39 replies to this topic

[Waylan]

I almost have Django working on my tiny shared account. Actually, I think it works right, but I don't have the rewrite rules correct and that's causing the problem. Anyway, I'll step you through what I have so far.

First of all, you need to make sure you have Python2.3 for FCGI (and I think Django) to work. For more details about getting fcgi working, see this thread. You also need to have shell access. If you don't, submit a ticket to ASO support.

First, open your shell and confirm your version of Python (be sure to use a Capital V):

-jailshell-2.05b$ python -V
Python 2.3.4

If you have anything prior to 2.3.x you'll have to see about getting your server upgraded. (I'm told the new servers are at 2.3.x while the old are 2.2.x - if you just signed up for a new account, you should be good)

• Ok, assuming your on one of the new servers, it's time to get started. Although Django is now offered both as a tarball and from svn, I chose to install from subversion as its easier to update to latest trunk etc. In your shell, make sure you're in your HOME dir and do:
  
  CODE
  cd ~
  svn co http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk/ django_src
• Edit your PYTHONPATH and PATH vars so that Django is available from your shell.
  
  CODE
  export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/django_src/django/bin
  export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$HOME/django_src:$HOME/django_projects
• Create a Django projects directory and create your first Django project.
  
  CODE
  mkdir django_projects
  cd django_projects
  django-admin.py startproject myproject
• If you don't want other users on your shared host to have access to your DB settings, change the permissions on your myproject.settings file so that ONLY YOUR USER can read them.  
  
  CODE
  chmod 600 myproject/settings.py
• Edit the myproject.settings (myproject/settings.py) file to add your database connection parameters.
  
• Initialize the database.
  
  CODE
  django-admin.py init --settings=myproject.settings
• Create a superuser account for use with the admin interface (follow the prompts).
  
  CODE
  django-admin.py createsuperuser --settings=myproject.settings
• Now its time to create the publicly available directory. Whether you set that up as a sub domain through CPanel or just create a sub-dir under ~/public_html (which you can always point to with a sub domain of the same name later) is your choice. For this exersize, we'll assume your just creating a sub-dir, which needs to have the fcgi.py script.
  
  CODE
  cd ~/www
  mkdir myproject
  cd myproject
  wget http://svn.saddi.com/py-lib/trunk/fcgi.py
  chmod 755 fcgi.py
• Now you need to create a file named django.fcgi in the same dir, which should contain the following (replace 'username' with your username on lines 3 and 4 and 'myproject' with the name of your project if it differs from the example used above):
  
  CODE
  #!/usr/bin/python
  import sys
  sys.path += ['/home/username/django_src']
  sys.path += ['/home/username/django_projects']
  from fcgi import WSGIServer
  from django.core.handlers.wsgi import WSGIHandler
  import os
  os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'myproject.settings'
  WSGIServer(WSGIHandler()).run()
• Set the correct permissions on django.fcgi.
  
  CODE
  chmod 755 django.fcgi

At this point you should be able to go to http://yourdomain.com/myproject/django.fcgi/admin/ and http://yourdomain.com/myproject/django.fcgi/. I'm getting some python errors regarding the url which is most likely because there are no rewrite rules yet. However, when I try anything that makes sense, I get a 403 Forbidden error - which indicates a problem with the rewrite rules, not Django. I'm still working on it.

So that credit is made where credit it due, I copied most of this directly from the Dreamhost wiki making a few minor adjustments for differences in the server setup here at ASO.

When I get the rewrite rules etc worked out, I'll post them here as well. Of course, if someone has any insight, that would be great. In case your wondering, I'm tried many variations on the rules suggested on the Dreamhost wiki page I linked to above.

[-ASO- Tim]

Pretty useful information. I'll pin this for others to see. Thanks, Waylan!

[Waylan]

You may have noted that after logging out of your shell, when you log back in, the PATH and PYTHONPATH vars lose the extra values pointing to your project. To get django-admin.py to work, you have to re-export the values. To avoid this, edit ~/.bash_profile and add the following 2 lines to the end:

CODE

export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/django_src/django/bin
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$HOME/django_src:$HOME/django_projects

Now, whenever you log back in, the values will be set automaticly and you can go to work.

[Coppertone Studios Photography]

Any luck on the rewrite bit?

[Waylan]

Any luck on the rewrite bit?

Actually, it occured to me after posting, that the problem was that I didn't have any apps in my project. As I understand it, Django should be returning the HTTP Responce headers according to the url mod-rewrite passes to it. Seeing that http://yourdomain.com/myproject/django.fcgi/ works fine (I get a welcome page) but nothing else does (remember the admin needs to be activated - which I did not do), I think thats the problem. After all, Unfortunetly, my time has been consumed with higher priorities so I haven't played with it further.

I suggest using the rewrite rules suggested on the Dreamhost page I linked to and installing an app. Let me know how it goes.

[Poromenos]

Django is working
http://django.poromenos.org

I am using a shared host, and I am THIS <--> close to not wanting to ever see the name Django again. I was going to tell you how I did it but I am too exhausted. Ask me later.

[Waylan]

Django is working
http://django.poromenos.org

I am using a shared host, and I am THIS <--> close to not wanting to ever see the name Django again. I was going to tell you how I did it but I am too exhausted. Ask me later.

Please, do tell.

[Poromenos]

Ah yes, sorry. Basically, you follow the instructions at Dreamhost, but with a few twists that almost drove me mad. First and foremost, before I forget, make sure that your files have 2-3 empty lines at the end. I was frustrated for an hour before I thought to try that, when my page wasn't working.

Where the guide says /home/username/django.mydomain.com is just the (publicly accessible) directory where you want django to reside. Put the fcgi script there. Where it says "myproject.settings" use the format "projectname/settings". I don't know if this is the folder or the module (I think it's the folder), but it works.

My urls.py file looks like this:

from django.conf.urls.defaults import *

urlpatterns = patterns('',
     (r'^$', 'poromenos.default.views.index'),
     (r'^admin/', include('django.contrib.admin.urls.admin')),
)

Somehow it took me quite a few tries to make this to work. My MEDIA_URL is the url of my django site (http://django.poromenos.org/) and the ADMIN_MEDIA_PREFIX is "/media/". ROOT_URLCONF is 'poromenos.urls'
(my project name is poromenos) and INSTALLED_APPS are

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    "django.contrib.admin",
    "poromenos.default",
)

Ask here if you can't make something work.

[twaddler]

When I followed the above instructions I got the error that the python mysqldb module which Django uses for mysql connection is not installed.

Atleast not on the server I am on. So do not expect Django to work with mysql as simple as this.

Wonder what db option Poromenos use.

[jaseone]

Just raise a support ticket to have the module installed.

[Poromenos]

I'm using the "mysql" setting and it's working, but I don't remember if I've actually created any databases in my projects, so I can't help you there. The overall installation works though, as you can see.

[twaddler]

The nice people here at asmallorange installed mysql-python at request - this I am very thanksful for. It seems I should have asked for mysql-python with a version 1.1 or above since 1.0 doesn't support mysql 4.1

Be careful of what you ask for, you might get it.

This line creates django db tables:
django-admin.py init --settings=myproject.settings

Poromenos: so yes you created some tables

EDIT: got this response - so it doesn't seem to with the mysql-python version either - but my core still dumps.
We have version MySQL-python-1.0.0-1 which is compatable with mysql 4.1. Are you having problems?

If I get this to work I will post more.

Edited by twaddler, 11 February 2006 - 09:03 AM.

[Hero Lint]

Just a dumb question:  Why are you trying to use Django with fcgi?  Doesn't A Small Orange support mod_python?  Django is the easiest thing in the world to set up with mod_python, but it is a pain in the butt with fcgi, I think.

There does seem to be a problem with some Apache setups that causes mod_php and mod_python to conflict.  Is that the issue here?

Just curious.

Edited by Hero Lint, 13 February 2006 - 12:04 AM.

[Poromenos]

Nope, sadly it doesn't :/

[kemical]

after several attempts looks like django on shared hosting is more trouble than its worth and without having access to the rewrite rules everything needs to be passed through the fast cgi script bleh

[Poromenos]

Why don't you have access to the rewrite rules?

[kemical]

ah .htaccess file shows ive never used rewrite rules before


@poromenos

Using your urls.py setup :

from django.conf.urls.defaults import *

urlpatterns = patterns('',
    (r'^$','imbored.default.views.index'),
     (r'^admin/', include('django.contrib.admin.urls.admin')),
)

Im getting "Could not import imbored.default.views. Error was: No module named default.views"

any ideas?

Edited by kemical, 06 April 2006 - 07:33 AM.

[Poromenos]

Eh, no idea I'm not a Django expert, I was just able to set it up .

[patrickj]

alright this all sounds sort of easy, but one main question, how do I get a shell on a shared server?

[Waylan]

alright this all sounds sort of easy, but one main question, how do I get a shell on a shared server?

Submit a ticket.

I also suggest you aviod the java applet available from the CPanel and use a terminal app like putty.

Edited by Waylan, 15 May 2006 - 11:47 AM.