Ubuntu 11.04 with lighttpd

This is a guide to install tracks from source with lighttpd 1.4 and SSL on Ubuntu 11.04 (natty) with a sqlite database. Experienced people should find it easy to replace the sqlite adapter with a mysql adapter as you can see in this guide:

Getting Tracks Up

Make some directory for tracks:

sudo mkdir /opt/tracks

Get the source code

sudo git clone git://github.com/TracksApp/tracks.git /opt/tracks/tracks
cd /opt/tracks/tracks

Install the necessary files for rails:

sudo apt-get install rails
sudo apt-get install rake
sudo apt-get install libfcgi-ruby1.8

Comment out zentest and hoe in the Gemfile and then get some additional ruby gems:

## edit the Gemfile first
sudo gem install bundler
sudo /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin/bundle install

Create your config/database.yml file. It should look similar to the following. Note: make sure that the www-data user can read the sqlite database file. You might want to choose better paths for your database.

test: &TEST
  adapter: sqlite3
  database: ":memory:"

production:
  adapter: sqlite3
  database: /tmp/tracks-production.sq3

development:
  adapter: sqlite3
  database: /tmp/tracks-development.sq3    

cucumber:
  <<: *TEST

selenium:
  <<: *TEST

Create your config/site.yml file from the template config/site.yml.tmpl. Initialize the database:

rake db:migrate RAILS_ENV=production
rake db:migrate RAILS_ENV=development ## in case you want help out later

Check whether you can run the server locally:

sudo ./scripts/server -e production

Check whether the server is running by going to http://localhost:3000. Terminate the process once you know it's working.

Getting lighttpd running

Install the necessary packages

apt-get install lighttpd spawn-fcgi lighttpd-mod-magnet

Enable the mods for lighted

lighttpd-enable-mod fastcgi
lighttpd-enable-mod magnet
lighttpd-enable-mod access

Follow the description of running Rails applications with lighttpd. You can easily use spawn-fcgi as it comes with a package in Ubuntu: http://redmine.lighttpd.net/wiki/1/LighttpdOnRails

Get the fcgi bridge working with rails

Create a startup file called run-tracks.sh for tracks based on this template:http://redmine.lighttpd.net/projects/spawn-fcgi/repository/entry/trunk/doc/run-rails. Use www-data for the user and the group.

Configure the system so the www-data user can access the system:

mkdir /opt/tracks/tracks/log
chown -R www-data:www-data /opt/tracks/tracks/public

Test whether the script is working by starting it:

chmod +x /opt/tracks/run-tracks.sh
sudo -u www-data /opt/tracks/run-tracks.sh

Getting https running

Check whether you have ssl compiled into lighttpd with lighttpd -v. It should mention ssl. Then following this guide to enable ssl: http://redmine.lighttpd.net/wiki/1/HowToSimpleSSL