From 457b678af714dd50ffe56e1efdf95101aa1409ae Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: David Baumgold Date: Thu, 2 May 2013 13:32:25 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Wrote a proper README file So that no one else will have to go through what I went through. Hopefully. --- README | 1 - README.md | 120 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 120 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) delete mode 100644 README create mode 100644 README.md diff --git a/README b/README deleted file mode 100644 index 2ed50ba063..0000000000 --- a/README +++ /dev/null @@ -1 +0,0 @@ -See doc/ for documentation. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..1642539c6b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,120 @@ +This is edX, a platform for online higher education. The project is primarily +written in [Python](http://python.org/), using the +[Django](https://www.djangoproject.com/) framework. We also use some +[Ruby](http://www.ruby-lang.org/) and some [NodeJS](http://nodejs.org/). + +Installation +============ +The installation process is a bit messy at the moment. Here's a high-level +overview of what you should do to get started. + +**TLDR:** There is a `create-dev-env.sh` script that will attempt to set all +of this up for you. If you're in a hurry, run that script. Otherwise, I suggest +that you understand what the script is doing, and why, by reading this document. + +Directory Hierarchy +------------------- +This code assumes that it is checked out in a directory that has three sibling +directories: `data` (used for application data?), `db` (used to hold a +[sqlite](https://sqlite.org/) database), and `log` (used to hold logs). If you +clone the repository into a directory called `edx` inside of a directory +called `dev`, here's an example of how the directory hierarchy should look: + + * dev + \ + * data + * db + * log + * edx + \ + README.md + +Language Runtimes +----------------- +You'll need to be sure that you have Python 2.7, Ruby 1.9.3, and NodeJS +(latest stable) installed on your system. Some of these you can install +using your system's package manager: [homebrew](http://mxcl.github.io/homebrew/) +for Mac, [apt](http://wiki.debian.org/Apt) for Debian-based systems +(including Ubuntu), [rpm](http://www.rpm.org/) or [yum](http://yum.baseurl.org/) +for Red Hat based systems (including CentOS). + +If your system's package manager gives you the wrong version of a language +runtime, then you'll need to use a versioning tool to install the correct version. +Usually, you'll need to do this for Ruby: you can use +[`rbenv`](https://github.com/sstephenson/rbenv) or [`rvm`](https://rvm.io/), but +typically `rbenv` is simpler. For Python, you can use +[`pythonz`](http://saghul.github.io/pythonz/), +and for Node, you can use [`nvm`](https://github.com/creationix/nvm). + +Virtual Environments +-------------------- +Often, different projects will have conflicting dependencies: for example, two +projects depending on two different, incompatible versions of a library. Clearly, +you can't have both versions installed and used on your machine simultaneously. +Virtual environments were created to solve this problem: by installing libraries +into an isolated environment, only projects that live inside the environment +will be able to see and use those libraries. Incompatible dependencies? Use +different virtual environments, and your problem is solved. + +Once again, each language has a different implementation. Python has +[virtualenv](http://www.virtualenv.org/), Ruby has +[`bundler`](http://gembundler.com/), and Node has +[`nave`](https://github.com/isaacs/nave). For each language, decide +if you want to use a virtual environment, or if you want to install all the +language dependencies globally (and risk conflicts). I suggest you start with +installing things globally until and unless things break; you can always +switch over to a virtual environment later on. + +Language Packages +----------------- +The Python libraries we use are listed in `requirements.txt`. The Ruby libraries +we use are listed in `Gemfile`. The Node libraries we use are listed in +`packages.json`. Python has a library installer called +[`pip`](http://www.pip-installer.org/), Ruby has a library installer called +[`gem`](https://rubygems.org/) (or `bundle` if you're using a virtual +environment), and Node has a library installer called +[`npm`](https://npmjs.org/). +Once you've got your languages and virtual environments set up, install +the libraries like so: + + $ pip install -r requirements.txt + $ bundle install + $ npm install + +Configuring Your Project +------------------------ +We use [`rake`](http://rake.rubyforge.org/) to execute common tasks in our +project. The `rake` tasks are defined in the `rakefile`, or you can run `rake -T` +to view a summary. + +Before you run your project, you need to create a sqlite database and create +tables in that database. Fortunately, `rake` will do it for you! Just run: + + $ rake django-admin[syncdb] + $ rake django-admin[migrate] + +If you are running these commands using the [`zsh`](http://www.zsh.org/) shell, +zsh will assume that you are doing +[shell globbing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glob_(programming)), search for +a file in your directory named `django-adminsyncdb` or `django-adminmigrate`, +and fail. To fix this, just surround the argument with quotation marks, so that +you're running `rake "django-admin[syncdb]"`. + +Run Your Project +---------------- +To *finally* get up and running, just run: + + $ rake cms + +And `rake` will start up your Django project on the localhost, port 8001. To +view your running project, type `127.0.0.1:8001` into your web browser, and +you should see edX in all its glory! + + +Further Documentation +===================== +Once you've got your project up and running, you can check out the `docs` +directory to see more documentation about how edX is structured. + + +