VMWare image for Shapado (open-source stackoverflow.com clone)
21Apr10
Having been intrigued with the effectiveness of http://stackoverflow.com , I’ve been interested in the possibility of using such a solution internally within the enterprise for other purposes than IT.
Since Stackoverflow.com currently is not open-sourced, I looked at the alternatives and the most promising to me was Shapado . It is an open-source solution, but also provides a hosted option.
Therefore, I’ve created an virtual image which can be used in order to test out the solution locally. You can test it by:
- Downloading the image from http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4379928/Shapado/turnkey-rails-shapado.zip and unzip it
(if you want to start using dropbox, you can use this link in order to give me some sorely needed extra space) - Download the VMWare player from http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/desktop_downloads/vmware_player/3_0
- Start the VMWare image through the .vmx file and log in with user:root password:<blank>
(afterall it is a test image, not a production one) - Get the ip-adresse from the VMWare image and on the client (not in the image) modify your host file (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc) so that it contains
<vmware image ip> localhost.lan group1.localhost.lan group2.localhost.lan - From the VMWare image start the MongoDB through the script /opt/shapado/startdb.sh
- From the VMWare image Shapado application by going to directory /opt/shapado and running ./script/server
- Access shapado through http://localhost.lan:3000
The image was created with basis in the excellent Turnkey linux VMWare images by roughly completing the following steps:
- Get the Rails turnkey linux image from http://www.turnkeylinux.org/rails and unzip it
- Start image from 1. in the VMWare player
- Upgrade to ruby 1.8.7 by following the excellent instructions at http://www.vanutsteen.nl/2008/06/29/installing-ruby-187-and-guessnet-on-hardy/ (if not you get an error for the count method when posting a question)
- Install MongoDB according to the instructions at http://shapado.com/questions/how-to-install-shapado-on-amazon-ec2
- Run apt-get install devise -v 1.0.5 and retrieve the specification file ref. http://shapado.com/questions/unpacked-gem-devise-1-0-5-in-vendor-gems-has-no-specification-file
- Follow the instructions form installing Shapado at http://gitorious.org/shapado/shapado/blobs/master/README (note you will have to use a workaround for the rake gems:install step , see 6. above)
Filed under: Elsewhat | 11 Comments
Tags: image, installation, shapado, stackoverflow, vmware
Recent Comments
I’m just trying this out now… well at least waiting for the download… I’ll report back with my findings :)
Hi I have downloaded and attempt to play in the Vmware player however I get a “Error while powering on: VMware Workstation cannot open one of the virtual disks needed by this VM because it is larger than the maximum file size supported by the host file system. Some remote file systems do not support files larger than 2 GB, even though the file system on the server might.” error.
After googling it seems this may be something to do with the file system used to generate the vm – or it may be something to do with paths in the vmx file – still investigating
Weird,
The image was downloaded from Turnkeylinux to a windows 7 installation. I’ve started the image from the folder C:\IMG\turnkey-rails-shapado.
I’ll test it on another machine running Vista, but that will have to be later today.
Regards
Dagfinn
Have tested it on a Windows Vista PC and it worked there. Do you still have problems?
Well done for the initiative, but I ended up setting up my vista laptop as a dual boot with ubuntu – something I haven’t regretted because I can now “hack” shapado with glee and abandon. (and it neatly keeps all my shapado stuff on one OS and all my “work” stuff on another)
However a VM based build like this is still immensly useful for people who do not want to go the dual boot option
It worked like a star good job done .. given the fact that i am from a microsoft background it was important for me to follow the instructions and i am happy it was well documented .. but have one question though .. what is the best way to connect to the database and check the schema and structure ?
Cheers,
Pramod.
Got them from this site ..
http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/Connections
Thanks & Regards,
Pramod.
Hi,
I downloaded he VM and launched it. I didn’t quite get the concept as it seems to be a console there after booting up.
Was there supposed to be a GUI operating system so I can make changes to Shapado Ruby code?
I could not grasp the concept as I’m using to using Remote Desktop Connection to Windows Server and making changes via an editor like Notepad, Wordpad or Visual Studio. How can I edit the Shapado code via text in the equivalent of Notepad/Wordpad/other similar editors in the VM session?
Thank you.
Sorry for the late reply,
You can use the webmin interface that is standard for all Turnkeylinux.org images for easy mangagement, see http://www.turnkeylinux.org/core
Basically point your browser at https://:12321
As far as I can remember there is a java applet that allows you to edit files from the web interface. (I’ve used the shell and vi editor but if you are unfamiliar with linux/unix it is not trivial)
Hi,
I followed through your instructions closely and came upto the last step of starting the server and bam! I get this warning
“version_requirements deprecated”
and the server doesn’t start.
I found a patch for it too.. But I am not sure how or if at all it can be applied in this situation.
Can you help me with it?
Found the error reference here along with the patch -
http://www.mattvsworld.com/blog/2010/03/version_requirements-deprecated-warning-in-rails/
Thanks,
Dewdrops
I haven’t look at the image for a while, so I haven’t encountered the same problem.
Unfortunately, I haven’t got the time to investigate it in more detail. You should be able to apply any rails component through the shell interface in the same way as you would on a linux server.