install_guide_unix

OpenEIS Installation Guide (Unix)

Introduction

This section describes how to install OpenEIS, under a Unix-like shell:

• Requirements
• Creating a virtual environment
• Finishing the installation
• Creating the database
• Re-creating the database

## Requirements

Installing OpenEIS requires:

• Python 3 (With python3 development package for numpy)
• OpenEIS project files

TODO: Describe getting files, or add pointer to documentation on getting and updating the files.

The instructions shown here assume the OpenEIS project files reside in a root directory called openeis_root. However, the root directory can have any name.

## Creating a virtual environment

OpenEIS generally should be run through a virtual environment.

Create and the virtual environment by running bootstrap.py from the root directory:

> cd  openeis_root
> ls  bootstrap.py
> python3  bootstrap.py

This will create a virtual environment, housed in directory openeis_root/env.

The virtual environment will include Python's package manager, pip, as well as Django. Django is the web framework used in OpenEIS. It provides a development server to work on, and an easy database to work with.

Next activate the virtual environment:

> source  env/bin/activate

## Finishing the installation

From the command prompt established by the virtual environment, finish the installation:

> python  bootstrap.py

## Creating the database

To create a database and set up a superuser:

> openeis  syncdb

You will be prompted for a superuser name and password.

This only needs to be done once, unless there is a change to the schema in the database.

## Re-creating the database

On occasion, it may be necessary to delete and then re-create the database. This may happen when, for example, a new table is added to the database.

To re-create the database, first delete the entire data directory, then run through the installation procedure again:

> rm -r  data/
> source  env/bin/activate
> python  bootstrap.py
> openeis  syncdb

TODO: Not clear the bootstrap is needed above. I (DML) needed it on the last change, but VTN and CYC did not. More generally, need to document when bootstrap is needed.