Installing FOSSology on Slackware

2008-06-10T10:20:00.039-05:00

Updated: Now with more packages! Slackbuilds etc are available at http://karmaflux.googlepages.com/fossology

Amazingly, developing a FOSSology agent seems to require an installation of FOSSology with which to test it. Installation of FOSSology goes smoothest on Debian, because (as with so many other projects) that's the distro the developers use. I'm way more comfortable with Slackware, so I decided to get it up and running on my home turf. Later on, I plan to provide regular slackware packages, which should obviate most of the work. For now, here's how I set up a Slackware-based server for FOSSology:

Install Slackware. This step is left as an exercise for the reader.

Install UPX. Yeah, I've never heard of it either. I just downloaded the binary and threw it in /usr/local/bin. Watch this space for a package and a SlackBuild.

Update:Don't use the binary distribution from UPX. The following garbage is from README.SRC in the source distribution:
The precompiled UPX versions are linked against the NRV compression
library instead of the UCL library. Using the same compression algorithms,
NRV achieves a better compression ratio. NRV is not publicly
available, though, and probably never will be.
While you may be disappointed that you don't have access to the
latest state-of-the-art compression technology this is actually
a safe guard for all of us. The UPX source code release makes
it very easy for any evil-minded person to do all sort of bad
things. By not providing the very best compression ratio it is much
more difficult to create fake or otherwise disguised UPX versions (or
similar trojans), as any end user will notice when the compression
has gotten worse with a new "version" or "product".

They're not releasing source as a security measure? Sounds like a load to me. While the binary version works fine, I've built Slackware packages that use the open source software. You'll want both my UPX Slackware package and the the open-source compression library it uses, UCL.

Unrar can be found at linuxpackages.net.

libextractor and cabextract can be found packaged at slacky.eu.

Install Sleuthkit. I've packaged it for Slackware; you can find it here

Install PostgreSQL. All of the pre-made packages I've seen are crazy in one way or another. I used the SlackBuild from slackbuilds.org. If you're lazy, the package is available here.

The Slackware PHP package is compiled without support for PostgreSQL. This presents predictable problems. I've compiled a version of PHP with postgresql support enabled and posted the package here. You can just download it and use upgradepkg to replace the stock PHP build. The only difference between stock Slackware PHP and this one is the line --with-pgsql=shared,/usr inserted into the configure command. I seriously recommend you use my package instead of compiling it yourself, unless there are other patches and tweaks you need. PHP takes roughly ten thousand years to compile.

Download FOSSology. Latest version should be available here. At the time of this writing, the latest version is 0.8.0, so that's what I'll be describing here. I moved it to /usr/src and untarred it.

Follow the instructions in the README file. Most of this is tweaks to config files. Here's how I do it:
- As root, run:
```
  groupadd fossy
  useradd -c FOSSology -d /srv/fossology -g fossy -s /bin/false fossy
```
- Make the suggested changes to postgresql.conf. Note with the package I made there's no site-wide conf file in /etc. The file you want is /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf. I happen to have a copy handy. All the suggested changes are made in this copy.
- As root, run:
```
su postgres -c "psql -f /usr/src/fossology-0.8.0/setup/fossologyinit.sql"
```
  This is, of course, assuming you unpacked the file to /usr/src.
- Restart the database by running as root:
```
/etc/rc.d/rc.postgresql restart
```
  Then make sure it's working. Run:
```
psql -d fossology -U fossy
```
  If you don't get any errors, you're good. Type
```
\q
```
  to exit psql.
- Assuming you have a stock /etc/httpd/php.ini, you can just grab this, which has all the suggested changes already made.
- Ditto for /etc/httpd/httpd.conf. Find the altered version here.
- Build FOSSology and begin the installation process. As root, run:
```
make && make install
```
  and kick back while it compiles.
- As root, run:
```
/usr/src/fossology-0.8.0/install.sh -f
```
- Grab my scheduler.conf, which is set up to use one host (localhost) and one processor. Put it in /usr/local/share/fossology/agents.
- The other files mentioned in the README actually are fine -- the only thing you might need to change is the password on the fossy database, if you changed it from the default "fossy." In that case, edit /usr/local/share/fossology/dbconnect/fossology, and make the obvious change.
- As root, run:
```
/usr/src/fossology-0.8.0/install.sh -f
```
  Yes, again.
- For good measure, run /usr/src/fossology-0.8.0/check.sh. This will do a last scan to make sure everything's set up.
Grab my rc.fossology file, throw it in /etc/rc.d/, and start FOSSology by running, as root:
```
/etc/rc.d/rc.fossology start
```

To start on system boot, put the following stanzas in /etc/rc.d/rc.local:


#Start postgresql.
if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.postgresql ]; then
  . /etc/rc.d/rc.postgresql start
fi
#Start the FOSSology scheduler.
if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.fossology ]; then
  . /etc/rc.d/rc.fossology start
fi

This makes sure postgresql is running before you start fossology.

Once all that's done, you'll need to restart apache:
```
/etc/rc.d/rc.httpd restart
```

That's it! Open a browser, and enter http://servername/repo

This is where you need to keep an eye out for php errors -- they usually indicate permissions problems.

Click Admin, then Initialize. Follow the on-screen instructions, and have at it! See the User Documentation to get started.

Hi! I'm a Google SoC student for 2008!

2008-04-26T21:07:00.002-05:00

Well, I got accepted to GSoC, which is pretty damn exciting. You can see my abstract here. It took me a while to bandy up the nerve to apply, but I did, and then I got picked. It's kind of mindblowing to me. Anyway, I'll be working with my mentor Jeff Sheltren at the Oregon State University Open Source Lab, and I'm severely stoked about it.

kfx

Installing FOSSology on Slackware

Hi! I'm a Google SoC student for 2008!