[lively-kernel] Local installation of Lively Core from Github: some notes, questions, and errors

[Fabian Bornhofen]

Hi -

first of all thanks Jens for the instructions.. looks like we should
consolidate the docs once again :).

A few remarks:

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 9:18 PM, Milan Zimmermann
<milan.zimmermann at gmail.com> wrote:
>        1) From my previous installation of Lively2, I thought WebDAV
> requires an actual SVN repository (svnadmin create repo) to work with
> Lively2, but this time the lk.conf seem to indicate it can simply
> contain the combination of the .git and .svn directories created
> above.  Is that how it is supposed to be configured for webDAV /
> Lively to work? Also, is the the combination of .git and .svn client
> files an issue, and I wonder which parts of the ~/LivelyKernel are
> used by Lively for saving and changes...
There are two approaches for serving files from SVN:
(1) Serving from a repository:
  (+) you can use full version control
  (-) the moment you create a local SVN repo, you have a fork that is
very hard to keep in sync with the upstream repository
(2) Serving from a local copy
  (-) no version control
  (+) syncing is as easy as "svn up" or "svn commit"
With git, you can have both (even though we don't have tools for that
yet): a view on the files that at the same time is a real repository
that can be synced with upstream quite easily (git pull, git push).
In the setup you described, PartsBin is a working copy of a subversion
repo inside your local git repo. In .gitignore, we tell git to
completely ignore that folder. If there are any issues with that
anyway, please let us know.

What parts are used for saving and changes:
Saving is done using HTTP PUT or POST requests (regular WebDAV) in
WebResource. Also, SCB and PartsBin use version information. That is
done using SVN extensions to WebDAV. I am not very familiar with that
part of the code base. (No big fan of SVN and DAV-SVN in particular.
This should be so much more simple.)


>        2) How does webwerkstatt create the login (later used to authorize to
> save worlds), and is there an equivalent way to set it up for the
> localhost install?
Should be regular HTTP digest auth in Apache and I expect Lively to be
completely ignorant about that. Jens?


>        1) Error on dragging out the cloud from PartsBin (similar errors in
> other situations):
>
> Error when trying to update
> AttributeConnection(PartsItem(Cloud,PartsSpace(PartsBin/Basic/)).loadedMetaInfo
> --> <lively.morphic.Box#E5AB3... -
> PartsBinBrowser>.setMetaInfoOfSelectedItem) with value
> MetaInfo(PartsBin/Basic/Cloud):
> TypeError: Object Thu Nov 03 2011 19:13:58 GMT-0400 (EDT) has no method 'format'
> TypeError: Object Thu Nov 03 2011 19:13:58 GMT-0400 (EDT) has no method 'format'
Thanks for the report.

>        2) Cannot Save at all / Error on saving blank.xhtml as blank2.xhtml:
>
>        "directory http://127.0.0.1/LivelyKernel does not exist! Create it?"
>
>        on OK:
>
>        Problem saving http://127.0.0.1/LivelyKernel/blank2.xhtml:
> #<NetRequestStatus{PUT,http://127.0.0.1/LivelyKernel/blank2.xhtml,403}>
Did you check if the Apache process has sufficient rights to create
the folder and files in it?

I hope I'll have some time soon to update the installation guide & fix
some of the problems there.

Best
Fabian