Using apache

Using apache instead of thin server on Fedora

No, This does NOT work. It's left as a starting point for those brave who might make it work.

The content is currently being discussed onDiscussions on Fedora Apache wiki page

This seems like it overlaps with installing on ubuntu/apache, so let's get rid of one. -- Raphael Sofaer

Basically, three issues:

• Is it possible to use apache at all? According to Installing and Running Diaspora the event machine required does not work w passenger + apache. Or?
• This does partly overlaps, but each OS has their own conventions about packaging, file names etc. The only real overlap here is the apache configuration IMHO.
• Where should the discussion be on this topic? Here? Mailing list? Open an issue? Or

##General

This page covers the steps which makes diaspora server running on port 3000. Besides this, most users have a need to making this server available to the outside world on port 80. This is not covered at this point. Personally, I just forwarded port 80 on my router to port 3000 on my box.

You can get the same basic behavior that nginx proxy uses from the proxy_balancer Apache mod. With this you can put in a rewrite rule for /diaspora and send it to port 3000. You would still need port 8080 open for the EM server, but there is no reason a basic proxy mechanic shouldn't work. I haven't tried it, but it's the path least fraught with peril.

##Passenger A common way to run Rails apps on Apache is the Passenger apache module. See http://www.modrails.com/documentation/Users%20guide.html

There is no Fedora passenger rpm ATM, see https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=470696

See also Installing on Ubuntu Apache

Install passenger module

To setup apache to run diaspora:

  sudo gem install passenger
  sudo  yum install apr-devel httpd-devel rubygem-rake
  sudo passenger-install-apache2-module

Create a new file /etc/httpd/conf.d/passenger.conf with content as given from passenger-install-apache2-module. For me, this was:

 LoadModule passenger_module /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.15/ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so
 PassengerRoot /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.15
 PassengerRuby /usr/bin/ruby

Make diaspora accessible from apache as a rails rack app

Copy the complete diaspora application to e. g., /usr/local/webapps to avoid troubles when apache can't access files in your ordinary home dir. Avoid storing the app under /var/www, seems that rewriting rules becomes unhappy in some cases then (?)

    cd <parent of diaspora dir>
    sudo mkdir /usr/local/webapps
    sudo mv diaspora /usr/local/webapps
    mkdir /usr/local/webapps/diaspora/tmp  # All rack apps should have a tmp dir.
    chown -R apache /usr/local/webapps/diaspora

Install the bundle

    sudo bundle install --system
    mkdir -p devise.git/ruby
    ln -s /usr/lib/ruby/gems/* devise.git/ruby/

Configure apache server instance

Create a virtual http server for the diaspora app by appending something like this to /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf (using your own servername for host.domain.tld):

Listen 3000
<virtualhost *:3000>
    ServerName     host.domain.tld
    DocumentRoot   /usr/local/webapps/diaspora
    RailsEnv       development
    RackEnv        development
     <Directory /usr/local/webapps/diaspora/public>
        AllowOverride None
        Order         allow,deny
        Allow         from all
    </Directory>
</virtualhost>

Run and access server

Restart server using 'server httpd restart'.

Access the server on http://host.domain.tld:3000

Bugs

• At this point, adding friends from this server to other servers fails with a "Connection timeout" message.

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