Prerequisite Software

+Prerequisite Software

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Prerequisite Software

by Joel Aufrecht

OpenACS docs are written by the named authors, and may be edited by OpenACS documentation staff.

OpenACS requires, at a minimum, an operating system, database, and webserver to work. Many additional programs, such as a build environment, Mail Transport Agent, and source control system, are also needed for a fully effective installation. -

Table�2.2.�Version Compatibility Matrix

OpenACS Version		3.2.5	4.5	4.6.2	4.6.3	5.0	5.1	5.2
AOLserver	3	Yes	No
	3.3+ad13	Maybe	Yes					No
	3.3oacs1	Maybe	Yes					No
	3.4.2	No
	3.4.2oacs1	Maybe		Yes		No
	3.5.5	Maybe		Yes		No
	4.0	Maybe		Yes
PostgreSQL	7.0	Yes	No
	7.2	Maybe	Yes			No
	7.3.2 - 7.3.x	No			Yes
	7.4	No				Yes
	8.0	No					Maybe	Yes
Oracle	8.1.6	Maybe	Yes
	8.1.7	Maybe	Yes
	9i	No				Yes
10g	�	No						Maybe

The OpenACS installation instructions assume the operating system and build environment are installed. +

Table�2.2.�Version Compatibility Matrix

OpenACS Version		3.2.5	4.5	4.6.2	4.6.3	5.0	5.1	5.2
AOLserver	3	Yes	No
	3.3+ad13	Maybe	Yes					No
	3.3oacs1	Maybe	Yes					No
	3.4.4	No
	3.4.4oacs1	Maybe		Yes		No
	3.5.5	Maybe		Yes		No
	4.0	Maybe		Yes
PostgreSQL	7.0	Yes	No
	7.2	Maybe	Yes			No
	7.3.2 - 7.3.x	No			Yes
	7.4	No				Yes
	8.0	No					Maybe	Yes
Oracle	8.1.6	Maybe	Yes
	8.1.7	Maybe	Yes
	9i	No				Yes
10g	�	No						Maybe

The OpenACS installation instructions assume the operating system and build environment are installed. The instructions explain installation of TCL, tDOM, tclwebtest, a Web Server, a Database, a Process Controller, and Source Control software. The following external links are for reference only. -

OpenACS 5.2.3b1.�The OpenACS tarball comprises the core packages and +
- OpenACS 5.2.3rc1.�The OpenACS tarball comprises the core packages and many useful additional packages. This includes a full set of documentation. The tarball works with both PostgreSQL and Oracle. Some scripts require bash shell.
- Operating System.�OpenACS is designed for a Unix-like system. It is @@ -19,8 +18,8 @@ standard Linux shell. If you are using a different shell, you will need to substitute your shell's conventions for setting environment variables when - appropriate, and install bash to work with the scripts. Substitute fetch when the instructions suggest you use - wget to download software.
- Mac OS X.�Section�, “OpenACS Installation Guide for Mac OS X”
- Windows/VMWare.�Section�, “OpenACS Installation Guide for Windows2000” The only + appropriate, and install bash to work with the scripts. Substitute fetch when the instructions suggest you use + wget to download software.
- Mac OS X.�the section called “OpenACS Installation Guide for Mac OS X”
- Windows/VMWare.�the section called “OpenACS Installation Guide for Windows2000” The only way to run OpenACS on Windows is through the VMWare emulator. (Please let me know if you have OpenACS running directly in Windows.)
Build Environment.�The Reference Platform installation compiles most programs from @@ -30,19 +29,19 @@ operating system distribution.
GNU Make 3.76.1 or newer, REQUIRED.�PostgreSQL and AOLserver require gmake to compile. Note that on most linux distributions, GNU Make is simply named - make and + make and there is no - gmake, + gmake, whereas on BSD distributions, - make and - gmake are + make and + gmake are different --use gmake.

TCL 8.4.x.�

TCL 8.4.x, REQUIRED.�OpenACS is written in TCL, an interpreted language. A threaded version of the TCL interpreter must be installed for OpenACS to work. The TCL interpreter that is included in most standard distributions may not be thread safe.
TCL 8.4.x development headers and libraries, OPTIONAL.� The site-wide-search service, OpenFTS, requires these to - compile. (Debian users: apt-get install - tcl8.4-dev). You need this - to install OpenFTS.

tDOM, REQUIRED.�OpenACS 5.2.3b1 stores + compile. (Debian users: apt-get install + tcl8.4-dev). You need this + to install OpenFTS.

tDOM, REQUIRED.�OpenACS 5.2.3rc1 stores queries in XML files, so we use an AOLserver module called tDOM to parse these files. (This replaces libxml2, which was used prior to 4.6.4.)

tclwebtest, OPTIONAL.�tclwebtest is a tool for testing web interfaces via tcl scripts.

Web Server.�The web server handles incoming HTTP requests, provides @@ -51,7 +50,7 @@ errors. OpenACS uses AOLserver; some people have had success running Apache with mod_nsd.

AOLserver 4.x, REQUIRED.�Provides the base HTTP server

Mat Kovach is graciously maintaining an AOLserver distribution that - includes all the patches and modules needed to run OpenACS 5.2.3b1. These + includes all the patches and modules needed to run OpenACS 5.2.3rc1. These instructions will describe how to install using his source distribution. He also has binaries for SuSE 7.3 and OpenBSD 2.8 (and perhaps more to come), currently located at uptime.openacs.org. @@ -68,14 +67,14 @@ (i.e. postgres.so)

- The patch that makes exec work + The patch that makes exec work on BSD is available at sourceforge.net

- The patch for aolserver 3.x that makes ns_uuencode + The patch for aolserver 3.x that makes ns_uuencode work for binary files is available at sourceforge.net

The patch that makes AOLserver 3.x respect the - -g flag is available at + -g flag is available at sourceforge.net

nsopenssl, OPTIONAL.�Provides SSL capabilities for AOLserver. It requires OpenSSL. You need this if you want users to make @@ -94,7 +93,7 @@ higher, full text search is also available via tsearch2.

Analog 5.32 or newer, OPTIONAL.�This program examines web server request logs, looks up DNS values, and produces a report. You need this if you - want to see how much traffic your site is getting.

Balance 3.11 or newer, OPTIONAL.�"Balance is a simple but powerful generic tcp proxy with round robin load balancing and failover mechanisms." You need this or something equivalent if you are running a high-availability production site and do not have an external load balancing system.

Database.�The data on your site (for example, user names and passwords, + want to see how much traffic your site is getting.

Database.�The data on your site (for example, user names and passwords, calender entries, and notes) is stored in the database. OpenACS separates the database with an abstraction layer, which means that several different databases all function @@ -106,7 +105,7 @@ restarts that software if it fails. On Linux, we recommend using Daemontools to control AOLserver and qmail.

Daemontools 0.76, OPTIONAL.�You need this if - you want AOLserver and qmail to run "supervised," + you want AOLserver and qmail to run "supervised," meaning that they are monitored and automatically restarted if they fail. An alternative would be to run the services from inittab.

Mail Transport Agent.�A Mail Transport Agent is a program that handles all @@ -116,7 +115,7 @@ same variables that sendmail expects) can be used.

Netqmail 1.04, OPTIONAL.�You need this (or a different Mail Transport Agent) if you want your webserver to send and receive email.
ucspi-tcp 0.88, OPTIONAL.�This program listens for incoming TCP connections and hands them to a program. We use it instead of inetd, - which is insecure. You need this if you are running qmail.

DocBook, OPTIONAL.�(docbook-xml v4.2, docbook-xsl v1.56, libxslt 1.0.21, + which is insecure. You need this if you are running qmail.