In This Release
Automated Deployment
To keep KIWE in line with our new projects and processes it required an automated deployment system. Because Capistrano was an excellent fit for File Relay, it was also chosen to quickly deploy new versions of KIWE too. This will provide a reliable method for pushing new features and updates to KIWE.
Attachment File Size Increase
Attachment file size limits have been increased to 75MB.
Fix: Milestone Attachment Error Messages
Now anytime an error occurs when creating a milestone attachment it is correctly reported to the user. Before this update no messages were displayed to the user.
A quick recipe to install Trac with the GitPlugin on Ubuntu 8.10 using Apache mod_python.
After considerable searching and more searching I found a README file with instructions specifically for the trac-git package. It is located at /usr/share/doc/trac-git/README.Debian and is installed with the trac-git package.
This recipe will cover steps to install Trac based on the instructions from the official install guide with the modifications described in README.Debian.
Package Installation
Install the following packages with your favorite apt front-end:
- apache2
- libapache2-mod-python
- git-core
- trac
- trac-git
Or you can run the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install apache2 libapache2-mod-python git-core trac trac-git
Setup the Git Repository
Setup your bare git repository. I’ll summarize this step, but more information can be found at the manual page for git-init.
$ git init --bare /var/git/my-app.git
Setup Trac
For consistency with default install paths and those paths used on the Trac website, I’ll be using the same paths in all the examples below. Trac installations are stored in /var/lib/trac/ and git repositories are stored in /var/git/.
The next step is to initialize the Trac environment using trac-admin. This is accomplished via the following single command:
$ trac-admin /var/lib/trac/my-app initenv "My Application" sqlite:db/trac.db git /var/git/my-app.git
See the TracAdmin article for more information about the trac-admin command.
At this point you may notice an odd warning in the output of trac-admin:
Warning:
Repository type git not supported
The warning is announced because the git plug-in has not been initialized, so Trac is unaware of “git” repositories. Our next steps are to configure Trac to use the GitPlugin.
Trac Configuration for GitPlugin
Note: These instructions vary from those described in the official GitPlugin configuration. They are specifically for the Debian based package (or Ubuntu in our case). See /usr/share/doc/trac-git/README.Debian for specifics.
We begin by editing conf/trac.ini which, in our example, is located at /var/lib/trac/my-app/conf/trac.ini.
Add the following to the bottom of the file to enable GitPlugin:
[components]
gitplugin.* = enabled
Then check that the following git configurations are set properly, specifically verify that git_bin is using an absolute path.
[git]
cached_repository = false
# git_bin must be set to git's absolute path
# or it will not work, "git" is not sufficient
git_bin = /usr/bin/git
persistent_cache = false
shortrev_len = 6
That’s all for the Trac configuration. Next we’ll be configuring Apache.
Apache Configuration
Ensure mod_python is enabled:
$ sudo a2enmod mod_python
Now create a new file /etc/apache2/sites-available/trac-my-app. Use a suitable file name that matches your apache configurations.
# Trac Apache config for My App
# /etc/apache2/sites-available/trac-my-app
<VirtualHost *>
ServerName my-app.my-server
DocumentRoot /var/lib/trac/my-app/htdocs
<Location />
SetHandler mod_python
PythonInterpreter main_interpreter
PythonHandler trac.web.modpython_frontend
PythonOption TracEnv /var/lib/trac/my-app
PythonOption TracUriRoot /
PythonOption PYTHON_EGG_CACHE /tmp
</Location>
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.my-app.trac.log
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.my-app.trac.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Enable this apache configuration then reload the apache configurations:
sudo a2ensite trac-my-app
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload
Success!
Your Trac instance should now be setup with GitPlugin! Try visiting http://my-app.my-server in your browser to interact with your new setup.
Lately File Relay has received a bit of care in the content department. Most of the effort was focused on providing detailed information about the File Relay service to new and existing users as well as obtaining their feedback.
All of File Relay’s external pages have been rewritten to better emphasize our service’s features and provide relevant information.
Tour
We have a new tour beginning with a two minute screencast to introduce new users to File Relay’s functionality and ease of use. It quickly covers everything you would need to know to determine whether or not File Relay would fit your needs.
Following the video screencast, there are screenshots accompanied by detailed explanations of each of File Relay’s internal pages. As an example, you can see each field used to send a file to your recipients via email.
Please take our tour to find out more.
In This Release
User Dashboard
The new dashboard is the first step to providing relevant information to users upon log in. Recent activity for all of your projects is displayed sorted by date. It is also possible to browse directly to the record or project from the activity log. So if you notice something odd or interesting you can jump right in to find more information.
Redesigned Log Messages
Each log entry now uses more vertical space to provide additional information in a visually appealing manner. A log entry uses at least two rows of text. The first describes the user, the action and a summary of the record in question. The second row provides time and project contextual information.
Log entries now use a relative time to provide an instant concept of an entry’s age. Times like 1 day ago or 3 months ago give a general idea of the date while a mouse hover over the relative time will display the exact date and time.
Paging with Style
Above is a screen shot of the new pager’s style.
This is a short, quick release of KIWE.
In This Release
Now it is possible to assign multiple contacts to a project at one time, simplifying the process of project creation.
In previous versions of KIWE, viewing a new project’s attachments or milestones tab would only show an empty page. With this release, the empty listing page will display information about the section you are viewing and its key features. An example for the attachments tab is above.
KIWE now features a footer displaying the current version and a link to this blog, KIHOMAC Labs.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue preventing project subscription email messages from sending. Any subscription email sent that included a task’s audit would fail. This is now resolved.
- Fixed a broken link on the contact assignment form.
