Slash

Chris,

The instructions worked, however, slash is still giving me
problems when running install-slashsite.

See below.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Nandor [mailto:pudge@...]
> 
> I can fix this, I think.  Although I am not sure if this will fix the
> problem, exactly.  I am concerned that perhaps not all the 
> scripts will
> work properly with PREFIX of other than /usr/local/slash.  So 
> here is my
> idea: please go back to your slash installation directory.  
> Do "cd Slash".
> Then do "perl Makefile.PL".  Then do "make", and "make install".  This
> should install the modules in the correct place.
-----------------

perl Makefile.PL -- success
make             -- success
make install     -- success


> Then please test everything out (what you can; especially stuff like
> install-slashsite, slashd, portald, etc.) and report back; if 
> it works for
> you, then the fix is just to change PREFIX to something else.
------------------

install-slashsite -- fails (see below)

[root@... bin]# ./install-slashsite
Can't locate XML/Parser.pm in @INC (@INC
contains: /usr/lib/perl5/5.00503/i386-linux /usr/lib/perl5/5.00503
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i386-linux /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005
.) at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i386-linux/Slash/Utility.pm line 36.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i386-linux/Slash/Utility.pm line 36.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i386-linux/Slash/DB/Utility.pm line 9.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at
/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i386-linux/Slash/DB.pm line 10.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at ./install-slashsite line 11.
[root@... bin]# 


slashd start -- fails (see below)

NOT Starting slashd: No /usr/local/slash/slash.sites


> I am sorry for asking to put this burden on you, but I do not 
> have time in
> the next few days to set up and test a new install; if you don't get a
> chance, that's OK; I can try sometime next week.
------------------

No problem.  I'm a QA engineer during the week.  So, this kind of
testing doesn't bother me.  If you need me to do more, please let
me know.  Although, I am still very new to slash. :)

-- Mike Gholson

At 10:52 -0800 2001.02.25, Mike Gholson wrote:
>perl Makefile.PL -- success
>make             -- success
>make install     -- success

Good.


>> Then please test everything out (what you can; especially stuff like
>> install-slashsite, slashd, portald, etc.) and report back; if
>> it works for
>> you, then the fix is just to change PREFIX to something else.
>------------------
>
>install-slashsite -- fails (see below)
>
>[root@... bin]# ./install-slashsite
>Can't locate XML/Parser.pm in @INC (@INC
>contains: /usr/lib/perl5/5.00503/i386-linux /usr/lib/perl5/5.00503
>/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i386-linux /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005
>.) at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i386-linux/Slash/Utility.pm line 36.

Is XML::Parser installed?


>slashd start -- fails (see below)
>
>NOT Starting slashd: No /usr/local/slash/slash.sites

I believe slash.sites is created when the site is created.  If
install-slashsite does not create a site, there are no sites for slashd to
run against.


>No problem.  I'm a QA engineer during the week.  So, this kind of
>testing doesn't bother me.  If you need me to do more, please let
>me know.  Although, I am still very new to slash. :)

:)  Thanks.  It looks like it is all OK, except for the lack of
XML::Parser.  It could be that when you ran Bundle::Slash, you did not have
expat installed, so XML::Parser failed.  Re-run the install of
Bundle::Slash (it will safely skip anything already installed).  See the
note in INSTALL about expat.

Thanks,

-- 
Chris Nandor                      pudge@...    http://pudge.net/
Open Source Development Network    pudge@...     http://osdn.com/

Chris (and others watching),

Here's the latest on this venture.  Apologies for the delay.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Nandor [mailto:pudge@...]
> 
> At 10:52 -0800 2001.02.25, Mike Gholson wrote:
> >perl Makefile.PL -- success
> >make             -- success
> >make install     -- success
> 
> Good.
> 
> 
> >> Then please test everything out (what you can; especially 
> stuff like
> >> install-slashsite, slashd, portald, etc.) and report back; if
> >> it works for
> >> you, then the fix is just to change PREFIX to something else.
> >------------------
> >
> >install-slashsite -- fails (see below)
> >
> >[root@... bin]# ./install-slashsite
> >Can't locate XML/Parser.pm in @INC (@INC
> >contains: /usr/lib/perl5/5.00503/i386-linux /usr/lib/perl5/5.00503
> >/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i386-linux 
> /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005
> >.) at 
> /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i386-linux/Slash/Utility.pm line 36.
> 
> Is XML::Parser installed?
---------------

It was trying to install.  But, it saw errors.


> >slashd start -- fails (see below)
> >
> >NOT Starting slashd: No /usr/local/slash/slash.sites
> 
> I believe slash.sites is created when the site is created.  If
> install-slashsite does not create a site, there are no sites 
> for slashd to
> run against.
--------------

Yep.


> :)  Thanks.  It looks like it is all OK, except for the lack of
> XML::Parser.  It could be that when you ran Bundle::Slash, 
> you did not have
> expat installed, so XML::Parser failed.  Re-run the install of
> Bundle::Slash (it will safely skip anything already 
> installed).  See the
> note in INSTALL about expat.
-----------------

I tried to install Bundle::Slash and kept failing during the 
XML section.  Kept seeing the 'missing parser.pm @INC' error.

I then tried a manual install of XML-Parser from the link supplied
in the Install doc: http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=XML-Parser

That failed because it needed expat.  So, that was downloaded
from SourceForge.

Cutting story short:  After installing these two packages manually,
the install-slashsite file worked w/out error.

My opinion:  Using CPAN wasn't working correctly.  Upon manual
install of the files, it seems to be working.  Could it be my
selection of CPAN download sites?  Possibly timing out or lack
of all CPAN modules?  What's a good CPAN site to use for the
Slash distribution files?

[m]

Mike Gholson wrote:

> My opinion:  Using CPAN wasn't working correctly.  Upon manual
> install of the files, it seems to be working.

Well, more exactly is the dependance of a CPAN module (XML::Parser) upon
a non-Perl component as expat. So, you positively first need to install
expat.

This may be better explained in the INSTALL docs (including URLs for
expat), while we wait for major distributions to include it by default,
if ever.

-- 
Alessio F. Bragadini		alessio@...
APL Financial Services		http://village.albourne.com
Nicosia, Cyprus		 	phone: +357-2-755750

"It is more complicated than you think"
		-- The Eighth Networking Truth from RFC 1925

At 23:41 -0800 2001.02.28, Mike Gholson wrote:
>I then tried a manual install of XML-Parser from the link supplied
>in the Install doc: http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=XML-Parser
>
>That failed because it needed expat.  So, that was downloaded
>from SourceForge.

Yes, this is noted in the INSTALL.  Perhaps not prominently enough, though.


>Cutting story short:  After installing these two packages manually,
>the install-slashsite file worked w/out error.

Good.


>My opinion:  Using CPAN wasn't working correctly.  Upon manual
>install of the files, it seems to be working.  Could it be my
>selection of CPAN download sites?  Possibly timing out or lack
>of all CPAN modules?  What's a good CPAN site to use for the
>Slash distribution files?

I am not sure, as I don't know what problem you were having with CPAN.


At 10:38 +0200 2001.03.01, Alessio Bragadini wrote:
>This may be better explained in the INSTALL docs (including URLs for
>expat), while we wait for major distributions to include it by default,
>if ever.

There is a URL for expat in INSTALL.  But it is toward the end, where the
required modules are listed, not in the part about using CPAN.pm.

-- 
Chris Nandor                      pudge@...    http://pudge.net/
Open Source Development Network    pudge@...     http://osdn.com/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alessio Bragadini [mailto:alessio@...]
>
> Well, more exactly is the dependance of a CPAN module 
> (XML::Parser) upon
> a non-Perl component as expat. So, you positively first need 
> to install
> expat.
----------------

Yes, after installing expat, things moved forward.  But, I don't
remember seeing a section about the manual install of expat in the
installation instructions.  I'm using a combination of two instructions
- one from the tarball distribution and the other from bender.  I
definately like the bender-install method.

This leads me to the next question.

Why two installations?  Why doesn't slash come default with the source
code for all installations?  Seems like that would be easier to support.



> This may be better explained in the INSTALL docs (including URLs for
> expat), while we wait for major distributions to include it 
> by default, if ever.
---------------

My lack of understanding about the distribution process through CPAN
prevents me from coming up with a valid point on this.  But, what does
it take to add something like this to your Bundle::Slash module?

-- Mike

At 08:57 -0800 2001.03.01, Mike Gholson wrote:
>Yes, after installing expat, things moved forward.  But, I don't
>remember seeing a section about the manual install of expat in the
>installation instructions.  I'm using a combination of two instructions
>- one from the tarball distribution and the other from bender.  I
>definately like the bender-install method.

It is in the bender INSTALL.  It is under REQUIREMENTS.  Grep for "expat"
if you don't believe me.  :-)  I've added a note under the section
describing the CPAN installation to remind you to look at REQUIREMENTS.


>This leads me to the next question.
>
>Why two installations?  Why doesn't slash come default with the source
>code for all installations?  Seems like that would be easier to support.

I am not sure what you are referring to by "two installations".


>> This may be better explained in the INSTALL docs (including URLs for
>> expat), while we wait for major distributions to include it
>> by default, if ever.
>---------------
>
>My lack of understanding about the distribution process through CPAN
>prevents me from coming up with a valid point on this.  But, what does
>it take to add something like this to your Bundle::Slash module?

It cannot be done, unless I write my own module that builds and installs
expat, which I am not going to do.  :)

-- 
Chris Nandor                      pudge@...    http://pudge.net/
Open Source Development Network    pudge@...     http://osdn.com/

At 19:44 +0100 2001.03.01, Jean-Philippe Moins wrote:
>I agree w/ other's opinions I have read in the 26 Feb 2001 daily bundle:
> - Concepts are unclear (and names resemble a lot)
>   For example: assuming DBI::Password provides some key-ring function,
>then why would I want to "add other virtual users" ??

I am not sure what the confusion here is.  You may have more than one Slash
site on a machine.  Also, DBIx::Password is not slash-specific, and you
might use it for any number of other database configs for any number of
applications.


> - This interactive install shell is nice when you install once, and it
>works. In all other circumstances, you soon regret a config file & emacs
>(ok, vi too).

You can always edit the file directly, as long as you know Perl.

-- 
Chris Nandor                      pudge@...    http://pudge.net/
Open Source Development Network    pudge@...     http://osdn.com/

On Tue, 27 Feb 2001 06:23:04 -0500, David Tansey said:

>Hi,
> 
> I am a slash newbie and a non-static web site newbie... so when i took
> on slash on a debian woody system it was a big deal for me. I got pretty
> far, but when i tried to start apache i got "invalid command" errors in
> my httpd.conf file. Should I be asking "why?" or should I be trying
> slash on something less developmental.. like debian 2.1 or something?
> 
> Any help for a newbie would be great. I am pretty sure i followed the
> INSTALL directions properly, though i may have lost something between
> the INSTALL.debian and the INSTALL files. But it doesn't seem that if i
> didn't install some perl module apache wouldn't start.

Slash handles dynamism 2 ways.	One is really through static .shtml files (if
you don't count SSI as dynamic) that are generated by the .pl files, and the
other is by hitting the .pl files themselves.  example, go to any slashsite's
index.pl, topics.pl, users,pl and compare it to index.shtml, topics.shtml and
so on.	So don't let non-static sites scare you.  Just think of it as static
*for each user*  :)

I would have to see your httpd.conf to know why apache gives that error.  You
can also run /usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl -h    for info on doing syntax
config test.  It's very helpful.  I see no reason slash wouldn't run on 2.2,
that's what my site runs on (but I didn't install the OS, I don't own the
hardware).  If you want some help, just tar up your configs for apache, slash,
and a small doc what you've done and mail to me.  I can probably get back to
you wthinin 24 hours.

Greg

At 10:30 +0100 2001.02.26, Jean-Philippe Moins wrote:
>Chris Nandor <pudge@...> wrote:
>> >
>> >Perhaps you want to add a note to the Requirements section in INSTALL.
>>
>> What is the "almost"?  Is that referring to the problem with PREFIX?  If
>> so, then great, since that should be unrelated to "install".  I'll add the
>> note to INSTALL.
>
>I confirm install v. 4.x seems to be required. Here is the "almost":
>
>Now  bin/install-slashsite is failing. Basically, the trace deals with
>all perl Slash/DB files.
>	=> I tracked that DB.pm gets driver name '0' instead of 'mysql'; I
>hardcoded it, so that I could install completely.
>	=> Now my slash site is running, except slashd fails to start
>(complains about its inability to connect to the DB)
>
>I feel a lot of pain using DBIx::Password. I happen to be stupid, and
>the configuration dialog of DBIx:Password is really cryptic to me
>(besides, I don't understand the need for this module, anyway).
>It installs ok and all, but Slash seems to be unable to connect. (I am
>not networking anything, and I install as root. Older Slash codes run
>ok).

Yes, all of your pain appears to be regarding DBIx::Password.  Yes, I think
we could use better documentation for it.  Maybe Brian can give some?

-- 
Chris Nandor                      pudge@...    http://pudge.net/
Open Source Development Network    pudge@...     http://osdn.com/

At 10:30 AM 2/26/2001 +0100, you wrote:
>Chris Nandor <pudge@...> wrote:
> > >
> > >Perhaps you want to add a note to the Requirements section in INSTALL.
> >
> > What is the "almost"?  Is that referring to the problem with PREFIX?  If
> > so, then great, since that should be unrelated to "install".  I'll add the
> > note to INSTALL.
>
>I confirm install v. 4.x seems to be required. Here is the "almost":
>
>Now  bin/install-slashsite is failing. Basically, the trace deals with
>all perl Slash/DB files.
>         => I tracked that DB.pm gets driver name '0' instead of 'mysql'; I
>hardcoded it, so that I could install completely.
>         => Now my slash site is running, except slashd fails to start
>(complains about its inability to connect to the DB)
>
>I feel a lot of pain using DBIx::Password. I happen to be stupid, and
>the configuration dialog of DBIx:Password is really cryptic to me
>(besides, I don't understand the need for this module, anyway).
>It installs ok and all, but Slash seems to be unable to connect. (I am
>not networking anything, and I install as root. Older Slash codes run
>ok).
>
>Has someone a foolproof guide to DBIx:Password ?

If you look at the file "Password.pm" that is installed into your perl when 
you install DBIx (mine is at

/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/DBIx/Password.pm

) you can see the password information is there in plaintext.

an example:

my $virtual1 = {
         'domainhurdercom' => {
                 'username' => 'domainhurdercom',
                 'password' => 'notforyoutoknow,
                 'port' => '',
                 'database' => 'domianhurdercom',
                 'attributes' => {},
                 'connect' => 'DBI:mysql:database=domainhurdercom;host=sql1',
                 'driver' => 'mysql',
                 'host' => 'sql1'
         },


You can, if you're careful, edit that file to add/change/delete
dbi password accounts in it. For me, atleast, it was easier then
re-installing the damned thing each time I wanted to make a change and then
having to retype all the account information back in again and again.

  Shane

Chris Nandor wrote:
> Yes, all of your pain appears to be regarding DBIx::Password.  Yes, I think
> we could use better documentation for it.  Maybe Brian can give some?
What did you find difficult to understand about the install of the
module?
What tripped you up?

	-Brian

At 09:35 -0800 2001.02.26, Brian Aker wrote:
>Chris Nandor wrote:
>> Yes, all of your pain appears to be regarding DBIx::Password.  Yes, I think
>> we could use better documentation for it.  Maybe Brian can give some?
>What did you find difficult to understand about the install of the
>module?
>What tripped you up?

Well, first of all, I think some people might get easily confused with
virtual user vs. database user.  Also, the module does not contain any
information about adding more virtual users.  I don't recall if this is in
the README, but it is not in the module POD.  *I* know this stuff, but
others won't.  Also, it would be nice if, as some have said, you didn't
have to re-enter all the data for all the virtual users each time you ran
the Makefile.PL, but I know of no easy way around that.

-- 
Chris Nandor                      pudge@...    http://pudge.net/
Open Source Development Network    pudge@...     http://osdn.com/

On Mon, 26 Feb 2001, Chris Nandor wrote:

> Well, first of all, I think some people might get easily confused with
> virtual user vs. database user.  Also, the module does not contain any
> information about adding more virtual users.  I don't recall if this is in
> the README, but it is not in the module POD.  *I* know this stuff, but
> others won't.  Also, it would be nice if, as some have said, you didn't
> have to re-enter all the data for all the virtual users each time you ran
> the Makefile.PL, but I know of no easy way around that.

I think throughout the documentation it would be useful to carefully
differentiate between the diverse kinds of users:

mysql users
DBIx::Password virtual users
system users (owning files, running slashd)

as well as
authors
slash users

Perhaps a glossary somewhere would help, along iwth consistent terminology
about the different kinds of users?

At 09:28 -0900 2001.02.26, Nathan Vonnahme wrote:
>On Mon, 26 Feb 2001, Chris Nandor wrote:
>
>> Well, first of all, I think some people might get easily confused with
>> virtual user vs. database user.  Also, the module does not contain any
>> information about adding more virtual users.  I don't recall if this is in
>> the README, but it is not in the module POD.  *I* know this stuff, but
>> others won't.  Also, it would be nice if, as some have said, you didn't
>> have to re-enter all the data for all the virtual users each time you ran
>> the Makefile.PL, but I know of no easy way around that.
>
>I think throughout the documentation it would be useful to carefully
>differentiate between the diverse kinds of users:

Are you talking about all the Slash docs?  As far as I know, they are
differntiated.  If you see a place they are not, please let me know.

>mysql users
>DBIx::Password virtual users
>system users (owning files, running slashd)
>
>as well as
>authors
>slash users
>
>Perhaps a glossary somewhere would help, along iwth consistent terminology
>about the different kinds of users?

Again, I think the terminology in the Slash docs is consistent.  However, a
glossary might be helpful.  Right now we don't really have a general place
for this kind of information, unfortunately.  I am not sure what kind of
document is needed.  The organization and purpose must be decided before a
document could be worked on.

-- 
Chris Nandor                      pudge@...    http://pudge.net/
Open Source Development Network    pudge@...     http://osdn.com/

dan flickinger wrote:

I don't have all the answers, but I'll answer what I know.

> (2) Site sections
> What exactly is the difference between article based and issue based? (or

If you find an answer to this.. let me know.  I don't know either, it's
been buggin me.

> web page. At bare minimum, which block do I need to change in order to get
> each section to have a logo at the top right? (like on slashdot)

The header block is the one that holds the html for the logo.  Just
rename (copy) the block and edit.. see this for a reference:

http://slashcode.com/article.pl?sid=01/02/15/1931221&mode=thread

jh

-- 
Jason Huckaby

Maine Vertical
62 Lawn Ave.
Portland, ME 04103
(207) 415-3142

>  > (2) Site sections
>  > What exactly is the difference between article based and issue based? (or
>  
>  If you find an answer to this.. let me know.  I don't know either, it's
>  been buggin me.

I swear I answer this once a week to someone ;)

Issue Mode and Article Mode is a feature that I never really used on Slashdot.
It was based on the idea that some publications are "Article" based: Slashdot
for exmaple.  Each article is a single unit, and there really is no connection
between them.  Other publications are "Issue" based... say, Time magazine. 
An "Issue" is a bunch of articles, connected by the day that they were
released.

The intent behind this was to allow Slash to have more flexible homepage layout
for "Issue" based publications, as well as improved navigation tools for
finding
other articles that are all in the same issue.

None of that was every fully implemented.  Really, the only thing that article
mode and issue mode affect is the Older Stuff box.  Article Mode creates the
link to "Older Articles" and Issue Mode creates the link to "Yesterday's News".

Hope that makes sense.	

-- 
Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda | malda@... | http://CmdrTaco.net
'Sometimes  when I pick up the guitar, I'm stunned at how well I play.	
But I'm equally good at lots of other things.'	    -- Townshend