod -R g+rw project00
chmod -R g+rw project01
        

6. Configure apache to talk to trac via mod_python
   

   • add the following to httpd.conf
     
<Location /trac>
SetHandler mod_python
PythonInterpreter main_interpreter
PythonHandler trac.web.modpython_frontend
PythonOption TracEnvParentDir /Users/trac
PythonOption TracUriRoot /trac
</Location>

<LocationMatch "/trac/[^/]+/login">
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Trac"
AuthUserFile /Users/trac/.htpasswd
Require valid-user
</LocationMatch>


   • as the trac user populate .htpasswd
     htpasswd -c /Users/trac/.htpasswd jono
     
   
   
   • as the trac user configure trac permissions
     
     
     
     1. add an administrative user for the projects
        trac-admin /Users/trac/project00 permission add jono TRAC_ADMIN
trac-admin /Users/trac/project01 permission add jono TRAC_ADMIN
        
     
     
     2. remove anonymous and authenticated permissions from all projects, this is needed so users can not log into projects others than there own and is probably just a good idea ;)
        trac-admin /Users/trac/project00 permission remove anonymous '*'
trac-admin /Users/trac/project00 permission remove authenticated '*'
trac-admin /Users/trac/project11 permission remove anonymous '*'
trac-admin /Users/trac/project11 permission remove authenticated '*'
        
        
     3. bounce apache
        sudo ./apachectl stop
sudo ./apachectl start
        
        
     4. try and login
        http://127.0.0.1/trac/project0
http://127.0.0.1/trac/project1
        
        
7. restrict access to projects - currently every entry into .htpasswd has access to all projects, as an authenicated user, which would allow users from one project to browse and edit the wiki or another - not an ideal situation, so we do the following
   
   
   
   • remove ability to see project listing - what people can't see they can't try and access
     
     
     
     1. update httpd.conf - change Locaiton from <Location /trac> to <LocationMatch "/.+/"> remembering to also update the closing Location tag to LocationMatch
     2. bounce apache
        sudo ./apachectl stop
sudo ./apachectl start
        

Finally

Things to do:

• get svn access working
• consider https
• consider using digest rather than basic athenication
• virtual hosts

Links

• apache
• mod_python installation
• setuptools
• Genshi
• permissions issues

Observations



1. install using the default locations for python, installing with user specific locations will cause a great deal of pain, if you know what you are doing with PYTHONPATH, you will probably be okay, then again, you probably aren't going to be reading this either :)
   


2. if you ignored me and tried installing setuptools without root access you will have noticed the binary failed to install and now you are wondering how to get it installed.
   sudo python ez_setup.py -U setuptools
   


3. restarting apache,there are notes on either the trac or mod_python site about this, it would appear that sudo ./apachectl restartdoesn’t always work, this is usually when you are tired and it has been working all day, save yourself pain just use.
   sudo ./apachectl stop
sudo ./apachectl start
   

4. if trac isn’t playing you may want to make sure it is installed correctly, try the following
   

   1. create a dummy project
      trac-admin testTrac initenv
      
   
   
   2. start the trac daemon
      tracd --port 8000 /Users/jono/Documents/trac/testTrac
      
   
   
   3. point a browser to
      http://localhost:8000/testTrac
      
   
   
   4. if it all looks okay, you can delete this now
      
   
   

Labels: OSX trac mod_python

• Mobile advertising is going to be amazing, this year 6-7 million, 200 Million in 3 years, 1.3 Billion by 2010, 10 - 20% of all advertising, little of this seemed based on fact, seeing as the numbers were so wildly different. The six to seven million was actually the previous 12 months, I believe, otherwise it was YTD.
• People are trying to work out how to measure mobile advertising, for some reason they believe this isn't going to be click through or SMS's sent or impression based.
• Content, including advertising - such as banner adverts need to be tailored to the individual device, no great surprises there, scrolling to see adverts either horizontally or vertically is bad.
• Attitude of some of the presenters towards technical folk rather than advertisers, referring to developers as "techno dorks" and the unless companies using a developer who knew XHTML would most likely get it wrong. Yes, the guy got on my tits - I guess they have highly trained advertisers in that particular company creating mobile sites and definitely NO techno dorks lowering the tone.
  

• 15 - 39 Demographic are leaving print media or not even bothering with it.
• Consuming all media in the same way as the internet media.
• Carriers are moving away from walled gardens - huzzah.
• Figures for passive television consumption are dropping, still healthy, but dropping.
• A group of 14 - 15 year olds were interviewed about media consumption and there preferences were.

• internet
• mobile
• ipod
• television
• When developers of mobile sites need to be aware of local regulations, these can be through various bodies, broadcasting regulator, AIMIA, etc.
  

• mobile phones are the 3rd screen,
• 19 million phones in AU, not bad for a population of just over 21 million,
• 4.5 million 3G phones, possible tipping point ?
• Terms
  
• on-deck --> teleco site/portal
• off-deck --> content publishers
• local knowledge is important in mobile advertising ( one would assume mobile content full stop ), as usage varies around the world. One wonders if this is culturally, development of mobiles services or possibly the type of devices available in the market.

• click through for off deck is ~ 3 - 6 % for mobile advertising campaigns,
• consumer perception that data is expensive, this is a barrier to adoption, consumers need to be educated,
• data charges are falling,
• age of users is moving up, 25 - 40s watching mobile videos,
• real time behavioral targeting will be important
  

• most traffic is on portal,
• in the next 6 -12 months we will see more off portal traffic,
• Need to follow the 1,2,3 rule :

1. One point of entry,
2. No more than 2 seconds to load,
3. No more than 3 clicks to get anywhere - 30% lose per click, so not much point.

• Mobile sites need to be live sites if they are going to be around for more than a month, so have content to put up, this will also get people interested in coming back, consider a news link, then people will know the site is alive,
• watch for bots mimicking mobile devices, they can show false spikes in traffic,
• things that companies are doing wrong at present :
  

1. Not considering company strategy,
2. being to clever, billboard that has a web site where you can download an app for your phone that will let you read a bar code,
3. copying web site to be a mobile site,
4. not getting the right advice.
   

• a new group set up to provider agencies the ability to advertise on the vodafone LIve! portal, rather than just seeing vodafone adverts,
• starting in AU, being pushed out worldwide,
• vodafone talking with other carriers about cross carrier advertising and other possibilities - early days and cross carrier agreements move at ( pre global warming ) glacial speed.
  

Labels: AIMIA Mobile Advertising Guidelines

The following will create a user USER_NAME in the group USER_NAME
with a home directory /Users/USER_NAME, it assumes you have sudo
access and are currently in /Users

1. Find the next free uid by running the following

   nireport . /users name uid

2. create user, assuming a free uid of 505 from the previous step.

   This should be a single line.
   

   echo USER_NAME::505:505:USER_NAME build user:0:0:USER_NAME
User:/Users/USER_NAME:/bin/bash | sudo niload -v passwd /
   

3. Set password

   sudo passwd USER_NAME
   

4. create group

   echo 'USER_NAME:*:505: USER_NAME' | sudo niload -v group /

5. create user directory

   mkdir USER_NAME
   

6. change ownership

   sudo chown USER_NAME:USER_NAME USER_NAME
   

7. make sure you can login

   ssh USER_NAME@localhost
   

As an aside here is how to delete a user via the command line.

1. check the user exists

   dscl . read /users/USER_NAME
   

2. delete the users group

   sudo dscl . delete /groups/USER_NAME
   

3. delete the user

   sudo dscl . delete /users/USER_NAME
   

4. delete user home directory

   sudo rm -rf USER_NAME
   

Taken from

• http://www.mcelhearn.com/article.php?story=2004110211244242
  

• http://mikesalsbury.com/mambo/content/view/130/2/

• http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2006/04/deleting_mac_os_x_users_remote.html

• http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/index.html

• http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60038
  

Labels: OSX create user