[needs-packaging] etherpad - web based collaborative real-time editor

[Fabián Rodríguez]

Package name : etherpad
Version : 1.1.3
URL : http://etherpad.org
Source: http://github.com/ether/pad
License : Apache Software License 2.0

Description : Etherpad is a web based collaborative real-time editor where users can edit a text document simultaneously. Any changes are instantly reflected on all users screens.

Upcoming features include plugin system, tagging plugin, tag browsing/search plugin, Google Gadget compatibility for
embedding in other webpages, and more.

Debian ITP is here:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=576998

Packaging discussion is here:
http://groups.google.com/group/etherpad-dev/browse_thread/thread/52a05342cbcb82b7

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

*** This is an automated message ***

This bug is tagged needs-packaging which identifies it as a request for a new package in Ubuntu. As a part of the managing needs-packaging bug reports specification, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/Specs/NeedsPackagingBugs, all needs-packaging bug reports have Wishlist importance. Subsequently, I'm setting this bug's status to Wishlist.

[Mikko Rantalainen (mira)]

Instructions for etherpad on ubuntu:

git clone git://github.com/ether/pad.git
cd pad
git-buildpackage -us -uc
dpkg -i ../etherpad*deb

[Mikko Rantalainen (mira)]

Note that the current package from git://github.com/ether/pad.git is not a pretty one but should work. See especially comment
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=576998#10 for details how this should be done in the future.

[Fabián Rodríguez (magicfab)]

According to Etherpad.org there is a package which is the preferred method to install (not the above as presented by Mikko):
http://doc.etherpad.org/ep/pad/view/ro.lRwwt2zukr/latest

Basically, after enabling the partners reporsitory (so sun-java6-jdk becomes available):

1. Add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:
    deb http://etherpad.org/apt all .
2. apt-get update
3. apt-get install etherpad
4. Answer the questions (if any, depends on your system settings)
5. /etc/init.d/etherpad start
6. Go to localhost:9000

I have tested both (Mikko's and etherpad.org's package) on 10.04LTS VMs and both resulted in a usable but only locally accessible install. When trying to reach the Etherpad install from another host I got an error about reaching www.false.com:9000. It seems a superdomains variable needs to be set but I haven't found clear documentation about this.

You may also encounter memory error and the only way I could start the server was to reboot and then:
1- cd /usr/share/etherpad
2. sudo ./bin/run.sh

[brian herman (brianherman)]

There is a file that you have to add the ip address and hostname of your
box.
The files location is:
*/pad/etherpad/etc*
and the file's name is
*etherpad.localdev-default.properties*

-------BEGIN FILE--------

alwaysHttps = false
ajstdlibHome = ../infrastructure/framework-src/modules
appjetHome = ./data/appjet
devMode = true
etherpad.adminPass = password
etherpad.fakeProduction = false
etherpad.isProduction = false
etherpad.proAccounts = true
etherpad.SQL_JDBC_DRIVER = com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
etherpad.SQL_JDBC_URL = jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/etherpad
etherpad.SQL_PASSWORD = <YOUR PASSWORD HERE>
etherpad.SQL_USERNAME = <YOUR USERNAME HERE>
hidePorts = false
listen = 9000
logDir = ./data/logs
modulePath = ./src
motdPage =
/ep/pad/view/ro.3PfHCD0ApLc/latest?fullScreen=1&slider=0&sidebar=0
topdomains = <ip address or hostname here> , localhost,localbox.info
transportPrefix = /comet
transportUseWildcardSubdomains = true
useHttpsUrls = false
useVirtualFileRoot = ./src
theme = default

Thanks,
Brian Herman

brianjherman.com
Research Assistant
University Of Illinois at Chicago
<email address hidden>
Consultant
University of Chicago

2010/6/28 Fabián Rodríguez <email address hidden>

> According to Etherpad.org there is a package which is the preferred method
> to install (not the above as presented by Mikko):
> http://doc.etherpad.org/ep/pad/view/ro.lRwwt2zukr/latest
>
> Basically, after enabling the partners reporsitory (so sun-java6-jdk
> becomes available):
>
> 1. Add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:
> deb http://etherpad.org/apt all .
> 2. apt-get update
> 3. apt-get install etherpad
> 4. Answer the questions (if any, depends on your system settings)
> 5. /etc/init.d/etherpad start
> 6. Go to localhost:9000
>
> I have tested both (Mikko's and etherpad.org's package) on 10.04LTS VMs
> and both resulted in a usable but only locally accessible install. When
> trying to reach the Etherpad install from another host I got an error
> about reaching www.false.com:9000. It seems a superdomains variable
> needs to be set but I haven't found clear documentation about this.
>
> You may also encounter memory error and the only way I could start the
> server was to reboot and then:
> 1- cd /usr/share/etherpad
> 2. sudo ./bin/run.sh
>
> --
> [needs-packaging] etherpad - web based collaborative real-time editor
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/563484
> You received this bug notification because you are a bug assignee.
>
> Status in Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in Debian GNU/Linux: New
>
> Bug description:
> Package name : etherpad
> Version : 1.1.3
> URL : http://etherpad.org
> Source: http://github.com/ether/pad
> License : Apache Software License 2.0
>
> Description : Etherpad is a web based collaborative real-time editor where
> users can edit a text document simultaneously. Any changes are instantly
> reflected on all users screens.
>
> Upcoming features include plugin system, tagging plugin, tag
> browsing/search plugin, Google Gadget compatibility for
> embedding in other webpages, and more.
>
> Debian ITP is here:
> http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=576998
>
> Packaging discussion is here:
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/etherpad-...

[Mikko Rantalainen (mira)]

2010-06-29 00:54 EEST: Fabián Rodríguez:
> According to Etherpad.org there is a package which is the preferred method to install (not the above as presented by Mikko):
> http://doc.etherpad.org/ep/pad/view/ro.lRwwt2zukr/latest

The method I presented was the only (easy) method available in that
time. Obviously, if you don't care about the latest source code, using a
repository is the easiest way to get automatic updates.

The package from repository should always match master branch of
git://github.com/ether/pad.git so if you build your own package, the
actual installed files should be identical.

The actual development happens in various forks. See
http://github.com/ether/pad/network for visualization (requires flash
plugin). Usually the most recent code can be found from repository
git://github.com/redhog/pad.git

However, the current package is far from ideal. See message #3 for
details. Basically the etherpad package contains extra copy of various
libraries that should be in separate packages.

> I have tested both (Mikko's and etherpad.org's package) on 10.04LTS VMs
> and both resulted in a usable but only locally accessible install. When
> trying to reach the Etherpad install from another host I got an error
> about reaching www.false.com:9000. It seems a superdomains variable
> needs to be set but I haven't found clear documentation about this.

The Debian package installation scripts should automatically prompt for
the domain (among other things) and automatically generate correct
configuration file at /etc/etherpad/etherpad.local.properties

If that does not happen, you should submit a new bug at
http://github.com/ether/pad/issues (search for existing bug first and if
one exists, enter extra information there instead of opening a new one).
Please, spend some time to specify exact steps to reproduce the problem.
If you can reproduce the problem with Ubuntu Live CD, it will make it
simpler for others to reproduce (in that case, the software environment
is identical for all testers).

> You may also encounter memory error and the only way I could start the server was to reboot and then:
> 1- cd /usr/share/etherpad
> 2. sudo ./bin/run.sh

sudo /etc/init.d/etherpad restart
should work also.

Could you elaborate about the "memory error"?

[Fabián Rodríguez (magicfab)]

@Mikko it's not that I don't care about the source code but this bug is about having a working package. Being able to quickly + easily test that beats building it from scratch having to install dependencies as each try fails repeatedly.

I see a few problems with the current package:

- It depends on sun-java6-jdk which is non-free and requires the partners' repository. I saw instructions on etherpad.org to use openjdk but I didn't have time to try that.

- Starting / stopping it using init.d gave no indications on errors (in fact it reports nothin if you are missing java, for example).
Most online docs wrongly indicate one needs to use this command to start the server:
/usr/share/etherpad/etherpad/bin/run-local.sh

It only runs as sudo and I needed to use the memory parameter to prevent an error (see below), as my VMs use 512M by default and Etherpad wanted 1G (another requirement not mentioned in any docs):
/usr/share/etherpad/etherpad/bin/run-local.sh 384M

The error message I referred to was :
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Could not reserve enough space for object heap

This did it, you may need the above memory parameter workaround (CTRL-C stops it gracefully):
sudo /usr/share/etherpad/bin/run.sh

I had to dpkg -L to find the above paths, once again that's missing information from the current docs. I tried to edit the current pad at etherpad's website but couldn't find a way to do so.

I lack the time to open the appropriate bugs upstream as I wouldn't be able to follow up on them. I am glad re-testing this in some time but right now I can't dedicate more time to it.

@Brian thank you, such information should be on etherpad's site, I could not find a way to update anything there.

[Fabián Rodríguez (magicfab)]

/usr/share/etherpad/etherpad/etc/etherpad.local.properties should contain this:

alwaysHttps = false
ajstdlibHome = ../infrastructure/framework-src/modules
appjetHome = ./data/appjet
devMode = true
etherpad.adminPass = CHANGETHIS
etherpad.fakeProduction = false
etherpad.isProduction = false
etherpad.proAccounts = true
etherpad.SQL_JDBC_DRIVER = com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
etherpad.SQL_JDBC_URL = jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/etherpad
etherpad.SQL_PASSWORD = CHANGETHIS
etherpad.SQL_USERNAME = etherpad
hidePorts = false
listen = 9000
logDir = ./data/logs
modulePath = ./src
motdPage = /ep/pad/view/ro.3PfHCD0ApLc/latest?fullScreen=1&slider=0&sidebar=0
topdomains = YOURSERVERHOST,localhost,localbox.info
transportPrefix = /comet
transportUseWildcardSubdomains = true
useHttpsUrls = false
useVirtualFileRoot = ./src
theme = default

Notice how YOURSERVERHOST can't be an IP, otherwise further steps when creating a team will fail as the team host name becomes team.IPADDRESS.

[Alan Pope ㋛ (popey)]

Would it not be preferable to store these notes and documentation on the wiki, where we already have a page:-

http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Etherpad

Be good to keep this all in one place in an easy to follow format.

[Fabián Rodríguez (magicfab)]

@Alan, sure, except I doubt anyone interested in packaging is subscribed there. If anyone want to cleanup my notes above and post to the wiki, go ahead as I won't be able to for some time.

[brian herman (brianherman)]

I have updated the ubuntu wiki to reflect the new changes to etherpad.

Thanks,
Brian Herman

brianjherman.com
Research Assistant
University Of Illinois at Chicago
<email address hidden>
Consultant
University of Chicago

2010/6/29 Fabián Rodríguez <email address hidden>

> @Alan, sure, except I doubt anyone interested in packaging is subscribed
> there. If anyone want to cleanup my notes above and post to the wiki, go
> ahead as I won't be able to for some time.
>
> --
> [needs-packaging] etherpad - web based collaborative real-time editor
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/563484
> You received this bug notification because you are a bug assignee.
>
> Status in Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in Debian GNU/Linux: New
>
> Bug description:
> Package name : etherpad
> Version : 1.1.3
> URL : http://etherpad.org
> Source: http://github.com/ether/pad
> License : Apache Software License 2.0
>
> Description : Etherpad is a web based collaborative real-time editor where
> users can edit a text document simultaneously. Any changes are instantly
> reflected on all users screens.
>
> Upcoming features include plugin system, tagging plugin, tag
> browsing/search plugin, Google Gadget compatibility for
> embedding in other webpages, and more.
>
> Debian ITP is here:
> http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=576998
>
> Packaging discussion is here:
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/etherpad-dev/browse_thread/thread/52a05342cbcb82b7
>
>
>
>
>

[Peter Matulis (petermatulis)]

Instructions to use (confirmed on 12.10):

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Etherpad-liteInstallation