aBinaryMind

Redmine installation guide

lexhung — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:14:52 +0000

This is a guide to install Redmine (svn trunk) on Ubuntu 9.10.

The assumed location of Redmine is /srv/redmine

Phase 1: Setup Redmine

Step 1
Install required packages.

$ sudo apt-get install ruby rake ruby-dev rubygems libmysqlclient-dev libopenssl-ruby

Step 2
Check out Redmine trunk.

$ cd /srv
$ sudo svn co http://redmine.rubyforge.org/svn/trunk redmine

Step 3
Install required ruby gems:

$ sudo gem install rails mongrel mongrel_cluster daemons mysql actionmailer

Note 1: We may need to update Rails RAILS_GEM_VERSION in file [redmine]/config/environment.rb to reflect actual version of Rails gems installed.

Note 2: We may need to create soft link for rails & mongrel executables for convenient

$ sudo ln -s /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin/mongrel_rails /usr/local/bin/
$ sudo ln -s /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin/rails /usr/local/bin/
$ sudo ln -s /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin/mongrel_cluster_ctl /usr/local/bin/

Step 4
Create mysql database

$ mysql -u root -p
# Enter mysql root password when prompted

Run the following code in mysql, substitute your own database name, password, …

CREATE DATABASE redmine character SET utf8;
CREATE user 'redmine'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'my_password';
GRANT ALL privileges ON redmine.* TO 'redmine'@'localhost';

Step 5
Create/Update database parameters in [redmine]/config/database.yml accordingly to prior step info.

production:
adapter: mysql
database: redmine
host: localhost
username: redmine
password: my_password
encoding: utf8

Step 6
Initialize the database

# Initialize session hash
$ sudo rake config/initializers/session_store.rb

# Load db schema
$ sudo rake db:migrate RAILS_ENV=”production”

$ sudo rake redmine:load_default_data RAILS_ENV=”production”

Step 7
Create redmine user & setting up directory permission

# Context: root:[redmine_dir]
$ sudo useradd redmine
$ sudo mkdir tmp public/plugin_assets
$ sudo chown -R redmine:redmine files log tmp
$ sudo chmod -R 755 files log tmp public

Step 8
Testing the application server

$ sudo ruby script/server -e production

The server is listening on [http://localhost:3000].

Phase 2: Setup Apache & Mongrel Cluster

Step 1
Create mongrel cluster configuration files for Redmine.

$ sudo mongrel_rails cluster::configure -e production -p 3000 -N 3 -c /srv/redmine -a 127.0.0.1 --user redmine --group redmine

# Test mongrel_installation
$ sudo mongrel_rails cluster::start

Step 2
Create apache virtual host file at /etc/apache/sites-available/

ServerName your.virtual-host.com
DocumentRoot /srv/redmine

AllowOverride FileInfo Indexes

RewriteEngine On

# Redirect all non-static requests to Mongrel
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/%{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^/(.*)$ balancer://redmine_cluster%{REQUEST_URI} [P,QSA,L]

ProxyPassReverse / balancer://redmine_cluster
ProxyPreserveHost on
BalancerMember http://localhost:3000
BalancerMember http://localhost:3001
BalancerMember http://localhost:3002
Order deny,allow
Allow from all

# Block access to .svn directories

ErrorDocument 403 /404.html
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
Satisfy All

Step 3
Turn on the virtual host and required modules

$ sudo a2enmod proxy
$ sudo a2enmod proxy_http
$ sudo a2enmod proxy_balancer
$ sudo a2ensite

# Restart web server
$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Phase 3: Surviving the reboot & G!Mail SMTP

Step 1
Create global mongrel_cluster configuration

$ sudo mkdir /etc/mongrel_cluster
$ cd /etc/mongrel_cluster
$ sudo ln -s /srv/redmine/config/mongrel_cluster.yml /etc/mongrel_cluster/redmine.yml

Step 2
Update the services

$ cd /etc/init.d
$ sudo cp /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel_cluster-1.0.5/resources/mongrel_cluster /etc/init.d/
$ sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster
$ sudo /usr/sbin/update-rc.d -f mongrel_cluster defaults

Step 3
Configure G!Mail

$ sudo ruby script/plugin install git://github.com/collectiveidea/action_mailer_optional_tls.git

# File: config/email.yml
production:
delivery_method: :smtp
smtp_settings:
tls: true
address: "smtp.gmail.com"
port: '587'
domain: "smtp.gmail.com"
authentication: :plain
user_name: "your_email@gmail.com"
password: "your_password"

References

http://www.redmine.org/wiki/redmine/RedmineInstall
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=674598
http://azureusonrails.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl?Install/Mongrel_Cluster_With_Apache_2.2
http://redmineblog.com/articles/setup-redmine-to-send-email-using-gmail/

Nguyên Phó Chủ tịch nước: Quá bất công với Ba Sương!

lexhung — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:54:38 +0000

Đọc những dòng này …

Cô ấy duy trì quỹ đó không phải để cho riêng mình tiêu xài, cũng không hề có gì dấu giếm để phục vụ cho những lợi ích cá nhân

… và những dòng này…

Tôi biết cô ấy không lập gia đình, cả cuộc đời dành mọi tâm huyết lo lắng cho Nông trường, cho cuộc sống biết bao người nông dân, nguyên cái đó thôi cũng khiến chúng ta phải suy nghĩ về động cơ việc làm của cô ấy

…liệu chúng ta có thể làm ngơ?

via Nguyên Phó Chủ tịch nước: Quá bất công với Ba Sương! – Chính trị – VietNamNet.

When to Choose Drupal | PracticalWeb Ltd

lexhung — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:25:32 +0000

A very informative post about when to choose Drupal for a combination of project & people.

Drupal is a very flexible CMS which can be extended to provide the functionality needed for may different types of website.

I’ve worked on a few projects where I was brought in for my Drupal expertise, but in the end felt that Drupal wasn’t a good solution in these particular circumstances. So I’ve been pondering what sorts of projects is Drupal best suited to.

I’m not thinking about small brochureware websites that might be best managed using WordPress, Joomla or the like as almost all my experience is of larger projects where the alternatives are frameworks such as Symfony, Rails, Struts etc – or pure custom code.

I’m know it’s possible to run a successful Drupal project that doesn’t have all the good points and does have some bad points from the lists below – I’ve done it.

But if anyone has successfully delivered a regularly upgraded, high traffic, fully tested web application with inflexible requirements using a large team of OO programmers with little prior Drupal experience – well I’d love to hear about it.
via When to Choose Drupal | PracticalWeb Ltd.

Automatic virtual host with Apache

lexhung — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:35:02 +0000

When developing with CakePHP, we can setup Apache to automatically redirect a domain to a specific CakePHP application.

We can set computer’s aliases using hosts file. Apache will automatically map aliases to different DocumentRoot:

app1.mybox.com -> /var/www/cakephp/app1.mybox.com/webroot
app2.somewhere.com -> /var/www/cakephp/app2.somewhere.com/webroot

Step 1: Enable the mod_vhost_alias:

$ sudo a2enmod vhost_alias

Step 2: Replace the DocumentRoot statement in default virtualhost configuration file with two lines:

UseCanonicalName Off
VirtualDocumentRoot /var/www/cakephp/%0/webroot

(If you use a different virtualhost, make sure that you’re editing the right configuration file)

Step 3: However, the mod_rewrite doesn’t play nice with mod_vhost_alias. We need to edit the .htaccess file in {APP}/webroot folder.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase / # << Add this line
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

Step 4: Restart Apache.

sudo service apache2 restart

Below is my default virtual host configuration for your reference:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

UseCanonicalName Off
VirtualDocumentRoot /var/www/cakephp/%0/webroot

<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Directory>

ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
LogLevel warn

CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
VirtualHost>

How to hide files in Nautilus

lexhung — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:05:25 +0000

In Linux, files which name start by a dot ‘.’ are hidden by default in most file managers. However, there are cases when we want to hide dot-file from our view. For examples:

Desktop folder in our home folder.
Dropbox
lost+found directory at the partition root
…

In Nautilus (default GNOME file manager) there’s a way. Add a file named

.hidden

with each line is the name of the file/folder you want to hide.

For example, if you want to hide Desktop from home folder you may type this command in the terminal:

$ echo "Desktop" > ~/.hidden

Note: This trick only works in Nautilus. It won’t work in Konqueror or Dolphin. I don’t know if it works in other file managers or not.

The natural evolution from side project to full-time business

lexhung — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:20:54 +0000

Some have doubted our advice that you should hold on to your day job and start something on the side. They argue building a business requires such persistent effort that you need to devote all your time to it to do it right.

And it’s true that building a business requires plenty of time and effort. But the idea that you need to quit your job to do it right is misguided. If you quit your job, you shift everything. You don’t gain time, you lose it. You put a shot clock on your business. You box yourself into a position where you have to profit immediately or the whole thing goes under. You’ve got to make it work now or give up forever.

Hanging on to your day job gives you a longer period of time to build your idea. It lets you give a sustained effort over time. There’s no get rich quick option. You build it slowly, one day at a time.

Yes, you need to find time to do both your side business and your normal gig. But there’s always enough time if you spend it right. Instead of watching TV or playing Grand Theft Auto, work on your idea. Instead of going to bed at 10, go to bed at 11. We’re not talking about all-nighters or 16 hour days – we’re talking about squeezing out a few extra hours a week. That’s enough time to get something going and then keep giving it gas.

Let your side business evolve into a full-time business naturally. Go for organic growth. Start as a side project. Build it slowly. Keep putting time into it. As pickup of your project grows, then you can justify devoting more resources to it. Eventually, if everything goes according to plan, you’ll be able to quit your job and devote all your time to it (if that’s what you want). But doing so right out of the gate is putting the cart before the horse.

Think how evolution happens in nature. There aren’t huge leaps. Things incrementally change. That’s the model to shoot for.

via The natural evolution from side project to full-time business – (37signals).

parsedatetime

lexhung — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:27:48 +0000

parsedatetime is able to parse, for example, the following:

August 25th, 2008
25 Aug 2008
Aug 25 5pm
5pm August 25
next saturday
tomorrow
next thursday at 4pm
at 4pm
eod
tomorrow eod
eod tuesday
eoy
eom
in 5 minutes
5 minutes from now
5 hours before now
2 hours before noon

via parsedatetime – Google Code.

gnome-colors

lexhung — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:30:34 +0000

The GNOME-Colors is a project that aims to make the GNOME desktop as elegant, consistent and colorful as possible.

The current goal is to allow full color customization of themes, icons, GDM logins and splash screens. There are already five full color-schemes available; Brave (Blue), Human (Orange), Wine (Red), Noble (Purple) and Wise (Green).

GNOME-Colors is mostly inspired/based on Tango, GNOME, Elementary, Tango-Generator and many other open-source projects.

via gnome-colors – Google Code.

P2: The New Prologue

lexhung — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:10:38 +0000

Today we’re extra-pleased to introduce you to a new theme that reinvents what it means to group blog on WordPress.com.

We call it P2 (in the style of K2, the update on the classic Kubrick theme), and it’s an extensive revamp of Prologue, the brainchild of last year’s winter retreat.

Prologue broke ground when it brought microblogging to WordPress.com. Now it’s cooler, faster, sleeker, and ready for 2009 and beyond:

via P2: The New Prologue « Blog « WordPress.com.

Rename files from upper case filename to lower case (in bash)

lexhung — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:10:38 +0000

Here is a way to rename files in bash, from upper case filenames to lowercase ones

for i in *; do mv $i `echo $i | tr [:upper:] [:lower:]`; done

via Rename files from upper case filename to lower case (in bash).