blob: d5eba02652dad0ee43abb913efb8d0bae95ffcff [file] [log] [blame]
Guido van Rossum132e1891997-05-26 20:15:09 +00001FAQ Wizard
2----------
3
4Author: Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org>
Guido van Rossumdafce6d1997-06-02 23:10:06 +00005Version: 0.5
6Date: 2 June 1997
Guido van Rossum132e1891997-05-26 20:15:09 +00007
8
9This is a CGI program that maintains a user-editable FAQ. It uses RCS
10to keep track of changes to individual FAQ entries. It is fully
11configurable; everything you might want to change when using this
12program to maintain some other FAQ than the Python FAQ is contained in
13the configuration module, faqconf.py.
14
Guido van Rossumdafce6d1997-06-02 23:10:06 +000015Note that the bulk of the code is not an executable script; it's an
16importable module. The actual script in cgi-bin is minimal.
Guido van Rossum132e1891997-05-26 20:15:09 +000017
18Files:
19
20faqw.py executable script to be edited and installed in cgi-bin
21faqwin.py main module, lives in same directory as FAQ entry files
22faqconf.py main configuration module
23faqcust.py additional local customization module (optional)
24
Guido van Rossumdafce6d1997-06-02 23:10:06 +000025Setup Information
26-----------------
27
28This assumes you are familiar with Python, with your http server, and
29with running CGI scripts under your http server. You need Python 1.4
30or better.
31
32Create a dedicated working directory, preferably one that's not
33directly reachable from your http server. Drop the Python modules
34mentioned above in the working directory. Create a subdirectory named
35RCS. Make both the working directory and the RCS subdirectory
36wrld-writable. (This is essential, since the FAQ wizard runs as use
37nobody, and needs to create additional files here!)
38
39Edit faqconf.py to reflect your setup. You only need to edit the top
40part, up till the line of all dashes. The comments should guide you
41in your edits. You can also choose to make your changes to faqcust.py
42and leave faqconf.py alone.
43
44Don't forget to edit the SECTION_TITLES variables to reflect the set
45of section titles for your FAQ!
46
47Next, edit faqw.py to reflect the pathname of your Python interpreter
48and the directory you just created. Then install in in your cgi-bin
49directory. Make sure that it is world-executable. You should now be
50able to connect to the FAQ wizard by entering the following URL in
51your web client (subsituting the appropriate host and port for
52"your.web.server", and perhaps specifying a different directory for
53"cgi-bin" if local conventions so dictate):
54
55 http://your.web.server/cgi-bin/faqw.py
56
57If you are unable to get this working, check your server's error_log
58file. The documentation for Python's cgi module in the Python Library
59Reference Manual gives plentyu additional information about installing
60and debugging CGI scripts, including setup debugging. This
61documentation is repeated in the doc string in the cgi module; try
62``import cgi; print cgi.__doc__''.
63
64Assuming this woks, you should now be able to add the first entry to
65your FAQ using the FAQ wizard interface. This creates a file
66faq01.001.htp in your working directory and an RCS revision history
67file faq01.001.htp,v in the RCS subdirectory. You can now exercise
68the other FAQ wizard features (search, index, whole FAQ, what's new,
69and roulette).
Guido van Rossumd7918fb1997-05-30 12:01:24 +000070
Guido van Rossum132e1891997-05-26 20:15:09 +000071--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)