Some knowledge about package installation, web server and database configuration will be needed.
This software was developed and tested on Linux/Debian 12.2 (codename "bookwom") and the easiest way to install would be on a Debian 12.2 system following these instructions.
Another (experimental) way to install it would be via Docker. For more information take a look at the end of this document.
It may also work on other Linux distributions or even non Linux systems with using the requirements.txt, but substantially more knowledge about server administration would be needed.
Feel free to also consult our own documentation that we are using to set up Debian servers for OpenAtlas installations.
- Requirements
- IIIF (optional)
- Tests (optional)
- Docker (alternative installation method)
sudo apt install python3 python3-bcrypt python3-dateutil python3-psycopg2 python3-fuzzywuzzy python3-flask
sudo apt install python3-flask-babel python3-flask-login python3-flaskext.wtf python3-markdown python3-numpy
sudo apt install python3-pandas python3-jinja2 python3-flask-cors python3-flask-restful p7zip-full python3-wand
sudo apt install python3-rdflib python3-dicttoxml python3-rdflib-jsonld python3-flasgger python3-requests
sudo apt install exiftran python3-email-validator python3-svgwrite python3-shapely python3-xmltodict
sudo apt install python3-validators
sudo apt install apache2 libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3 gettext npm
sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-15-postgis-3 postgresql-15-postgis-3-scripts
Copy the files to /var/www/your_site_name or clone OpenAtlas from GitHub and adapt them accordingly as regular user:
git clone https://github.com/craws/OpenAtlas.git
Execute this lines as regular user too:
cd openatlas/static
npm install
Executed statements below as postgres user.
Create an openatlas database user
createuser openatlas -P
Create an openatlas database, make openatlas the owner of it
createdb openatlas -O openatlas
Add the PostGIS and unaccent extension to the database
psql openatlas -c "CREATE EXTENSION postgis; CREATE EXTENSION unaccent;"
Import the SQL files:
cd install
cat 1_structure.sql 2_data_model.sql 3_data_web.sql 4_data_type.sql | psql -d openatlas -f -
A user with username OpenAtlas is created with the password change_me_PLEASE!
Important: change this account immediately. A warning will be displayed for admins until this account is changed.
Copy instance/example_production.py to instance/production.py
cp instance/example_production.py instance/production.py
Add/change values as appropriate. See config.py which settings are available.
As root copy and adapt install/example_apache.conf for a new vhost, activate the site:
sudo a2ensite your_sitename
Test Apache configuration and restart
sudo apache2ctl configtest
sudo service apache2 restart
Make the files directory writable for the Apache user, e.g.:
sudo chown -R www-data files
Login with username "OpenAtlas" and password "change_me_PLEASE!" and change the password in profile. You may want to check the admin area to set up default site settings, email and similar.
If you later like to upgrade the application be sure to read and follow the upgrade instructions.
You don't need this to run the application, but it will improve server side security if running an online productive instance.
Use certbot to create a https vhost.
After Apache is configured to use HTTPS only, add this line to instance/production.py:
SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
IIIF is a set of open standards for delivering high-quality, attributed digital objects online at scale. Be aware that:
- IIIF is optional for an OpenAtlas installation
- Although already working and in use we still consider it experimental
- Enabling IIIF can expose files to the public (without login)
sudo apt install iipimage-server libvips-tools
sudo a2enmod fcgid
sudo service apache2 restart
You can test http://your.server/iipsrv/iipsrv.fcgi to see if it runs.
sudo mkdir /var/www/iipsrv
sudo cp -p /usr/lib/iipimage-server/iipsrv.fcgi /var/www/iipsrv/
sudo chown -R www-data /var/www/iipsrv
Edit the configuration to your needs, see example at install/iipsrv.conf and restart Apache:
sudo vim /etc/apache2/mods-available/iipsrv.conf
sudo service apache2 restart
If using Debian, prevent systemd to try to start the service itself:
sudo systemctl disable iipsrv.service
Further configuration can be done at the IIIF tab in the admin area of the web application.
Install required packages:
sudo apt install python3-coverage python3-nose
As postgres:
createdb openatlas_test -O openatlas
psql openatlas_test -c "CREATE EXTENSION postgis; CREATE EXTENSION unaccent;"
Copy instance/example_testing.py to instance/testing.py and adapt as needed:
cp instance/example_testing.py instance/testing.py
Create a own folder to test IIIF images, e.g.:
mkdir /var/www/iipsrv/tests
Run tests
nosetest3
Run tests with coverage
nosetests3 -c tests/.noserc
Be aware, the Docker installation is experimental and is not recommended for usage on a productive system.
To run OpenAtlas as a Docker container clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/craws/OpenAtlas.git
Open an CLI in the directory where you cloned OpenAtlas and run
docker compose up --detach
After the containers are build an OpenAtlas instance is available under localhost:8080.
Login with username OpenAtlas and password change_me_PLEASE! and change the password in your profile. You may want to check the admin area to set up default site settings, email and similar.
To restore a database SQL dump uncomment following command in ./docker-compose.yml and modify the first path. Make sure that no previous database is installed (e.g. delete ./data/db/), as the dump will not be executed.
- ./files/export/dump.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/dump.sql