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

[Robert Krahn]

Hi, Milan --

Thank you very much for trying this out!

Below are a few notes:

Setting up digest authentication is done in the Apache config with something like

AuthType Digest
AuthName "lively"
AuthDigestDomain "/repository/"
AuthUserFile "/path/to/user.htpasswd"
AuthGroupFile /path/to/groups

in the <Location> rule that defines the repository access.


> What parts are used for saving and changes:
> Saving is done using HTTP PUT or POST requests (regular WebDAV) in

We just use PUTs for that.


> 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.)

I agree there. WebDAV simulates a HTTP-based file system but that especially the
more advanced features like versioning are well hidden behind complicated interfaces
(actually versioning isn't defined by the WebDAV protocol but by a protocol extension
called DeltaV). The svn apache module never really completely implemented the DeltaV
specification which makes using that stuff even harder. Sooner or later we definitely want
to have much simpler solution, maybe based on a node.js server that gets bootstrapped
and is completely written and changeable from within Lively.


>>        Problem saving http://127.0.0.1/LivelyKernel/blank2.xhtml:

Check the file permissions. The apache user (www-data) needs write permission.

Also, right now the git repo isn't really prepared for being deployed as a full Lively wiki package.
Right now we just focus on the core part of the system. However, we will improve the
support over time and any help there is very much welcome! (Might it be in form
of bug reports or newly implemented features)

Best,
Robert