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why is mysql required? [fixed]

why is mysql required to get askbot up and running? why doesn't it support all the database back-ends supported by django?

most people, like myself, have already their version of django and database system setup in their development environment. i think those should be excluded from the requirements.

cheers,

omat

Evgeny's avatar
13.2k
Evgeny
updated 2010-10-25 21:17:33 -0500
omat's avatar
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omat
asked 2010-08-29 04:36:19 -0500
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on my local environment i have django1.1 and 1.2 but i favor 1.2 for new projects. postgres as the db back-end. i am on mac os x and couldn't even install mysql via pip.
omat's avatar omat (2010-08-30 10:59:38 -0500) edit
askbot may just work with django1.2 but I have not tested that yet. The test suit does not yet cover everything, so I cannot make claims of supporting a wide spectrum of components. It would be awesome if you try on 1.2 and give your feedback.
Evgeny's avatar Evgeny (2010-08-30 11:22:38 -0500) edit
thanks evgeny. i would like to test for django 1.2 but i couldn't install askbot without the dependencies and simply copying did not work due to dependencies too. i will let you know if i can manage to get it running.
omat's avatar omat (2010-08-31 04:52:15 -0500) edit
there are ways around it - you can replace one dependency at a time to see what causes problems, or you can use --prefix option (maybe along with "develop" instead of "install" when you run setup.py and install deps into a custom location). You'll have to chang PYTHONPATH and if needed django.wsgi
Evgeny's avatar Evgeny (2010-08-31 11:06:50 -0500) edit
fyi, i have been using askbot locally with django 1.2 for a day, i didn't test every functionality but it is running fine so far.
omat's avatar omat (2010-09-08 05:28:26 -0500) edit
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2 Answers

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Agreed, indeed more databases should be supported and testing on postrgres is on a todo shortlist.

Askbot now works on postgres. Thanks for bringing this up.

edit: also full text search with ranking by relevance is now working in postrges.

Evgeny's avatar
13.2k
Evgeny
updated 2010-10-25 21:11:38 -0500, answered 2010-08-29 12:20:35 -0500
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thanks. good to hear that. i am using postgres.
omat's avatar omat (2010-08-30 00:29:00 -0500) edit
how about leaving full text search to sth. like solr (http://lucene.apache.org/solr/) ?
omat's avatar omat (2010-08-30 10:57:02 -0500) edit
It's a good idea, solr seems to be actively supported but adding it as a requirement may not be wise - because it'll make the system harder to install and configure.
Evgeny's avatar Evgeny (2010-08-30 11:19:33 -0500) edit
what I meant to say - solr may be supported as an option
Evgeny's avatar Evgeny (2010-08-30 11:35:59 -0500) edit
thanks for the update. still it is not possible to install askbot at first place via pip or easy-install if mysql is not setup in the environment. i couldn't find where this requirement comes from but an `EnvironmentError: mysql_config not found` is raised.
omat's avatar omat (2010-09-06 07:14:11 -0500) edit
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Of course MySQL should not be required as well as some other dependencies and looks like it's actually possible to run askbot on sqlite (thanks to Onur) and postgres.

The problem that we have to solve here is how to satisfy different needs without getting in the users' way too much. One can imagine the following scenarios:

  • someone wants a "turn key" running forum
  • or instead they want to just get the askbot app alone and are willing to tinker with details of installation
  • select a database engine from a "pre-approved" list (there are quite specific version and config requirements even for MySQL - to make full text search work, for postgres FTS there is also a specific version requirement)
  • user may want to try a different database engine (perhaps one that was not yet tested)
  • install askbot in local directory (good idea if user wants to tweak skins or develop code - and in this case checkout is highly advised) or system directory (for production use only)
  • or they might want to install into a virtual environment
  • or (for shared hosts) - install into an alternate location - with or without things like django and database adapters
  • use a different version of Django (even one that was not tested with askbot yet)

What would really be great is to come up with a flexible setup.py script and the follow-up deployment script, otherwise there is no way to make adoption of askbot easy for most users.

Evgeny's avatar
13.2k
Evgeny
updated 2010-09-11 11:52:17 -0500, answered 2010-09-11 11:52:00 -0500
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imo, setup script should not just copy a standard file, but let django-admin build the file, because its format changes from version to version. also secret key is randomized. then add askbot specific attributes to the settings file. maybe we should open a separate question to discuss this.
omat's avatar omat (2010-09-13 06:41:48 -0500) edit
sounds like a ripe theme for a discussion!
Evgeny's avatar Evgeny (2010-09-13 15:19:52 -0500) edit
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