For WeBWorK version 1.8
Samuel Hathaway <sh002i@math.rochester.edu>
Arnold Pizer <apizer@math.rochester.edu>
This document details the setup and configuration of Red Hat 8.0 for use with WeBWorK. Use it along with the Installing WeBWorK on a Linux System document. Before beginning the installation, you should also consult the Red Hat 8.0 Installation Guide at http://www.redhat.com/docs/.
While installing Red Hat Linux, there are several options that are important to WeBWorK. These are listed below with recommended settings.
Install Type: This affects which packages we will need to install later. We recommend "Server".
Firewall Configuration: If you choose to install a firewall, keep in mind that WeBWorK requires incoming HTTP connections, and you may benefit from allowing other types of inconming connections (such as telnet, SSH, FTP, or SCP) for professors. SSH and SCP servers are installed by default on the "Server System" install type, so opening those ports in your firewall configuration will enable those services.
Account Configuration: Make sure you create at least one user account, in addition to the root account. You can use this user account as the "regular user account" in the setup of WeBWorK.
Package Group Selection: This option is only shown if you choose the "Server System" install type. Here are our recommended selections:
package | directory | package names |
---|---|---|
gd-devel | Development->Libraries | gd-devel |
Also select any other packages you want to install at this time (e.g. your favorite editor if it wasn't listed in the "Editors" package). When RedHat checks for dependencies, accept the default of installing additional packages to resolve all dependencies (if any).
You can use RedHat's system configuration tools to replace several of the command-line operations in the Installing WeBWorK on a Linux System document. To access these tools, click Main Menu and then System or Server Settings (you will be asked for the root password). In the Red Hat User Manager, under Preferences, uncheck "Filter system users and groups" so you can see all users, e.g. apache.
shell task | configuration tool |
---|---|
useradd , usermod , userdel | System Settings->Users and Groups->Add User |
groupadd , groupmod , groupdel | System Settings->Users and Groups->Add Group |
/etc/init.d/httpd , adding apache to rc files | Server Settings->Services |
httpd
from the list of services. Apache is now started, and will start whenever the computer is rebooted. To
verify that apache is working, open Mozilla and open
http://localhost/
. You should see a page titled "Test Page".
At this point, begin reading the Installing WeBWorK on a Linux System document. Keep the following in mind:
/usr/bin/perl
which you will need to enter when
running the WeBWorK set up script. /usr/share/latex2html/l2hconf.pm
.
Edit it by setting
$PK_GENERATION = 1 $DVIPS_MODE = 'toshiba' $METAFONT_DPI = 180
> tar -xzf tth_linux.tar.gz
/usr/bin/
# cp tth_linux/tth /usr/bin
apache
in the group apache
. When the installaton instructions refer to the user wwserver
and the group wwserver
, you can substitute apache
.httpd.conf
is located in the directory /etc/httpd/conf/
./var/www/html/
and cgi-bin directory is /var/www/cgi-bin/
.ScriptAlias
for WeBWorK before the ScriptAlias
for cgi-bin
in httpd.conf
.# perl -MCPAN -e shell cpan> install HTML::Parser Net::SMTP MIME::Base64 CGI
gd-devel-1.8.4-9.i386.rpm
in the initial set up, install it now. It's on the second installation diskette
psyche-i386-disc2. Next link libpng
and libjpeg
. As root
# cd /usr/lib # ln -s libpng.so.3 libpng.so # ln -s libjpeg.so.62.0.0 libjpeg.soNow we are ready to install the GD module. Currently (Fall 2002) if you use CPAN to install GD, it will install the 2.01 version of GD.pm which requires the beta 2.0.1 version of gd. Unfortunately there is a known bug in gd 2.0.1 which prevents it from drawing horizontal dashed lines. We recommend using gd 1.8.4 and GD 1.33. gd 1.8.4 is on your system. For GD, go to http://stein.cshl.org/WWW/software/GD/.
As a normal user, download the tar/gzip archive for version 1.33 (or 1.29) and untar it:
> tar -xzf GD.pm.tar.gzthen cd to the
GD-1.33
subdirectory, make a copy of Makefile.PL
, and then edit
Makefile.PL
replacing lines 6 and 7
my @INC = qw(-I/usr/local/include -I/usr/local/include/gd); my @LIBPATH = qw(-L/usr/lib/X11 -L/usr/X11R6/lib -L/usr/X11/lib -L/usr/local/lib );by
my @INC = qw(-I/usr/local/include -I/usr/include -I/usr/local/include/gd); my @LIBPATH = qw(-L/usr/lib/X11 -L/usr/X11R6/lib -L/usr/X11/lib -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/lib);Now run the commands:
> perl Makefile.PL (select JPEG but not FreeType or XPM support for WeBWorK)) > make
Then, as root, install it.
# make installNote that we suggest you do not run
make test
as this will
show all tests failing, but the installation is OK. You can test this by
viewing graphs in WeBWorK or by running one of the sample
perl scripts contained in the GD documentation.
dvipng
from John Jones's site
http://hobbes.la.asu.edu/webwork-stuff
.
Then install it by running the following commands as root:
# tar -xzf for-dvipng.tar.gz # cd for-dvipng/ # cd preview # make install # cd ../dvipng/ # cp dvipng /usr/bin/ # cd /usr/bin # ldd dvipng
Good luck!