# Roundup FAQ

Version: | $Revision$

Contents

- Installation
  - Living without a mailserver
  - The cgi-bin is very slow!
  - How do I put Roundup behind Apache
  - Roundup runs very slowly on my XP machine when accessed from the Internet
- Templates
  - What is that stuff in the tracker html directory?
  - But I just want a select/option list for ....
  - Great! But now the select/option list is too big
- Using Roundup
  - I got an error and I cant reload it!
  - I keep getting logged out
  - How is sorting performed, and why does it seem to fail sometimes?

# Installation

## Living without a mailserver

Remove the nosy reactor, means delete the tracker file `detectors/nosyreactor.py` from your tracker home.

## The cgi-bin is very slow!

Yep, it sure is. It has to start up Python and load all of the support libraries for every request.

The solution is to use the built in server.

To make Roundup more seamless with your website, you may place the built in server behind apache and link it into your web tree

## How do I put Roundup behind Apache

We have a project (foo) running on `tracker.example:8080`. We want `http://tracker.example/issues` to use the roundup server, so we set that up on port 8080 on `tracker.example` with the `config.ini` line:

    [tracker]
    ...
    web = 'http://tracker.example/issues/'

We have a "foo_issues" tracker and we run the server with:

    roundup-server -p 8080 issues=/home/roundup/trackers/issues

Then, on the Apache machine (eg. redhat 7.3 with apache 1.3), in `/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf` uncomment:

    LoadModule proxy_module       modules/libproxy.so

and:

    AddModule mod_proxy.c

Then add:

    # roundup stuff (added manually)
    <IfModule mod_proxy.c>
    # proxy through one tracker
    ProxyPass /issues/ http://tracker.example:8080/issues/
    # proxy through all tracker(*)
    #ProxyPass /roundup/ http://tracker.example:8080/
    </IfModule>

Then restart Apache. Now Apache will proxy the request on to the roundup-server.

Note that if you're proxying multiple trackers, you'll need to use the second ProxyPass rule described above. It will mean that your TRACKER_WEB will change to:

    TRACKER_WEB = 'http://tracker.example/roundup/issues/'

Once you're done, you can firewall off port 8080 from the rest of the world.

Note that in some situations (eg. virtual hosting) you might need to use a more complex rewrite rule instead of the simpler ProxyPass above. The following should be useful as a starting template:

    # roundup stuff (added manually)
    <IfModule mod_proxy.c>

    RewriteEngine on

    # General Roundup
    RewriteRule ^/roundup$  roundup/    [R]
    RewriteRule ^/roundup/(.*)$ http://tracker.example:8080/$1   [P,L]

    # Handle Foo Issues
    RewriteRule ^/issues$  issues/    [R]
    RewriteRule ^/issues/(.*)$ http://tracker.example:8080/issues/$1 [P,L]

    </IfModule>

## Roundup runs very slowly on my XP machine when accessed from the Internet

The issue is probably related to host name resolution for the client performing the request. You can turn off the resolution of the names when it's so slow like this. To do so, edit the module roundup/scripts/roundup_server.py around line 77 to add the following to the RoundupRequestHandler class:

> def address_string(self):
>   return self.client_address[0]

# Templates

## What is that stuff in the tracker html directory?

This is the template code that Roundup uses to display the various pages. This is based upon the template markup language in Zope called, oddly enough "Zope Page Templates". There's documentation in the Roundup customisation documentation. For more information have a look at:

> http://www.zope.org/Documentation/Books/ZopeBook/current/contents

specifically chapter 5 "Using Zope Page Templates" and chapter 9 "Advanced Page Templates".

## But I just want a select/option list for ....

Really easy... edit `html/issue.item`. For 'nosy', change line 53 from:

    <span tal:replace="structure context/nosy/field" />

to:

    <span tal:replace="structure context/nosy/menu" />

For 'assigned to', change line 61 from:

    <td tal:content="structure context/assignedto/field">assignedto menu</td>

to:

    <td tal:content="structure context/assignedto/menu">assignedto menu</td>

## Great! But now the select/option list is too big

Thats a little harder (but only a little ;^)

Again, edit `html/issue.item`. For nosy, change line 53 from:

> <span tal:replace="structure context/nosy/field" />

to:

    <span tal:replace="structure python:context.nosy.menu(height=3)" />

for more information, go and read about Zope Page Templates.

# Using Roundup

## I got an error and I cant reload it!

If you're using Netscape/Mozilla, try holding shift and pressing reload. If you're using IE then install Mozilla and try again ;^)

## I keep getting logged out

Make sure that the `tracker` -> `web` setting in your tracker's config.ini is set to the URL of the tracker.

## How is sorting performed, and why does it seem to fail sometimes?

When we sort items in the hyperdb, we use one of a number of methods, depending on the properties being sorted on:

1. If it's a String, Number, Date or Interval property, we just sort the scalar value of the property. Strings are sorted case-sensitively.
2. If it's a Link property, we sort by either the linked item's "order" property (if it has one) or the linked item's "id".
3. Mulitlinks sort similar to #2, but we start with the first Multilink list item, and if they're the same, we sort by the second item, and so on.

Note that if an "order" property is defined on a Class that is used for sorting, all items of that Class must have a value against the "order" property, or sorting will result in random ordering.

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