Install of trac + subversion

May 17

didierProject management, ubuntu , No Comments

Step 1 : first trac installation story (you can go directly to step 3 if you don’t like install nightmares)

Here is the whole story of my trac install on a virtual ubuntu machine. Not the easy and perfect way, but I think it would be useful to see the errors too ;-)

  1. Install of trac via synaptic
  2. Followed instruction of this page : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Trac (/etc/apache2/conf.d/trac.conf + /var/www/projects/index.cgi). I also used http://trac.edgewall.org/wiki/TracModPython. The most useful and accurate is actually http://trac.edgewall.org/wiki/TracUbuntuMultipleProjects
  3. Install of perl in apache (libapache2-mod-perl2 in synaptic) to enable the index.cgi script
  4. $ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart => "… waiting Syntax error on line 31 of /etc/apache2/conf.d/trac.conf: Invalid command ‘PythonInterpreter’, perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration"
  5. So I installed libapache2-mod-python (synaptic). Yes I know I read to fast the doc, it was mentioned.
  6. Point browser to http://127.0.0.1/projects/ -> Internal server error (500). In /var/log/apache2/error.log I have " OSError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: ‘/var/trac’ (dir specified in index.cgi)
  7. $ sudo trac-admin /usr/share/trac/htdocs initenv (answer questions). I set a distant svn repository : http:/subversion.assembla.com/svn/myproject. This is not supported. I had to change it to my local repository later.
  8. Notice the config file path : /usr/share/trac/htdocs/conf/trac.ini
  9. $ tracd –port 8000 /usr/share/trac/htdocs
  10. http://localhost:8000/htdocs => "TracError: The user <currentUser> requires read _and_ write permissions to the database file /usr/share/trac/htdocs/db/trac.db and the directory it is located in." (probably, I’d rather install trac from user, no root, in my home dir ?)
  11. $ cd /usr/share/trac/htdocs/; sudo chown -R currentUser.currrentUser db
  12. Again : $ tracd –port 8000 /usr/share/trac/htdocs
  13. Bravo ! Trac displayed… (http://localhost:8000/htdocs)
  14. mmhh… Warning : Warning: Can’t synchronize with the repository (/usr/share/trac/htdocs/http:/subversion.assembla.com/svn/myproject does not appear to be a Subversion repository.). Look in the Trac log for more information.". This is because trac doesn’t support distant svn repository. Ok install subversion locally…
  15. I was still stuck with a 500 server error if I try to load http://localhost/projects/.
  16. I had to correct the /etc/apache2/conf.d/trac.conf : Replace "/var/trac" by "/usr/share/trac" in the line "PythonOption TracEnvParentDir /var/trac" (you must have "PythonOption TracEnvParentDir /usr/share/trac" to match the dir I specified with the trac-admin initenv command in step 7). I had to correct also the index.cgi file (replace ‘my $trac_path = "/var/trac";’ by ‘my $trac_path = "/usr/share/trac/htdocs";’
  17. Then, when I click on my project link (url=http://localhost/projects/htdocs), I have a trac error : "The user www-data requires read _and_ write permissions to the database file /usr/share/trac/htdocs/db/trac.db and the directory it is located in.". It’s the same error I had when I ran the standalone server (tracd), but now it’s apache the process owner. So I made "$ cd /usr/share/trac/htdocs/; sudo chown -R www-data db", and it made the trick.
  18. I deleted /var/www/projects/index.cgi which is totally useless.

Step 2 : Issues left to fix :

  1. I still have the error about the missing subversion repository. Solution : install a subversion repository. Well explained here : http://trac.edgewall.org/wiki/TracUbuntuMultipleProjects
  2. Another issue is that the url of my project is ended by "/htdocs", and it should be http://localhost/projects/myprojectname (the error was made when I ran the command "$ sudo trac-admin /usr/share/trac/htdocs initenv". It should have been : "$ sudo trac-admin /usr/share/trac/<myproject> initenv"
  3. Authentication (i saw a plugin authManager…)

Step 3 : Long story made short and install ok

NB. I choose to install trac home in /var/trac instead of /usr/share/trac ; and /var/svn as the root dir for all subversion repositories. To correct my first try, I mainly followed http://trac.edgewall.org/wiki/TracUbuntuMultipleProjects wich I found to be the best ressource.

  1. Install trac (and modules trac-accountmanager, trac-customfieldadmin, trac-email2trac, trac-mastertickets, trac-wysiwyg, trac-xmlrpc…) + perl apache module + python apache module + libapache2-svn (to have dav_svn module)
  2. Create /etc/apache2/conf.d/trac.conf (see mine below)
  3. % sudo mkdir /var/trac
  4. % sudo chown www-data:www-data /var/trac
  5. % sudo mkdir /var/svn
  6. % sudo mkdir /var/svn/YourProjectNameHere
  7. % sudo svnadmin create /var/svn/YourProjectNameHere
  8. % sudo chown -R www-data /var/svn/YourProjectNameHere
  9. % sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 sudo restart
  10. sudo trac-admin /var/trac/YourProjectNameHere initenv
  11. sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/trac/YourProjectNameHere
  12. http://localhost/projects
  13. Take a breath !
  14. % sudo htpasswd -c /var/trac/.htpasswd admin [choose a password - The path is specified in /etc/apache2/conf.d/trac.conf]
  15. % sudo htpasswd /var/trac/.htpasswd <someotheruser>
  16. You owe your cup of coffee now !

My /etc/apache2/conf.d/trac.conf


# Trac project directory (for project listing)

        AllowOverride None
        Options Indexes +ExecCGI MultiViews FollowSymLinks
        AddHandler cgi-script .cgi
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all                                                          

# use the following for one authorization for all projects                      

    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Trac Project authentication"
    AuthUserFile /var/trac/.htpasswd
    Require valid-user                                                          

## Using multiple projects

   SetHandler mod_python
   PythonInterpreter main_interpreter
   PythonHandler trac.web.modpython_frontend
   # For multiple projects
   PythonOption TracEnvParentDir /var/trac
   PythonOption TracUriRoot /projects

Customisation

  • sudo trac-admin /var/trac/myProjectName/
  • (in trac console) permission add admin TRAC_ADMIN
  • permission list admin
  • quit
  • Then reload trac and you must have a new "admin" tab in the right upper side
  • Enable the plugins in Admin > Plugins
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Task/project management services or apps

Dec 16

didierProject management, applications No Comments

  • Doit.im – Do it Anywhere, Anytime! A GTD software. GTD + Air application with cross-platform synchronization (by a server), support delegation feature. All tasks can be synchronize with Google Calendar. Clean and usable GUI.
  • LogMyTask : No features for Project management (due date, client, delegation…). Time tracking (you and coworkers), team and task management. On line service.  “No matter how well we schedule our tasks, we end up doing something that is not in our schedule. More than that, we cannot schedule everything that we are going to do. So, most of us at the end of the day ask – Where the heck has my time gone? Well, that is what LogMyTask answers. LogMyTask is a collaboration-friendly time tracking and task management software.” Track your time and allow to know what coworkers are doing (real time).
  • qdPM : Open source (PHP/MySQL – Symfony) project management. Allows to manage projects, users, tasks, reports. Simple and efficient. Projects can be of different types (fixed price, time billed). The application is localised (with i18n of Symfony)
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