« Apache/mod_perl »

Although webCal can be run as a pure CGI application, it requires a powerful server to be realistically usable. To run webCal comfortably on a common off the shelf webserver, it is highly recommended it be run under apache/mod_perl.

Unfortunately install and configure apache/mod_perl is system dependent and is not at all trivial. Even for experienced system administrators, it is still quite a challange. If you encounter mod_perl installation problems, a great deal of helpful information can be found at mod_perl site. The webCal mailing list archive also contains some useful info regarding mod_perl configuration.

WebCal is known to run under both mod_perl1 and mod_perl2.

The following instructions applies only to Rehat Linux 7.2. For other systems, only the principle idea applies. The details will surely be different.

Install Apache/mod_perl

The two rpm packages I used are: 
   apache-1.3.19-5.i386.rpm 
   apache-modperl-1.3.19_1.25-0.i386.rpm
They can be find on many of the rpm databases on the net. For example, Rpmfind.net. To install these packages, run the following commands as root. 
redhat7.2# rpm -i apache-1.3.19-5.i386.rpm 
redhat7.2# rpm -i --force apache-modperl-1.3.19_1.25-0.i386.rpm
redhat7.2# modperl-install install
If you encounter failed dependencies, you need to fetch and install the required packages. For example, I had to install db31-3.1.17-1.i386.rpm first before installing any of the apache packages.

For RedHat 7.2, the apache document root is /var/www, configuration files are in /etc/httpd/conf, log files are in /var/log/httpd and apache modules are in /usr/lib/apache. The apache startup file is /etc/init.d/httpd. The owner of apache is apache.

To test your apache/mod_perl installation, run /etc/init.d/httpd start and check your apache error log /var/log/httpd/error_log. It should contain a line similar to the following. 

[Mon Sep 2 12:42:28 2002] [notice] Apache/1.3.19 (Unix) (Red-Hat/Linux) mod_perl/1.25 configured

Install WebCalendar

First, fetch the current webCalendar distribution from ftp://ftp.ma.utexas.edu/pub/mzou/webCal/, and unpack it. 
redhat7.2# wget ftp://ftp.ma.utexas.edu/pub/mzou/webCal/webCal-latest.tgz
redhat7.2# gzip -dc webCal-latest.tgz | tar xvf -
It will create a directory webCal*.*.*. Change to this directory. A customized version of the installation script install.pl_redhat-7.2 is provided in the distribution. Load this file in your favoriate editor, read it carefully and modify it if needed. Then run 
redhat7.2# perl install.pl_redhat-7.2
This script will install webCalendar under the subtree /var/www/webcal.

Configure Apache/mod_perl

You'll have to tell apache/mod_perl server about webCalendar before you can use it. Append the following code to the main apache configuration file is /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf. 

#==webcal==Bgn==
#
<IfModule mod_perl.c>
  Alias /y/ /var/www/webcal/bin/
  <Location /y>
    AllowOverride All
    SetHandler perl-script
    PerlHandler Apache::Registry
    PerlSendHeader On
    PerlRequire "/var/www/webcal/bin/startup.pl"
    Options +ExecCGI
  </Location>
</IfModule>

Alias /i/ "/var/www/webcal/webcal_icons/"

<Directory "/var/www/webcal/webcal_icons">
    Options Indexes MultiViews
    AllowOverride All
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>
#
#==webcal==End==

Save your change and restart your apache server. 

redhat7.2# /etc/init.d/httpd stop
redhat7.2# /etc/init.d/httpd start
If everything goes well, you can now access your webCal server at http://localhost/y/x. Try create a calendar (to be used as admin later if necessary).

More Info

Some sample configuration files are provided in the distribution, in the examples subdirectory.




Last updated: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 17:48:07 CST
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