Phillip Pearson - web + electronics notes

While we haven't quite released an official, tested code download for PeopleAggregator, it's no secret that you can download and install it from the update site - update.peopleaggregator.org.

You're welcome to try it out, but do expect some installation pain. For example I just found a bug in the update system that effectively makes any release prior to #7 a 'dead end' if you use the built in auto updater. So if you are trying to update the copy of PeepAgg you installed from the tarball on the memory keys Marc was handing out at Gnomedex (or any tarball downloaded before today), don't bother :)

Currently the safest way of installing is #2 on that list - using Subversion to get the code and update.

ANYWAY, I just released v0.01/r7 (independent numbering - the version is our internal version number, which will probably sit at 0.01 until we do an 'official' release, and the release is the revision of the Subversion repository used for update distribution), which is what is running on peopleaggregator.net plus the update fix and a couple of other minor changes. This is the first update since Gnomedex.

If you have already installed from a tarball and want to update, you have a couple of choices.

#1 - manual update

To update manually, download the latest code and unpack it somewhere, then go into that directory and run:

for f in `find . -type f`; do install -D $f path-to-your-install/$f; done

(replacing path-to-your-install with the actual path to your install, e.g. /var/www/pa).

Now you have to run the update script, like this:

cd path-to-your-install
php web/update/run_scripts.php

(You'll need the command line version of PHP installed to do this).

#2 - transition to subversion

NOTE: These instructions are out of date now; click here for the updated version on the wiki.

This is similar to the manual method, but instead of downloading and unpacking the code and copying it over your existing system, you check out the latest version from Subversion, move Subversion's internal folders over the top of your system, and let Subversion do the actual file replacement.

There are two ways to do this. Here's the safest way: checking out another copy of your installed version from Subversion, then updating to the latest version from there. This will preserve any changes you have made.

First - find the revision number of the tarball you used. If it is called peopleaggregator-0.01-testing-3.tar.gz, that means the revision number is 3. Then run the commands below, replacing the number 3 with your revision.

Also replace /var/www/pa with the root of your PeepAgg install.

cd /var/www/pa
svn checkout -r 3 http://update.peopleaggregator.org/svn/release/pa pa_svn_tmp
cd pa_svn_tmp
for f in `find . -name .svn -type d`; do mv $f ../$f; done
cd ..
rm -rf pa_svn_tmp
svn update
php web/update/run_scripts.php

(If you run into any problems with files not being accessible, you might need to chmod

Here's a second way, that doesn't require you to know what your revision number is. However, this will completely overwrite your installation, so if you have made any changes to the code, the above method is better.

cd /var/www/pa
svn checkout http://update.peopleaggregator.org/svn/release/pa pa_svn_tmp
cd pa_svn_tmp
for f in `find . -name .svn -type d`; do mv $f ../$f; done
cd ..
rm -rf pa_svn_tmp
svn revert -R .
php web/update/run_scripts.php

Once you're done here, you can update in future like this:

svn update /var/www/pa

Or if you want to go back to using the built-in upgrade system, delete web/files/update.treediff.xml and browse to the update page (update/system_updates.php) and try to update as usual. With any luck, it'll tell you that all the files are already up to date, and work fine from then on. (Let me know if it doesn't!)

I'll get this info onto the wiki at some point Please refer to the new version of these instructions on the wiki. We also have the upgrade guide, and a note on transitioning back from Subversion to the auto-update system.

Meta

PA v0.01/r7 is built from release 539 of our internal Subversion repository.