Debian Installation Instructions

From Newscloud

Jump to: navigation, search

Try the beta instructions for our new package installer: Debian_Installation_Instructions_v2 Please post your experience/feedback with it to the Developer Forum.

From your SSH shell, the steps below should properly configure your system. For this exercise, we use Debian 3.1 Stable (formerly Sarge). I wrote these instructions using an account at JVDS (StandardLinux1 VPS for $20/mo).

You can also browse our sample configuration files in /static/platforms/debian. We have example files here for php.ini, httpd.conf and custom.conf. We don't recommend copying these but they may be helpful for comparison via diff.

Contents

[edit]

General System Requirements

  • Apache/1.3.33
  • MySQL 4.x
  • PHP 4.x
[edit]

See also

[edit]

Configure the NewsCloud environment

The following procedures demonstrate how to update your Debian packages and configure Apache, MySQL, Smarty, PHP, cron and NewsCloud.

[edit]

Get packages 

#refresh debian packages
apt-get update

#install helpful tools
apt-get install sudo
apt-get install apt-show-versions 

#set up Apache 1.3, MySQL 4.1x, PHP4, GD, PEAR and Smarty
apt-get install apache
apt-get install mysql-server-4.1
apt-get install libapache-mod-php4 php4-mysql php4-gd php4-pear
apt-get install smarty
apt-get install postfix
pear install HTTP HTTP_Download HTTP_Header HTTP_Request
pear install HTML_Common
pear install HTML_QuickForm 

# set up CVS
apt-get install cvs
[edit]

Install NewsCloud 

# get newscloud source from SourceForge
# place code in staging directory /code
mkdir /code
cd /code
# unzip the download to /code
# copy the source code from the staging directory (CVS sync location) to the live Apache Web tree
mkdir /var/www/newscloud
cp -r src/newscloud/ /var/www/
# double check that the .htaccess file now exists in /var/www/newscloud
[edit]

Configure MySQL

# set the MySQL password
mysqladmin -u root password 'yourmysqlpassword'
# Import the sample NewsCloud database into MySQL
mysql -uroot -p
create database newscloud;
quit;
cd /code/newscloud/database
gunzip newscloud.sql.gz
mysql -uroot -p newscloud <  /code/newscloud/database/newscloud.sql
[edit]

Configure Apache

#Set up a custom.conf file in /etc/apache/conf.d
cd /etc/apache/conf.d
nano custom.conf

Listen 80
NameVirtualHost *

# if you use a different domain, be sure to change the domain used in .htaccess in the root as well as in /static/redirect
<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerName newscloud.com
   ServerAlias *.newscloud.com
   DocumentRoot /var/www/newscloud/
	<Directory /var/www/newscloud >
		AllowOverride All
	</Directory>	
</VirtualHost>

# eventually we will change this in the code base
# but in the meantime you can global replace image.commonmedia.org with your own image.yourdomain.com
#<VirtualHost *:80>
#   ServerName image.commonmedia.org
#   ServerAlias image.commonmedia.org	
#   DocumentRoot /var/www/newscloud/image_files/
#</VirtualHost>


# Edit httpd.conf in /etc/apache
cd /etc/apache
nano httpd.conf
# Make the changes below

DocumentRoot /var/www/newscloud
<Directory />
    Options SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
    AllowOverride None
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/newscloud>
    Options Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>
 
 <IfModule mod_alias.c>
#    Alias /icons/ /usr/share/apache/icons/
#    <Directory /usr/share/apache/icons>
#         Options Indexes MultiViews
#         AllowOverride None
#         Order allow,deny
#         Allow from all
#    </Directory>
#    Alias /images/ /usr/share/images/
#   <Directory /usr/share/images>
#        Options MultiViews
#        AllowOverride None
#        Order allow,deny
#        Allow from all
#   </Directory>
</IfModule>

=== Configure PHP ===

# And for PHP 4.x, use:
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

# Edit php.ini in /etc/php4/apache
cd /etc/php4/apache
nano php.ini 
# Uncomment and modify the following lines
include_path = ".:/usr/share/php:/var/www/newscloud"
extension=mysql.so
extension=gd.so

# Set up newscloud.ini include file (changed from earlier versions of separate .inc files)
# To prevent abuse, we use this include files for installation-specific passwords
# and keys. This file should be placed one directory above your root directory
# e.g. If you're web server directory for NewsCloud is /var/www/newscloud. Place this file in /var/www.
cd /var/www/newscloud
cp newscloud.ini ../
cd /var/www
nano newscloud.ini 

[db]
database="newscloud"
username="yourusername"
password="yourpasswd"
hostname=""

[crypt]
pwCrypt="anystrongstring"
apiCrypt="anystrongstring"
// if you want to use edit group amazon features
amazonAssociateId="commonmediaor-20" // or your associate id
amazonKey="youramazonkey"

[api]
apiKey="yourapikey"
[edit]

Configure Cache directory

# set up the cache directory for html and js and css packages

cd /var/www/newscloud 
mkdir cache
chmod 775 /var/www/newscloud/cache
[edit]

Configure Smarty

# Set up Smarty directories

cd /var/www/newscloud 
mkdir static/smarty/templates
mkdir /var/www/smarty
mkdir /var/www/smarty/templates_c
mkdir /var/www/smarty/configs  
mkdir /var/www/smarty/cache
chown www-data:www-data /var/www/smarty/templates_c
chown www-data:www-data /var/www/smarty/cache
chmod 775 /var/www/smarty/templates_c
chmod 775 /var/www/smarty/cache

# Set up Feed Creator Directory
# Feed creator needs a dir called 'rss' at the root of the workspace

cd /var/www/newscloud
mkdir ./rss
chmod 777 ./rss
[edit]

Configure cron 

# Copy sample CRON script to your CRON directory
cp /code/newscloud/src/cron/newscloud.cron /etc/cron.d
# Edit newscloud.cron to include your api key from above or cron jobs will fail
cd /etc/cron.d
nano newscloud.cron

#Restart Apache
/usr/sbin/apachectl restart
[edit]

Miscellaneous

# Remember, the default superuser account in the distribution database
# is newsmonkey@gmail.com with password NewsCloud

# Read more on Administrating NewsCloud
# Read more on Optimizing Your NewsCloud Server

# Configure the newscloud.log file
 > touch /var/log/newscloud.log
 > chown www-data:www-data /var/log/newscloud.log
Retrieved from "http://www.newscloud.org/index.php/Debian_Installation_Instructions"
Personal tools