The HCoop portal runs https://members.hcoop.net and https://join.hcoop.net, generates the member directory, and manages the vmail user database.

1. Build Requirements

The portal requires mlt (an html templating system for smlnj) and smlsql (postgresql bindings for smlnj). They are managed in the standard hcoop git repositories. The password generating tool also relies upon apg (automatic password generator).

The portal build utilities stored in and installed to ~hcoop/portal-tools/...

• .../src: checkouts of mlt and smlsql (portal build file references smlsql from here)

• .../etc: location of default mlt.conf, hcoop.header, hcoop.footer

• .../bin: mlt and hcoop_header binaries

• .../lib32: 32-bit libraries needed by the smlsql

• .../cgi: portal cgi binaries

mlt and smlsql licensed under the LGPL version 2.1 or any later version.

2. Source

The portal source lives in module portal of our git server. The main check-out is in /afs/hcoop.net/user/h/hc/hcoop/portal3.

The portal source is available under the GPLv3 or any later version.

3. Building

Run /afs/hcoop.net/common/etc/scripts/become-hcoop before modifying files in the main check-out or running any git commands that would modify it.

There are small CGI wrappers which just run compiled binaries in ~hcoop/portal-tools/cgi/. The file mlt.conf contains the CGI installation path (modify this to suit your system if building locally). These wrappers are generated automatically by mlt.

mlt at hcoop has been modified to build with LD_LIBRARY_PATH set to our lib32 directory (since squeeze does not have Multi-arch) and to set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH in generated wrapper scripts. This is unfortunately needed to load libpq until we resolve some multi arch problems on the webserver.

3.1. Publishing

To recompile and publish, enter the portal source directory and run ~hcoop/portal-tools/bin/mlt:

/afs/hcoop.net/common/etc/scripts/become-hcoop
cd ~/portal3
~/portal-tools/bin/mlt

3.2. Regenerating Page Header

header.mlt and footer.mlt are built from assorted other files. Running make in a check-out directory should build them. See the Makefile for how they're built. Note that make won't publish changes that you make onto the real web sites; you must use mlt for that.

Needed files for building:

• hcoop_header is the one line script cat $prefix/etc/hcoop.header | sed "s/TITLE/$1/g"

• hcoop_footer is the one line script cat $prefix/etc/hcoop.footer

• You need ~hcoop/portal-tools/etc/hcoop.{header,footer} (currently not tracked in git)

3.3. Other Applications Within the Portal

There are some subdirectories of portal that contain different web apps, like app (the source for join.hcoop.net). You must run mlt separately in any of these directories to publish changes in it. These include:

• app/ The Join script

• contact/ Emergency contact directory for admins

• listaddrs/ Lists all hcoop member email addresses

• mailman/ portal subscription helper program

• passgen/ Password reset tool

• remind/ Low balance reminder

• static/ Public member directory generator

• vmailpasswd Vmail password changing

4. Maintenance

4.1. Cron Jobs

The portal source contains a crontab which should be installed and run under the hcoop user. This sends out monthly dues reminders and periodically generates semi-static pages.

4.2. Adding Machine

To support user requests for a machine, insert a WebNode into the database. The Debian version should be the release name (e.g. "squeeze").

INSERT INTO WebNode (id, name, descr, debian)
        VALUES ((select max(id)+1 from WebNode), $HOST, $DESCRIPTION, $DEBIANVERSION);

If the machine should show up in the portal for members to request permissions or packages on, add it to ActiveWebNodes.

insert into ActiveWebNode VALUES ((select id from WebNode where name = '$HOST'));

CategorySystemAdministration