[kwlug-disc] KWLUG - The Kitchener Waterloo Linux User Group new content notification: 2011-01-19 14:14

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Greetings mail-forum-merge,

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Recent content - 6 new posts
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1. KWLUG Web Site Construction
Published Book page by john
[ http://kwlug.org/node/787 ]

This document describes how the Drupal 6 version of the KWLUG web site
was built so that future generations of volunteers can use it as a guide
to how the site was built and what's important. Hopefully administrators
will keep this up to date as changes are made.

---

2. Drupal, Modules and Themes
Published Book page by john
[ http://kwlug.org/node/788 ]

As you likely have guessed, Drupal forms the core of the web site. In
this incarnation it's Drupal 6.
Here are links to the various packages
Core

drupal [1]

Modules

admin_menu [2]
calendar [3]
captcha [4]
captcha_pack [5]
cck [6]
date [7]
filefield [8]
imagefield [9]
image [10]
imageapi [11]
imagecache [12]
messaging [13]
notifications [14]
path_direct [15]
relativity [16]
token [17]
views [18]
view_rss [19]

-
Theme

zen [20]


[1] http://drupal.org/project/drupal
[2] http://drupal.org/project/admin_menu
[3] http://drupal.org/project/calendar
[4] http://drupal.org/project/captcha
[5] http://drupal.org/project/captcha_pack
[6] http://drupal.org/project/cck
[7] http://drupal.org/project/date
[8] http://drupal.org/project/filefield
[9] http://drupal.org/project/imagefield
[10] http://drupal.org/project/image
[11] http://drupal.org/project/imageapi
[12] http://drupal.org/project/imagecache
[13] http://drupal.org/project/messaging
[14] http://drupal.org/project/notifications
[15] http://drupal.org/project/path_redirect
[16] http://drupal.org/project/relativity
[17] http://drupal.org/project/token
[18] http://drupal.org/project/views
[19] http://drupal.org/project/views_rss
[20] http://drupal.org/project/zen

---

3. Node Structure
Published Book page by john
[ http://kwlug.org/node/789 ]

One of the powerful features of Drupal (and other CMSs) is the
categorization, organisation and presentation of information.  The KWLUG
site contains a modest structure of content types and relations. This
structure of information is often the first thing that has to be learned
when understanding how a web site works.

Meeting Agenda
Meeting Agendas are a focal point of the web site and one of the more
complicated structures on the site.
Meeting Agendas are comprised of a date, a Location (via node reference)
and zero or more Presentation Topics (via node relativity.) 


Content type:
meetingagenda


Node references:
location (node)emcee (user)


Taxonomy
none


Related content types:
presentation


Views:


upcomingmeetings
[page] displays today's and future meetings
meetingarchive
[page] displays meetings prior from today




Presentation Topics
Presentation Topics describe what the presentation is about. The
presenter is listed textually in the body of the node and subsequent to
the presentation the presenter is encouraged to add his slides to the
node by attaching a file.


Content type:
presentation


Node references:
none


Taxonomy
none


Related content types:
none


Views:
none


Location
Locations are places where meetings are held. Although meetings
generally occur in one location for long stretches of time, they have
changed venues. Locations describe the venue and how to get there.


Content type:
location


Node references:
none


Taxonomy
none


Related content types:
none


Views:


kwluglocations
[page] displays a list of all locations




FLOSS Fund Nominations
One of the recurring efforts at the KWLUG is an organized donation to a
free software project. Projects can be nominated by anyone and, if
successfully chosen, the project is announced at a meeting and donations
are taken.


Content type:
nominee


Node references:
Meeting Agenda


Taxonomy
none


Related content types:
none


Views:


ffnominees
[page, block] displays a list of all nominees that do not have
contributions
contributions
[page, block] display a list of all nominees that have contributions




Learning Resources
Learning resources are not a specific content type but rather a
classification of pages. Learning resources can be a page, book, blog or
story. By tagging the node with one of the taxonomy terms it
automatically appears in the selected views and RSS feeds.


Content types:
blog, book, page, story


Node references:
none


Taxonomy
Learning


Related content types:
none


Views:


Learning
[page, block, rss] displays a list of all nodes tagged with a Learning
taxonomy term




All Content
All content is visible via a view called tracker. Which show handy
blocks and provides RSS feeds to subscribers.


Content type:
all


Node references:
n/a


Taxonomy
n/a


Related content types:
n/a


Views:


tracker
[page, block, rss] displays a list of all content sorted by descending
update time






---

4. Authorization
Published Book page by john
[ http://kwlug.org/node/790 ]

There are several levels or roles of users in the web site. Two are
default Drupal user roles (anonymous and authenticated) and the others
are custom roles created for this site.

User 1
User 1 is not a role, but rather the user with the ID of 1. It is the
first user created in Drupal and has ultimate power and can do things
that no other user can do. Usually the first thing User 1 does is to
create a user role for administrators and grants them permission to do
whatever is needed. This usually includes the ability to modify user
roles and permissions.
Role Inheritance
There is kind of an inheritance with roles in that a user can
simultaneously be anonymous, authenticated and be zero or more other
roles at the same time. 
This means that if a permission is applied to the anonymous role it need
not be applied to any other because all users and non-users are
anonymous. And any permission applied to the authenticated role need not
be applied to any other role because any authenticated user falls into
that role.
Administrator
The administator is not a special user role (like User 1) but one
created for this site so that many people can administer this site.
Administrators can perform any task on the site because then have the
ability to change role permissions and can grant any permission to their
role.
Administrators are meant to be the technical people who understand how
the Drupal site works and can perform administrative tasks.
Cabal
The cabal role is reserved for those special shadowy users who
administer the FLOSS fund. They should have the ability to edit and
delete any nominee node.
Host
A host is an emcee or a person that takes care of meeting agendas. The
host can create meeting agendas and presentations.
Librarian
A librarian is a user who administers the library or books and DVDs.
Currently there are no permissions assigned to librarians.
Member
A member is a generic user that has been approved. The member can create
blog posts, forums posts and post other content.
Speaker
A speaker is one who delivers a presentation. The speaker can create and
edit any presentation content.


---

5. Drupal 5 to 6 Conversion
Published Book page by john
[ http://kwlug.org/node/791 ]

Upgrading from Drupal 5 to 6 is a complicated task which is surprising
given the relative simplicity of the web site. 
Early Preparation
The existing site needs to be upgraded to the latest version of Drupal 5
and each of the modules and themes should be updated to the latest
drupal 5 versions.
Having the site up to the latest Drupal 5 versions means that database
upgrade scripts of Drupal and the modules will work. Some modules drop
upgrade support for old versions.
A test conversion was done on another web server so that time could be
spent to find issues and perform conversions as necessary. Any changes
to the database were recorded because they would have to be replicated
during the live cut-over.
Any changes that could be made to content ahead of time (like
inappropriate references to http://kwlug.og) were removed. These changes
will be carried over with the database.
Any changes to file-system files were recorded. Those files will have to
be moved to the live web host during cut-over.
Cut Over
Cut over involves significant command line work unpacking Drupal and
modules, creating new folders and copying new files. It also involves a
fair amount of web interface work to convert configurations and repair
what look like conversion problems.
At the time of cut-over the site needs to be put in maintenance mode
[21]. A backup of the web files should be taken along with a backup of
the database. The upgrade will make significant changes to both and
backups are the only way to return back to normal if something goes
awry.
Modules should be disabled and a stock theme (like Garland) should be
chosen as the default theme.
Files are moved aside (except for /files and /sites) and the new drupal
files put in place. Modules should be placed in /sites/all/modules, the
zen theme should be put in /sites/all/themes and the custom kwlug theme
put in /sites/kwlug.org/themes. Don't forget the .htaccess file.
Once the files are unpacked in place the
/drupal-6.??/sites/default/default.settings.php file should be copied to
/sites/kwlug.org/settings.php and it should be updated to set the
$db_url to an appropriate value and the $update_free_access to TRUE.
Then run the http://kwlug.org/upgrade.php script. This will upgrade the
database files for the installed modules. Views will complain that some
tables do not exist but it will succeed. This script may require running
twice.
Change the settings.php script and set $uprgade_free_access back to
FALSE.
Browse to http://kwlug.org/admin and enable the following modules:

Administration
Administration menu
CCK
Content
Fieldgroup
Filefield
ImageField
Node Reference
Number
Option Widgets
Text
User Reference
Core
Blog
Book
Comment
Contact
Database logging
Forum
Help
Menu
Path
PHP filter
Profile
Search
Statistics
Taxonomy
Tracker
Upload
Date/Time
Calendar
Calendar iCal
Date
Date API
Date timezone
Image
Image
ImageCache
ImageAPI
ImageAPI DG2
ImageMagick
Messaging
Messaging
Simple Mail
Node relationships
Node relativity
Notifications
Content Notification
Notifications
Notifications UI
Other
Token
Spam control
CAPTCHA
Image CAPTCHA
Views
Views
Views UI
Views Bonus Pack
Views RSS

Views Conversion
The version of views changes from 1 to 2 and with that the views must be
converted. The conversion isn't perfect and several fix-ups need to be
done. Also identical RSS views can be merged with the page or block
view.
To convert go to http://kwlug.org/admin/build/views/tools/convert [22]
and convert the views one-at-a-time. Watch for these issues:

Merge RSS displays with existing views, set Row Style to "full text"
On views that use Daterange in the filter you will see a "broken/missing
handler" listed under Filters. You need to remove this and add a
suitable date filter.
Filters that refer to a field with a select list will show "array
reference" error. Remove the filter field and re-create it.
Add a block display to tracker:

Style: HTML List
More link: Yes
items per page: 5
 Use Pager: no
Remove all fields but title
 remove "Title" title from "title" field.


in ffcontributions set "link to node" for title field
in Learning set "link to node" for title field

Menu Change
The disabled "Home" menu item in Primary links interferes with the
Meetings menu. Delete the Home menu item.
Add a "Get Help" menu option after Resources, link it to the URL
gethelp.
Path Changed
Add "gethelp" as a path to node/745.
CAPTCHA Configuration
In /admin/user/captcha:

Set default challenge type to Image
form_id user_register: image
Contact page: Image

Image CAPTCHA
Set 

Distortion level: 3
Check: Smooth distortion, Add salt and pepper noise and Add line noise
kli>Noise level: 1

Link Operations
in http://d6.kwlug.org/admin/settings/relativity/display set Parent
weight to 1, Children to 2 and Link operations to 12.
File System Configuration
in admin/settings/file-system change "File system path" to
sites/kwlug.org/files
Create the sites/kwlug.org/files directory and give it suitable
permissions.
Content Changes
Add "Welcome" as a title to
http://kwlug.org/admin/build/block/configure/block/1
Add HTML Intro "<h2>Upcoming Meetings</h2>" to upcomingmeetings view.

[21] http://kwlug.org//admin/site-maintenance
[22] http://kwlug.org/admin/build/views/tools/convert

---

6. Web Site Cut-Over
Published Blog entry by john
[ http://kwlug.org/node/792 ]

Thursday evening (around 6 PM) the KWLUG web site will be going into
maintenance mode and will be unstable for a couple of hours while the
upgrade from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6 is performed.
This is an in-place upgrade so although the site will be initially going
into maintenance mode and therefore inaccessible we will need to bring
the site back on-line to make final configuration changes and for
testing. During that time the site's look and functionality may vary
wildly.
I'll will post an announcement when the site is stable so that you, our
members, can continue to make excellent content contribution.
We have worked to make sure the cut-over will be otherwise uneventful by
performing a trial cut-over on another web server. We are hoping that
this exercise will reduce both the downtime and inevitable bugs.
If, after the cut-over, you find problems with the site please let me
know.
If you are curious about what is involved in the cut-over check out my
cut-over notes [23].

[23] http://kwlug.org//node/787


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