1 .. MediaGoblin Documentation
3 Written in 2011, 2012 by MediaGoblin contributors
5 To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all
6 copyright and related and neighboring rights to this software to
7 the public domain worldwide. This software is distributed without
10 You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain
11 Dedication along with this software. If not, see
12 <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
14 .. _deploying-chapter:
20 GNU MediaGoblin is fairly new and so at the time of writing, there
21 aren't easy package-manager-friendly methods to install MediaGoblin.
22 However, doing a basic install isn't too complex in and of itself.
24 There's an almost infinite way to deploy things... for now, we'll keep
25 it simple with some assumptions and use a setup that combines
26 mediagoblin + virtualenv + fastcgi + nginx on a .deb or .rpm based
31 These tools are for site administrators wanting to deploy a fresh
32 install. If instead you want to join in as a contributor, see our
33 `Hacking HOWTO <http://wiki.mediagoblin.org/HackingHowto>`_ instead.
35 There are also many ways to install servers... for the sake of
36 simplicity, our instructions below describe installing with nginx.
37 For more recipes, including Apache, see
38 `our wiki <http://wiki.mediagoblin.org/Deployment>`_.
46 MediaGoblin has the following core dependencies:
49 - `python-lxml <http://lxml.de/>`_
50 - `git <http://git-scm.com/>`_
51 - `SQLite <http://www.sqlite.org/>`_/`PostgreSQL <http://www.postgresql.org/>`_
52 - `Python Imaging Library <http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/>`_ (PIL)
53 - `virtualenv <http://www.virtualenv.org/>`_
55 On a DEB-based system (e.g Debian, gNewSense, Trisquel, Ubuntu, and
56 derivatives) issue the following command::
58 sudo apt-get install git-core python python-dev python-lxml \
59 python-imaging python-virtualenv
61 On a RPM-based system (e.g. Fedora, RedHat, and derivatives) issue the
64 yum install python-paste-deploy python-paste-script \
65 git-core python python-devel python-lxml python-imaging \
73 MediaGoblin currently supports PostgreSQL and SQLite. The default is a
74 local SQLite database. This will "just work" for small deployments.
76 For medium to large deployments we recommend PostgreSQL.
78 If you don't want/need postgres, skip this section.
80 These are the packages needed for Debian Wheezy (testing)::
82 sudo apt-get install postgresql postgresql-client python-psycopg2
84 The installation process will create a new *system* user named ``postgres``,
85 it will have privilegies sufficient to manage the database. We will create a
86 new database user with restricted privilegies and a new database owned by our
87 restricted database user for our MediaGoblin instance.
89 In this example, the database user will be ``mediagoblin`` and the database
90 name will be ``mediagoblin`` too.
92 To create our new user, run::
94 sudo -u postgres createuser mediagoblin
96 then answer NO to *all* the questions::
98 Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n) n
99 Shall the new role be allowed to create databases? (y/n) n
100 Shall the new role be allowed to create more new roles? (y/n) n
102 then create the database all our MediaGoblin data should be stored in::
104 sudo -u postgres createdb -E UNICODE -O mediagoblin mediagoblin
106 where the first ``mediagoblin`` is the database owner and the second
107 ``mediagoblin`` is the database name.
109 .. caution:: Where is the password?
111 These steps enable you to authenticate to the database in a password-less
112 manner via local UNIX authentication provided you run the MediaGoblin
113 application as a user with the same name as the user you created in
116 More on this in :ref:`Drop Privileges for MediaGoblin <drop-privileges-for-mediagoblin>`.
119 .. _drop-privileges-for-mediagoblin:
121 Drop Privileges for MediaGoblin
122 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
124 As MediaGoblin does not require special permissions or elevated
125 access, you should run MediaGoblin under an existing non-root user or
126 preferably create a dedicated user for the purpose of running
127 MediaGoblin. Consult your distribution's documentation on how to
128 create "system account" or dedicated service user. Ensure that it is
129 not possible to log in to your system with as this user.
131 You should create a working directory for MediaGoblin. This document
132 assumes your local git repository will be located at
133 ``/srv/mediagoblin.example.org/mediagoblin/`` for this documentation.
134 Substitute your prefer ed local deployment path as needed.
136 This document assumes that all operations are performed as this
137 user. To drop privileges to this user, run the following command::
141 Where, "``[mediagoblin]``" is the username of the system user that will
144 Install MediaGoblin and Virtualenv
145 ----------------------------------
149 MediaGoblin is still developing rapidly. As a result
150 the following instructions recommend installing from the ``master``
151 branch of the git repository. Eventually production deployments will
152 want to transition to running from more consistent releases.
154 Issue the following commands, to create and change the working
155 directory. Modify these commands to reflect your own environment::
157 mkdir -p /srv/mediagoblin.example.org/
158 cd /srv/mediagoblin.example.org/
160 Clone the MediaGoblin repository::
162 git clone git://gitorious.org/mediagoblin/mediagoblin.git
164 And set up the in-package virtualenv::
167 (virtualenv --system-site-packages . || virtualenv .) && ./bin/python setup.py develop
171 If you have problems here, consider trying to install virtualenv
172 with the ``--distribute`` or ``--no-site-packages`` options. If
173 your system's default Python is in the 3.x series you may need to
174 run ``virtualenv`` with the ``--python=python2.7`` or
175 ``--python=python2.6`` options.
177 The above provides an in-package install of ``virtualenv``. While this
178 is counter to the conventional ``virtualenv`` configuration, it is
179 more reliable and considerably easier to configure and illustrate. If
180 you're familiar with Python packaging you may consider deploying with
181 your preferred method.
183 Assuming you are going to deploy with FastCGI, you should also install
186 ./bin/easy_install flup
188 (Sometimes this breaks because flup's site is flakey. If it does for
191 ./bin/easy_install https://pypi.python.org/pypi/flup/1.0.3.dev-20110405
193 This concludes the initial configuration of the development
194 environment. In the future, when you update your
195 codebase, you should also run::
197 ./bin/python setup.py develop --upgrade && ./bin/gmg dbupdate
199 Note: If you are running an active site, depending on your server
200 configuration, you may need to stop it first or the dbupdate command
201 may hang (and it's certainly a good idea to restart it after the
205 Deploy MediaGoblin Services
206 ---------------------------
208 Configure MediaGoblin to use the PostgreSQL database
209 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
211 If you are using postgres, edit the ``[mediagoblin]`` section in your
212 ``mediagoblin_local.ini`` and put in::
214 sql_engine = postgresql:///mediagoblin
216 if you are running the MediaGoblin application as the same 'user' as the
220 Update database data structures
221 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
223 Before you start using the database, you need to run::
227 to populate the database with the MediaGoblin data structures.
233 At this point MediaGoblin should be properly installed. You can
234 test the deployment with the following command::
236 ./lazyserver.sh --server-name=broadcast
238 You should be able to connect to the machine on port 6543 in your
239 browser to confirm that the service is operable.
241 .. _webserver-config:
243 Connect the Webserver to MediaGoblin with FastCGI
244 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
246 This section describes how to configure MediaGoblin to work via
247 FastCGI. Our configuration example will use nginx, however, you may
248 use any webserver of your choice as long as it supports the FastCGI
249 protocol. If you do not already have a web server, consider nginx, as
250 the configuration files may be more clear than the
253 Create a configuration file at
254 ``/srv/mediagoblin.example.org/nginx.conf`` and create a symbolic link
255 into a directory that will be included in your ``nginx`` configuration
256 (e.g. "``/etc/nginx/sites-enabled`` or ``/etc/nginx/conf.d``) with
257 one of the following commands (as the root user)::
259 ln -s /srv/mediagoblin.example.org/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/
260 ln -s /srv/mediagoblin.example.org/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
262 Modify these commands and locations depending on your preferences and
263 the existing configuration of your nginx instance. The contents of
264 this ``nginx.conf`` file should be modeled on the following::
267 #################################################
268 # Stock useful config options, but ignore them :)
269 #################################################
270 include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
273 default_type application/octet-stream;
278 gzip_min_length 1024;
280 gzip_types text/plain text/html application/x-javascript text/javascript text/xml text/css;
282 #####################################
283 # Mounting MediaGoblin stuff
284 # This is the section you should read
285 #####################################
287 # Change this to update the upload size limit for your users
288 client_max_body_size 8m;
290 # prevent attacks (someone uploading a .txt file that the browser
291 # interprets as an HTML file, etc.)
292 add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
294 server_name mediagoblin.example.org www.mediagoblin.example.org;
295 access_log /var/log/nginx/mediagoblin.example.access.log;
296 error_log /var/log/nginx/mediagoblin.example.error.log;
298 # MediaGoblin's stock static files: CSS, JS, etc.
299 location /mgoblin_static/ {
300 alias /srv/mediagoblin.example.org/mediagoblin/mediagoblin/static/;
303 # Instance specific media:
304 location /mgoblin_media/ {
305 alias /srv/mediagoblin.example.org/mediagoblin/user_dev/media/public/;
308 # Theme static files (usually symlinked in)
309 location /theme_static/ {
310 alias /srv/mediagoblin.example.org/mediagoblin/user_dev/theme_static/;
313 # Mounting MediaGoblin itself via FastCGI.
315 fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:26543;
316 include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
318 # our understanding vs nginx's handling of script_name vs
319 # path_info don't match :)
320 fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_script_name;
321 fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME "";
325 Now, nginx instance is configured to serve the MediaGoblin
326 application. Perform a quick test to ensure that this configuration
327 works. Restart nginx so it picks up your changes, with a command that
328 resembles one of the following (as the root user)::
330 sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart
331 sudo /etc/rc.d/nginx restart
333 Now start MediaGoblin. Use the following command sequence as an
336 cd /srv/mediagoblin.example.org/mediagoblin/
337 ./lazyserver.sh --server-name=fcgi fcgi_host=127.0.0.1 fcgi_port=26543
339 Visit the site you've set up in your browser by visiting
340 <http://mediagoblin.example.org>. You should see MediaGoblin!
344 The configuration described above is sufficient for development and
345 smaller deployments. However, for larger production deployments
346 with larger processing requirements, see the
347 ":doc:`production-deployments`" documentation.