This document gives a short outline about the necessary steps to setup a LiquidFeedback system.
If you're using a Debian system, make sure that the following packages are installed:
If you're using any other Linux distribution or BSD system, install the necessary software components accordingly.
The useraccount of the webserver (usually www-data) or the Moonbridge server
process needs to have access to your PostgreSQL installation. This is done by
executing PostgreSQL's shell command createuser as database superuser
(usually pgsql, or postgres for Debian installations):
su - postgres
createuser
Enter name of role to add: www-data
Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n) n
Shall the new role be allowed to create databases? (y/n) y
Shall the new role be allowed to create more new roles? (y/n) n
exit
We recommend to create the database with the same user as your webserver
(usually www-data) to avoid having to setup database privileges.
The example below installs the database as www-data and stores the two
executables lf_update and lf_update_issue_order in the directory
/opt/liquid_feedback_core/:
# Download and unpack LiquidFeedback-Core
# from http://www.public-software-group.org/pub/projects/liquid_feedback/backend/
make
mkdir /opt/liquid_feedback_core
cp core.sql lf_update lf_update_issue_order /opt/liquid_feedback_core
su - www-data
cd /opt/liquid_feedback_core
createdb liquid_feedback
createlang plpgsql liquid_feedback # command may be omitted, depending on PostgreSQL version
psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -f core.sql liquid_feedback
A simple configuration may look as follows:
psql liquid_feedback
INSERT INTO system_setting (member_ttl) VALUES ('1 year');
INSERT INTO contingent (polling, time_frame, text_entry_limit, initiative_limit) VALUES (false, '1 hour', 20, 6);
INSERT INTO contingent (polling, time_frame, text_entry_limit, initiative_limit) VALUES (false, '1 day', 80, 12);
INSERT INTO contingent (polling, time_frame, text_entry_limit, initiative_limit) VALUES (true, '1 hour', 200, 60);
INSERT INTO contingent (polling, time_frame, text_entry_limit, initiative_limit) VALUES (true, '1 day', 800, 120);
INSERT INTO policy (index, name, admission_time, discussion_time, verification_time, voting_time, issue_quorum_num, issue_quorum_den, initiative_quorum_num, initiative_quorum_den) VALUES (1, 'Default policy', '8 days', '15 days', '8 days', '15 days', 10, 100, 10, 100);
INSERT INTO unit (name) VALUES ('Our organization');
INSERT INTO area (unit_id, name) VALUES (1, 'Default area');
INSERT INTO allowed_policy (area_id, policy_id, default_policy) VALUES (1, 1, TRUE);
If you want to create an admin user with an empty password (CAUTION!), then execute the following SQL statement:
INSERT INTO member (login, name, admin, password) VALUES ('admin', 'Administrator', TRUE, '$1$/EMPTY/$NEWt7XJg2efKwPm4vectc1');
Exit the psql interface by typing:
\q
And don't forget to quit the www-data shell:
exit
# Download and unpack Moonbridge
# from http://www.public-software-group.org/pub/projects/moonbridge/
pmake MOONBR_LUA_PATH=/opt/moonbridge/?.lua
mkdir /opt/moonbridge
cp moonbridge /opt/moonbridge/
cp moonbridge_http.lua /opt/moonbridge/
Note: Using Debian, it may be necessary to append -I /usr/include/lua5.2 at
the end of the CFLAGS line in Makefile.options of the WebMCP source
distibution:
# Download and unpack WebMCP
# from http://www.public-software-group.org/pub/projects/webmcp/
vi Makefile.options # Debian requires -I /usr/include/lua5.2 at end of CFLAGS line
make
mkdir /opt/webmcp
cp -RL framework/* /opt/webmcp/
Unpack source tree into appropriate directory, e.g. /opt/liquid_feedback_frontend:
# Download LiquidFeedback-Frontend
# from http://www.public-software-group.org/pub/projects/liquid_feedback/frontend/
mv liquid_feedback_frontend-vX.X.X /opt/liquid_feedback_frontend
Make tmp/ directory of LiquidFeedback-Frontend writable for webserver:
chown www-data /opt/liquid_feedback_frontend/tmp
Compile binary for fast delivery of member images (only necessary for WebMCP 1.2.x):
cd /opt/liquid_feedback_frontend/fastpath
vi getpic.c # check and modify #define commands as necessary
make
It may be necessary to configure your server's mail system, e.g. running
dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config on a Debian system.
A sample configuration for lighttpd is given below (assuming mod_alias has
been included elsewhere):
server.modules += ("mod_cgi", "mod_rewrite", "mod_redirect", "mod_setenv")
# Enable CGI-Execution of *.lua files through lua binary
cgi.assign += ( ".lua" => "/usr/bin/lua5.1" )
alias.url += ( "/lf/fastpath/" => "/opt/liquid_feedback_frontend/fastpath/",
"/lf/static" => "/opt/liquid_feedback_frontend/static",
"/lf" => "/opt/webmcp/cgi-bin" )
# Configure environment for demo application
$HTTP["url"] =~ "^/lf" {
setenv.add-environment += (
"LANG" => "en_US.UTF-8",
"WEBMCP_APP_BASEPATH" => "/opt/liquid_feedback_frontend/",
"WEBMCP_CONFIG_NAME" => "myconfig")
}
# URL beautification
url.rewrite-once += (
# do not rewrite static URLs
"^/lf/fastpath/(.*)$" => "/lf/fastpath/$1",
"^/lf/static/(.*)$" => "/lf/static/$1",
# dynamic URLs
"^/lf/([^\?]*)(\?(.*))?$" => "/lf/webmcp-wrapper.lua?_webmcp_path=$1&$3",
)
$HTTP["url"] =~ "^/lf/fastpath/" {
cgi.assign = ( "" => "" )
setenv.add-response-header = ( "Cache-Control" => "private; max-age=86400" )
}
If you're using Debian, you may want to create a file with the name
/etc/lighttpd/conf-available/60-liquidfeedback.conf and create a softlink in
/etc/lighttpd/conf-enabled/.
cd /opt/liquid_feedback_frontend/config
cp example.lua myconfig.lua
# edit myconfig.lua according to your needs
Use the following option in your configuration file to enable fast image loading (only for WebMCP 1.2.x):
config.fastpath_url_func = function(member_id, image_type)
return request.get_absolute_baseurl() .. "fastpath/getpic?" .. tostring(member_id) .. "+" .. tostring(image_type)
end
lf_update and related commands The executables lf_update, lf_update_issue_order, and
lf_update_suggestion_order must be executed regularly. This may be achieved
by creating a file named /opt/liquid_feedback_core/lf_updated with the
following contents:
#!/bin/sh
PIDFILE="/var/run/lf_updated.pid"
PID=$$
if [ -f "${PIDFILE}" ] && kill -CONT $( cat "${PIDFILE}" ); then
echo "lf_updated is already running."
exit 1
fi
echo "${PID}" > "${PIDFILE}"
while true; do
su - www-data -c 'nice /opt/liquid_feedback_core/lf_update dbname=liquid_feedback 2>&1 | logger -t "lf_updated"'
su - www-data -c 'nice /opt/liquid_feedback_core/lf_update_issue_order dbname=liquid_feedback 2>&1 | logger -t "lf_updated"'
su - www-data -c 'nice /opt/liquid_feedback_core/lf_update_suggestion_order dbname=liquid_feedback 2>&1 | logger -t "lf_updated"'
sleep 5
done
This file must be marked as executable:
chmod +x /opt/liquid_feedback_core/lf_updated
And this file should be started automatically at system boot.
In addition to regular execution of lf_update and
lf_update_suggestion_order, the following commands should be executed in
background:
su - www-data
cd /opt/liquid_feedback_frontend/
echo "Event:send_notifications_loop()" | ../webmcp/bin/webmcp_shell myconfig
After lf_update has been executed at least once and (in case of WebMCP 1.2.x)
the webserver has been restarted (using the configuration above), you should be
able to access your LiquidFeedback system.
If you use WebMCP 2.x, the server is started by calling:
/opt/moonbridge/moonbridge /opt/webmcp/bin/mcp.lua /opt/webmcp/ /opt/liquid_feedback_frontend/ main myconfig
In the latter case, the Moonbridge server will open a TCP port according to your configuration. Directly accessing this TCP port through your webbrowser is helpful for development purposes. For real-life deployment, however, it is recommended to further proxy the application (e.g. using nginx). The proxy can also add HTTPS support (which is not supported by Moonbridge itself).