webfaction modern python app install notes.rst

Python 2.6 + Virtualenv + Django 1.1 + Postgres on WebFaction

1. mkdir -p ~/bin ~/lib/python2.6/site-packages

2. Configure the environment by putting something like this in your .bashrc and sourcing it:

   export CFLAGS=-I/usr/local/pgsql/include 
   export LDFLAGS=-L/usr/local/pgsql/lib
   export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
   export PATH=/usr/local/pgsql/bin:$PATH
   export PYTHONPATH=$HOME/lib/python2.6/:$HOME/lib/python2.6/site-packages/
   
   source ~/bin/virtualenvwrapper_bashrc
   source ~/share/git-core/git-completion.bash

3. Install Git:

   curl -O http://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/git-1.6.5.6.tar.bz2
   tar -jxf git-1.6.5.6.tar.bz2 
   cd git-1.6.5.6
   ./configure --prefix=$HOME && make install
   mv contrib/completion/git-completion.bash ~/share/git-core/
   source ~/share/git-core/git-completion.bash 

4. Configure a local Python 2.6 environment:

   easy_install-2.6 -U --prefix=$HOME pip
   pip install -U virtualenv virtualenvwrapper

5. mkvirtualenv --no-site-packages my_project
6. Assuming your environment is configured correctly (see above) normal commands like pip install psycopg2 will work at this point.
7. TODO: Install mod_wsgi for the WebFaction apache using their compilation flags - need to test docs on this but it avoids custom building Apache just to bump the Python version from 2.5 to 2.6.

Memcached

1. pip install python-memcached
2. Create a local app following the well-hidden instructions

3. Create a script like this, taking care to replace <PORT_NUMBER_FROM_APP_PANEL> with the actual number:

   #!/bin/bash
   
   PID_FILE=/home/acdha/webapps/memcached/memcached.pid
   
   if [ -f "$PID_FILE" ]; then
       cat $PID_FILE | xargs --no-run-if-empty kill -0 && exit
   fi
   
   memcached -d -P "$PID_FILE" -l 127.0.0.1 -m 32 -p <PORT_NUMBER_FROM_APP_PANEL>
   
   echo "Started memcached as `cat $PID_FILE`"

4. Create a cron job like this (e.g. using crontab -e) to restart memcached if it crashes or something kills it:

   */5 * * * * /home/acdha/webapps/memcached/memcached_autostart.sh