How to install the ShotServer

This documentation is for the development version 0.4 of Browsershots (based on Django). The documentation for the old stable version 0.3 is here.

If you want to support the development of Browsershots, you can hire me as a contractor to set up Browsershots as an in-house browser testing system for you, and adapt it to your requirements. I speak German and English (and a little French and Swedish), and will come to your office even if it's in Timbuktu. Send email to johann@browsershots.org if you're interested. My rates are cheap because I'm still a student, so hurry!

  1. Hardware and OS
  2. Software
    1. Prerequisites
    2. Install Django source code
    3. Install ShotServer source code
    4. Install the database
    5. Create content folders
  3. Quick start with the development server
    1. Run the development server
  4. Admin interface
    1. Adjust the sites configuration
    2. Create screenshot factories
  5. Web frontend
    1. Add browsers to your factories
  6. Run Django with mod_python on Apache

Hardware and OS

See RequirementsForServer.

Software

Prerequisites

sudo apt-get install netpbm

Install Django source code

Until Django 1.0 is released, Browsershots 0.4 will use the development version (trunk) of Django. 

svn checkout http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk django
cd django
sudo python setup.py install

Install ShotServer source code

Use Subversion to check out the latest development version of the software (the same code that is running on http://v04.browsershots.org/): 

svn checkout http://svn.browsershots.org/trunk/shotserver

For the quick-start development server, you don't need to install the Browsershots source code in /usr/lib/ because you run the development server from your local copy. Only for use with a real web server like Apache, you would do the following: 

cd shotserver
sudo python setup.py install

Install the database

You need a recent version of PostgreSQL. If version 8.2 is not available on your distribution, 8.1 will work too. 

sudo apt-get install postgresql-8.2 python-psycopg

You can create the database as the same user that will be running the development server, so you don't need to worry about passwords. 

createdb shotserver04
CREATE DATABASE

If necessary, create the database user first (replace www-data with your username): 

sudo -u postgres createuser www-data
Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n) n
Shall the new role be allowed to create databases? (y/n) y
Shall the new role be allowed to create more new roles? (y/n) n
CREATE ROLE

Let Django create the database tables for you: 

cd shotserver/shotserver04
./manage.py syncdb

When it asks if you would like to create an admin account, say yes.

Create content folders

If you haven't changed the directories in settings.py, you need the following folders: 

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/v04.browsershots.org/png

The png folder must be writable by the user running the server. 

sudo chown www-data:www-data /var/www/v04.browsershots.org/png

Quick start with the development server

On a production system, you would use Apache 2 or some other serious web server. But to get started quickly, it is recommended that you use the Django development server first, and then switch to a real web server later when it works okay.

Run the development server

You can do this on your normal user account, but you must have write access to the database shotserver04 and to the directory /var/www/browsershots.org/png/. 

cd shotserver/shotserver04
./manage.py runserver

More detailed instructions are available in the Django documentation.

Admin interface

Point your browser to http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/ and enter your username and password.

Adjust the sites configuration

Create screenshot factories

http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/factories/factory/add/

Web frontend

Point your browser to http://127.0.0.1:8000/ to see the web interface. Replace 127.0.0.1 with the hostname of your development machine if you want to access it from other computers.

Add browsers to your factories

Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/browsers/add/ with each browser on your screenshot factory. The page should detect your browser settings automatically. Enter your password and click submit to register your browser in the database.

You can use http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/browsers/browser/ to add or delete browsers manually or change their settings.

Run Django with mod_python on Apache

After you get the development server to run, you may want to switch to a real web server for performance and stability. See the Django documentation for details, and InstallServerApache for example configuration.