path: root/rt/README

RT is an enterprise-grade issue tracking system. It allows organizations
to keep track of what needs to get done, who is working on which tasks,
what's already been done, and when tasks were (or weren't) completed.

RT doesn't cost anything to use, no matter how much you use it; it
is freely available under the terms of Version 2 of the GNU General
Public License.

RT is commercially-supported software. To purchase support, training,
custom development, or professional services, please get in touch with
us at sales@bestpractical.com.

     Jesse Vincent
     Best Practical Solutions, LLC
     March, 2005


REQUIRED PACKAGES
-----------------

o   Perl 5.8.3 or later (http://www.perl.org).

        Perl versions prior to 5.8.3 contain bugs that could result
        in data corruption. RT won't start on older versions.

o   A supported SQL database

        Currently supported:  Mysql 4.0.13 or later with InnoDB support.
                              Postgres 7.2 or later.
                              Oracle 9iR2 or later.
                              SQLite 3.0. (Not recommended for production)

o   Apache version 1.3.x or 2.x (http://httpd.apache.org)
        with mod_perl -- (http://perl.apache.org )
        or with FastCGI -- (www.fastcgi.com)
        or other webserver with FastCGI support

        RT's FastCGI handler needs to access RT's configuration file.

o   Various and sundry perl modules
        A tool included with RT takes care of the installation of
        most of these automatically during the install process.

        The tool supplied with RT uses Perl's CPAN system
        (http://www.cpan.org) to install modules. Some operating
        systems package all or some of the modules required, and
        you may be better off installing the modules that way.


GENERAL INSTALLATION
--------------------

This is a rough guide to installing RT. For more detail, you'll
want to read a more comprehensive installation guide at:

    http://wiki.bestpractical.com/index.cgi?InstallationGuides

1   Unpack this distribution other than where you want to install RT

     To do this cleanly, run the following command:

       tar xzvf rt.tar.gz -C /tmp

2   Run the "configure" script.

       ./configure --help to see the list of options
       ./configure (with the flags you want)

    RT defaults to installing in /opt/rt3 with MySQL as its database. It
    tries to guess which of www-data, www, apache or nobody your webserver
    will run as, but you can override that behavior.  Note that the
    default install directory in /opt/rt3 does not work under SELinux's
    default configuration.

    If you're upgrading RT then it worth to read UPGRADING document at this
    moment. Some extension you're using may have been integrated into
    core. It's recommended to use new clean directory when you're
    upgrading to new major release (for example from 3.6.x to 3.8.x).

3   Make sure that RT has everything it needs to run.

    Check for missing dependencies by running:

       make testdeps

4   If the script reports any missing dependencies, install them by hand
    or run the following command as a user who has permission to install perl
    modules on your system:

     make fixdeps

    Some modules require user input or environment variables to install correctly,
    so it may be necessary to install them manually.

5   Check to make sure everything was installed properly.

       make testdeps

     It might sometimes be necessary to run "make fixdeps" several times
     to install all necessary perl modules.

6   If this is a new installation:

     As a user with permission to install RT in your chosen directory, type:

       make install

     Set up etc/RT_SiteConfig.pm in your RT installation directory.
     You'll need to add any values you need to change from the defaults
     in etc/RT_Config.pm

     As a user with permission to read RT's configuration file, type:

       make initialize-database

     If the make fails, type:

       make dropdb

     and start over from step 6

7   If you're upgrading from RT 3.0 or newer:

     Read through the UPGRADING document included in this distribution. If
     you're using MySQL, read through UPGRADING.mysql as well.

     It includes special upgrade instructions that will help you get this
     new version of RT up and running smoothly.

     As a user with permission to install RT in your chosen installation
     directory, type:

       make upgrade

     This will install new binaries, config files and libraries without
     overwriting your RT database.

     Update etc/RT_SiteConfig.pm in your RT installation directory.
     You'll need to add any new values you need to change from the defaults
     in etc/RT_Config.pm

     You may also need to update RT's database.  You can do this with
     the rt-setup-database tool.  Replace root with the name of the dba
     user on your database (root is the default for MySQL).

     You will be prompted for your previous version of RT (such as 3.6.4)
     so that we can calculate which database updates to apply

     You should back up your database before running this command.

       /opt/rt3/sbin/rt-setup-database --dba root --prompt-for-dba-password --action upgrade

     Clear mason cache dir:

       rm -fr /opt/rt3/var/mason_data/obj

     Stop and start web-server.


8  If you're upgrading from RT 2.0:

    Use the RT::Extension::RT2toRT3 module to upgrade to the current RT
    release.  You can download it from CPAN here:
    http://search.cpan.org/dist/RT-Extension-RT2toRT3/

9   Configure the email and web gateways, as described below.

    NOTE: root's password for the web interface is "password"
    (without the quotes).  Not changing this is a SECURITY risk!

10  Set up automated recurring tasks (cronjobs):

    To generate email digest messages, you must arrange for the provided
    utility to be run once daily, and once weekly. You may also want to
    arrange for the rt-email-dashboards utility to be run hourly.
    For example, if your task scheduler is cron, you can configure it as
    follows:

        crontab -e    # as the RT administrator (probably root)
        # insert the following lines:
        0 0 * * * /opt/rt3/sbin/rt-email-digest -m daily
        0 0 * * 0 /opt/rt3/sbin/rt-email-digest -m weekly
        0 * * * * /opt/rt3/sbin/rt-email-dashboards


11   Set up users, groups, queues, scrips and access control.

    Until you do this, RT will not be able to send or receive email,
    nor will it be more than marginally functional.  This is not an
    optional step.




SETTING UP THE WEB INTERFACE
----------------------------

RT's web interface is based around HTML::Mason, which works well with
the mod_perl perl interpreter within Apache httpd and FastCGI.

Once you've set up the web interface, consider setting up automatic
logout for inactive sessions. For more information about how to do that,
run
    perldoc /path/to/rt/sbin/rt-clean-sessions


mod_perl 1.xx
-------------

WARNING: mod_perl 1.99_xx is not supported.

See below configuration instructions for mod_perl 2.x

To install RT with mod_perl 1.x, you'll need to install the
apache database connection cache. To make sure it's installed, run
the following command:

    perl -MCPAN -e'install "Apache::DBI"'

Next, add a few lines to your Apache 1.3.xx configuration file, so that
it knows where to find RT:

<VirtualHost your.ip.address>
    ServerName your.rt.server.hostname

    DocumentRoot /opt/rt3/share/html
    AddDefaultCharset UTF-8

    # optional apache logs for RT
    # ErrorLog /opt/rt3/var/log/apache.error
    # TransferLog /opt/rt3/var/log/apache.access

    PerlModule Apache::DBI
    PerlRequire /opt/rt3/bin/webmux.pl

    <Location /NoAuth/images>
        SetHandler default
    </Location>
    <Location />
        SetHandler perl-script
        PerlHandler RT::Mason
    </Location>
</VirtualHost>

mod_perl 2.xx
-------------

WARNING: mod_perl 1.99_xx is not supported.

Add a few lines to your Apache 2.xx configuration file, so that
it knows where to find RT:

<VirtualHost your.ip.address>
    ServerName your.rt.server.hostname

    DocumentRoot /opt/rt3/share/html
    AddDefaultCharset UTF-8

    # optional apache logs for RT
    # ErrorLog /opt/rt3/var/log/apache2.error
    # TransferLog /opt/rt3/var/log/apache2.access

    PerlRequire "/opt/rt3/bin/webmux.pl"

    <Location /NoAuth/images>
        SetHandler default
    </Location>
    <Location />
        SetHandler perl-script
        PerlResponseHandler RT::Mason
    </Location>
</VirtualHost>

FastCGI
-------

Installation with FastCGI is a little bit more complex and is documented
in detail at http://wiki.bestpractical.com/index.cgi?FastCGIConfiguration

In the most basic configuration, you can set up your webserver to run
as a user who is a member of the "rt" unix group so that the FastCGI script
can read RT's configuration file.  It's important to understand the security
implications of this configuration, which are discussed in the document
mentioned above.

To install RT with FastCGI, you'll need to add a few lines to your
Apache configuration file telling it about RT:


# Tell FastCGI to put its temporary files somewhere sane.
FastCgiIpcDir /tmp

FastCgiServer /opt/rt3/bin/mason_handler.fcgi -idle-timeout 120

<VirtualHost rt.example.com>
   ServerName your.rt.server.hostname

   # Pass through requests to display images
   Alias /NoAuth/images/ /opt/rt3/share/html/NoAuth/images/

   AddHandler fastcgi-script fcgi
   ScriptAlias / /opt/rt3/bin/mason_handler.fcgi/
</VirtualHost>



SETTING UP THE MAIL GATEWAY
---------------------------

To let email flow to your RT server, you need to add a few lines of
configuration to your mail server's "aliases" file. These lines "pipe"
incoming email messages from your mail server to RT.

Add the following lines to /etc/aliases (or your local equivalent) on your mail server:

rt:         "|/opt/rt3/bin/rt-mailgate --queue general --action correspond --url http://rt.example.com/"
rt-comment: "|/opt/rt3/bin/rt-mailgate --queue general --action comment --url http://rt.example.com/"

You'll need to add similar lines for each queue you want to be able
to send email to. To find out more about how to configure RT's email
gateway, type:

       perldoc /opt/rt3/bin/rt-mailgate



GETTING HELP
------------

If RT is mission-critical for you or if you use it heavily, we recommend that
you purchase a commercial support contract.  Details on support contracts
are available at http://www.bestpractical.com or by writing to
<sales@bestpractical.com>.

If you're interested in having RT extended or customized or would like more
information about commercial support options, please send email to
<sales@bestpractical.com> to discuss rates and availability.



RT WEBSITE
----------

For current information about RT, check out the RT website at
     http://www.bestpractical.com/

You'll find screenshots, a pointer to the current version of RT, contributed
patches, and lots of other great stuff.



RT-USERS MAILING LIST
---------------------

To keep up to date on the latest RT tips, techniques and extensions,
you probably want to join the rt-users mailing list.  Send a message to:

      rt-users-request@lists.bestpractical.com

with the body of the message consisting of only the word:

     subscribe

If you're interested in hacking on RT, you'll want to subscribe to
<rt-devel@lists.bestpractical.com>.  Subscribe to it with instructions
similar to those above.

Address questions about the stable release to the rt-users list, and
questions about the development version to the rt-devel list.  If you feel
your questions are best not asked publicly, send them personally to
<jesse@bestpractical.com>.



BUGS
----

RT's a pretty complex application, and as you get up to speed, you might
run into some trouble. Generally, it's best to ask about things you
run into on the rt-users mailinglist (or pick up a commercial support
contract from Best Practical). But, sometimes people do run into bugs. In
the exceedingly unlikely event that you hit a bug in RT, please report
it! We'd love to hear about problems you have with RT, so we can fix them.
To report a bug, send email to rt-bugs@fsck.com.


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