Installation problems running the cake commands to install the database schema

[mharris...@yahoo.com]

Hi,

I have been tasked with installing Guide On the Side in a Linux Ubuntu 14.04 server. Not bad, but I have never used Linux before and I am not a web programmer. The Linux issue is not that big a deal, but the web portion is. I am getting stuck on the installation procedure step 5 where you are to run "../lib/Cake/Console/cake Migrations.migration run all --plugin Tags". I get an error message ""../lib/Cake/Console/cake no such directory" as an error message. This is becoming rather critical as I have been give this project 2 weeks ago but have only been able to work on it the past week. The librarians want to use this product this week! I am rather desperate for assistance. What am I doing wrong?

Michael Harrison

Assistant Director of IT

Freeman School of Business

Tulane University

504-865-5488

[Mike Hagedon]

Hi Michael,
Welcome to the GotS community! We'll try to help you out. A couple questions:

1. Did you get GotS from the official zip package? Or did you clone from GitHub?

2. Which directory were you in when you ran the command?

Mike

Sent from a mobile device

[mharris...@yahoo.com]

Mike,

I believe I got the official zip package.

I tried to run the command from /var/www/html/guide_on_side/app folder as described in the installation instructions. Realizing that the cake executable was not there, I moved to the /var/www/html/cake/app/console folder and tried again with the same results.

Michael -

[Mike Hagedon]

Hi Michael,

In your GotS folder, there should be several files and folders. Those should include app/ and lib/. Do you have both of those in the GotS folder?

If not, redownload and reinstall from here: https://github.com/ualibraries/Guide-on-the-Side/releases/download/1.0-beta3/guide_on_the_side-1.0-beta3.zip

Mike

[mharris...@yahoo.com]

Mike,

I do have both of those folders. app/ has 10 folders and 3 files while lib/ has a single cake/ folder. Inside the cake/ folder are 17 folders and 4 files. I will download the file below and compare the files and folders. While that is going on, is there anything else I should look for?

Michael -

[Mike Hagedon]

Hmm... the only other thing I can think of now is to make sure you are preserving the case of the command, i.e., it's Cake, not cake. 

Let us know how it progresses...

[mharris...@yahoo.com]

Mike,

Well, progress! I was able to execute the cake commands and load the database structure. The web page http://localhost/guide_on_the_side opens but it is only the folder structure of the folder, much like an ftp window. It seems there is something that I did not do or is missing. Any further help?

Michael -

[Mike Hagedon]

Hi Michael,

Try checking on your Apache configuration: https://github.com/ualibraries/Guide-on-the-Side/blob/master/README.md

On Ubuntu, you'd find this stuff in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default (or some file in that folder).

Mike

[mharris...@yahoo.com]

Mike,

I think my lack of experience with Apache, PHP and Cake are in the way here. I have no idea what file to edit or what I should be changing or changing them to. Basically, I am at a total loss at this point. It feels like I have some critical files in the wrong folders and some of the configurations not pointing to the correct places, but I do not know where to begin to look to fix the problems. Also, after looking at the fresh download of the zip file, there are some things that I do not seem to have in the zip file I downloaded. Most of those things look like cosmetic enhancements, but again, I cannot be too sure.

Michael -

[William Simpson]

Hi Michael,

If you go into your root folder for the project (i.e. the one that contains app, lib, etc.) and run ls -al, do you see a file called .htaccess?  Sometimes files prefixed with a dot aren't appropriately unzipped (I recall this being a common issue on Mac OS X).  Without that file in the root directory, Apache won't be able to rewrite the URLs properly and will display the folders like you described.

-Will

[mharris...@yahoo.com]

Will,

Thanks for the help. My frustration must be rather obvious. I took your advice regarding the .htaccess file. So I went back to the original zip file for GoTS and extracted just that file. I put it in the appropriate folder and restarted apache. I get the same results however. I installed phpmyadmin and have no problems with that page opening. I also get the Apache default page with no problems. Any further ideas or suggestions?

[Mike Hagedon]

Hi Michael,

Frustration is perfectly OK. You're trying a lot of new things in taking on this project! 

My guess is that the rewrite rules in the .htaccess are not taking effect, and Will's idea was the first thing to check. I'll make a few assumptions (which may be incorrect) about your setup so I can give some specific instructions. If I'm right, in order to get the rewrite rules to work, run:

sudo a2enmod rewrite

then restart Apache.

Try it again, and if that doesn't work, edit the Apache virtual host:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf

Look for something like <Directory /var/www> and below that find an AllowOverride line. Change it to say

AllowOverride All

Then restart Apache and look at GotS again. If that doesn't work, look for the same line and make the same change in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf. Restart Apache and try it again.

Let us know how that goes and then we'll go from there. I hope we can get you up and running!

Mike

[mharris...@yahoo.com]

Mike,

You are a god!!!!!

That was the fix!!!!

I think now I have to see why the AllowOverride All line did not take affect. I need to check the 000-default.conf file and make sure the parameter are all set properly. Once that is set and I reboot the machine and things continue working, I will make all the other changes to the system for ease of use by our library staff.

Ok Mike, now for payment for your help. I will find your address and send you a King Cake as it is Mardi Gras down here right now. When I get to your area, I will look you up and buy you a cold drink.

Thank you for helping me get this far.

Michael -

[Mike Hagedon]

Hi Michael,

Glad to help! If it worked after restarting Apache, it should stick after reboot.

No payment necessary… if your librarians like GotS, just ask them to tell others about it. ☺

Mike