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+# Insoshi social software
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-Rails is a web-application and persistence framework that includes everything
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-needed to create database-backed web-applications according to the
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-Model-View-Control pattern of separation. This pattern splits the view (also
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-called the presentation) into "dumb" templates that are primarily responsible
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-for inserting pre-built data in between HTML tags. The model contains the
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-"smart" domain objects (such as Account, Product, Person, Post) that holds all
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-the business logic and knows how to persist themselves to a database. The
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-controller handles the incoming requests (such as Save New Account, Update
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-Product, Show Post) by manipulating the model and directing data to the view.
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+Here's how to get started with Insoshi. If you encounter problems, be sure to refer to the Trac wiki at http://trac.insoshi.com/, which expands on some of the points here.
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-In Rails, the model is handled by what's called an object-relational mapping
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-layer entitled Active Record. This layer allows you to present the data from
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-database rows as objects and embellish these data objects with business logic
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-methods. You can read more about Active Record in
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-link:files/vendor/rails/activerecord/README.html.
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-The controller and view are handled by the Action Pack, which handles both
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-layers by its two parts: Action View and Action Controller. These two layers
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-are bundled in a single package due to their heavy interdependence. This is
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-unlike the relationship between the Active Record and Action Pack that is much
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-more separate. Each of these packages can be used independently outside of
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-Rails. You can read more about Action Pack in
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-link:files/vendor/rails/actionpack/README.html.
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+The source code to Insoshi is hosted by Git, a version control system developed by Linus Torvalds to host the Linux kernel. The first step is to install it from here:
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+Linux and Mac users should have no problems; Windows users might have to install Cygwin (http://cygwin.com/) first.
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-1. At the command prompt, start a new Rails application using the <tt>rails</tt> command
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- and your application name. Ex: rails myapp
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- (If you've downloaded Rails in a complete tgz or zip, this step is already done)
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-2. Change directory into myapp and start the web server: <tt>script/server</tt> (run with --help for options)
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-3. Go to http://localhost:3000/ and get "Welcome aboard: You’re riding the Rails!"
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-4. Follow the guidelines to start developing your application
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+## Install libraries and gems
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+You'll need to install FreeImage, SQLite, and (optionally) MySQL. Install instructions for all three are easy to find using Google.
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-By default, Rails will try to use Mongrel and lighttpd if they are installed, otherwise
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-Rails will use WEBrick, the webserver that ships with Ruby. When you run script/server,
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-Rails will check if Mongrel exists, then lighttpd and finally fall back to WEBrick. This ensures
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-that you can always get up and running quickly.
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-Mongrel is a Ruby-based webserver with a C component (which requires compilation) that is
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-suitable for development and deployment of Rails applications. If you have Ruby Gems installed,
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-getting up and running with mongrel is as easy as: <tt>gem install mongrel</tt>.
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-More info at: http://mongrel.rubyforge.org
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+You probably have Rails already, but might not have the others.
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-If Mongrel is not installed, Rails will look for lighttpd. It's considerably faster than
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-Mongrel and WEBrick and also suited for production use, but requires additional
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-installation and currently only works well on OS X/Unix (Windows users are encouraged
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-to start with Mongrel). We recommend version 1.4.11 and higher. You can download it from
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-http://www.lighttpd.net.
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+$ sudo gem install rails
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+$ sudo gem install image_science
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+$ sudo gem install ferret
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+$ sudo gem install mysql
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+$ sudo gem install sqlite3-ruby
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-And finally, if neither Mongrel or lighttpd are installed, Rails will use the built-in Ruby
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-web server, WEBrick. WEBrick is a small Ruby web server suitable for development, but not
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-But of course its also possible to run Rails on any platform that supports FCGI.
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-Apache, LiteSpeed, IIS are just a few. For more information on FCGI,
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-please visit: http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/rails/pages/FastCGI
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+Here are the steps to get up and running with the Insoshi Rails app.
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+The repository is large enough (mainly due to the frozen Rails gems) that it may take a while to finish the first step, which is to clone the repository:
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-Sometimes your application goes wrong. Fortunately there are a lot of tools that
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-will help you debug it and get it back on the rails.
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+$ git clone git://git.insoshi.com/insoshi.git
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-First area to check is the application log files. Have "tail -f" commands running
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-on the server.log and development.log. Rails will automatically display debugging
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-and runtime information to these files. Debugging info will also be shown in the
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-browser on requests from 127.0.0.1.
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+Then make a Git branch for yourself:
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-You can also log your own messages directly into the log file from your code using
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-the Ruby logger class from inside your controllers. Example:
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+$ git checkout -b <firstname_lastname>
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- class WeblogController < ActionController::Base
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- @weblog = Weblog.find(params[:id])
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- logger.info("#{Time.now} Destroyed Weblog ID ##{@weblog.id}!")
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+where you should replace <firstname_lastname> with your name (without angle brackets!).
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-The result will be a message in your log file along the lines of:
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+At some later point, follow the steps at
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- Mon Oct 08 14:22:29 +1000 2007 Destroyed Weblog ID #1
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+http://trac.insoshi.com/insoshi/wiki/ContributingBack
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-More information on how to use the logger is at http://www.ruby-doc.org/core/
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+Also be sure to get in the habit of syncing with the main repository:
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-Also, Ruby documentation can be found at http://www.ruby-lang.org/ including:
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+$ git checkout <firstname_lastname>
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-* The Learning Ruby (Pickaxe) Book: http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/
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-* Learn to Program: http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/ (a beginners guide)
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+### Config files and tests
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-These two online (and free) books will bring you up to speed on the Ruby language
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-and also on programming in general.
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+Now create the config files and run the tests (which are actually RSpec examples in the spec/ directory):
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+$ cp config/database.example config/database.yml
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+$ cp config/initializers/preferences.rb.example \
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+ config/initializers/preferences.rb
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+(If the tests fail in the Photos controller test, double-check that FreeImage and ImageScience are installed.)
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-Debugger support is available through the debugger command when you start your Mongrel or
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-Webrick server with --debugger. This means that you can break out of execution at any point
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-in the code, investigate and change the model, AND then resume execution! Example:
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+### Loading sample data
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- class WeblogController < ActionController::Base
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- @posts = Post.find(:all)
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+Now load the sample data and start the server:
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-So the controller will accept the action, run the first line, then present you
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-with a IRB prompt in the server window. Here you can do things like:
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+$ rake db:sample_data:reload
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- => "[#<Post:0x14a6be8 @attributes={\"title\"=>nil, \"body\"=>nil, \"id\"=>\"1\"}>,
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- #<Post:0x14a6620 @attributes={\"title\"=>\"Rails you know!\", \"body\"=>\"Only ten..\", \"id\"=>\"2\"}>]"
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- >> @posts.first.title = "hello from a debugger"
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- => "hello from a debugger"
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+The rake task loads sample data to make developing easier. All the sample users have email logins <name>@example.com, with password foobar.
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-...and even better is that you can examine how your runtime objects actually work:
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+Go to http://localhost:3000 and log in as follows:
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- => #<Post:0x13630c4 @attributes={"title"=>nil, "body"=>nil, "id"=>"1"}>
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- Display all 152 possibilities? (y or n)
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+email: michael@example.com
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-Finally, when you're ready to resume execution, you enter "cont"
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+Now open the source code with your favorite editor and start hacking!
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+Note that there is a minimalist stat tracker that lets us keep track of how many different installs of Isoshi are out there. We don't collect any personal information, but if you don't want to be tracked just open application.html.erb and comment out the line after this one:
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-You can interact with the domain model by starting the console through <tt>script/console</tt>.
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-Here you'll have all parts of the application configured, just like it is when the
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-application is running. You can inspect domain models, change values, and save to the
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-database. Starting the script without arguments will launch it in the development environment.
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-Passing an argument will specify a different environment, like <tt>script/console production</tt>.
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+<%# A tracker to tell us about the activity of Insoshi installs %>
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-To reload your controllers and models after launching the console run <tt>reload!</tt>
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-== Description of Contents
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- Holds all the code that's specific to this particular application.
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- Holds controllers that should be named like weblogs_controller.rb for
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- automated URL mapping. All controllers should descend from ApplicationController
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- which itself descends from ActionController::Base.
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- Holds models that should be named like post.rb.
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- Most models will descend from ActiveRecord::Base.
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- Holds the template files for the view that should be named like
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- weblogs/index.erb for the WeblogsController#index action. All views use eRuby
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- Holds the template files for layouts to be used with views. This models the common
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- header/footer method of wrapping views. In your views, define a layout using the
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- <tt>layout :default</tt> and create a file named default.erb. Inside default.erb,
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- call <% yield %> to render the view using this layout.
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- Holds view helpers that should be named like weblogs_helper.rb. These are generated
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- for you automatically when using script/generate for controllers. Helpers can be used to
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- wrap functionality for your views into methods.
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- Configuration files for the Rails environment, the routing map, the database, and other dependencies.
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- Contains the database schema in schema.rb. db/migrate contains all
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- the sequence of Migrations for your schema.
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- This directory is where your application documentation will be stored when generated
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- using <tt>rake doc:app</tt>
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- Application specific libraries. Basically, any kind of custom code that doesn't
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- belong under controllers, models, or helpers. This directory is in the load path.
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- The directory available for the web server. Contains subdirectories for images, stylesheets,
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- and javascripts. Also contains the dispatchers and the default HTML files. This should be
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- set as the DOCUMENT_ROOT of your web server.
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- Helper scripts for automation and generation.
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- Unit and functional tests along with fixtures. When using the script/generate scripts, template
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- test files will be generated for you and placed in this directory.
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- External libraries that the application depends on. Also includes the plugins subdirectory.
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- This directory is in the load path.
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