Cchost draft
Download
Current Stable Release
Latest stable builds of ccHost are available in several common archiving formats (.zip, .gzip, etc.)
To install: Unpack the contents of the archive on your local machine and see the README.
Experimental Thrice-Daily Builds
Currently, ccHost packages are being made three-times a day and are available here:
Our experience has been very good however these are minimally tested builds so download, install and use these packages at your own risk.
Only 30 days worth of builds are saved currently.
Install
As stated above, all the information you need for installation is in the distribution package you downloaded. Treat these notes as addendums, hints and other possibly useful information.
Simple
The easiest way to get going is to get a hosting server (like dreamhosters.com etc.) to provide you with web space. Most hosting services provide you with a web interface for creating a database, doing file uploads and setting permissions for files and directories.
- Unzip the ccHost ZIP archive on your local system and copy the files to your server retaining the the directory structure.
- Browse to http://where_you_installed/ccadmin and follow all the instructions from then on.
Advanced
If you have basic knowledge of using FTP and you are comfortable at a terminal command line you can use these steps to before, during and after installation. Many of these can be filed under "you'll be glad you did" by the time you get to the browser-based installation steps later on.
General Requirements
- A web server.
- PHP 4/5 (PHP 5 requires ccHost 3.0 or above.)
- MySQL 4/5 (MySQL 5 requires ccHost 3.0 or above.)
- Tested on: Firefox 1.0+ Mac/PC/Linux, IE 6+ PC, Safari Mac
- Cookies enabled in one's browser.
- Most skins (that people would want to use) require Javascript enabled
Enabling 'Pretty URLs'
All ccHost commands and URLs based on query strings:
http://your_install_root/index.php?ccm=/media/people/victor
That same URL can be made 'pretty' on Apache installations so that it looks more like:
http://your_install_root/media/people/victor
Here is the block of code in your .htaccess file setting the rewrite rules to get pretty urls:
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?ccm=/$1 [L,QSA]
If you installed to a directory below the site's root make sure to specify that in the RewriteBase directive.
For perfomance reasons (and if you are given access) you should put those directives into an Apache virtual host block in the .conf file for your server:
<VirtualHost *:80> ServerName ccmixter.localhost ServerPath /ccmixter #DocumentRoot /var/www/localhost/htdocs/cchost DocumentRoot /home/rejon/Documents/freelance/creativecommons/src/ccmixter <Directory "/home/rejon/Documents/freelance/creativecommons/src/ccmixter"> RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?ccm=/$1 [L,QSA] </Directory> </VirtualHost>
getID3
ccHost depends on the getID3 library for verifying uploads. Install getID3 (at least 1.7.3) here: http://www.getid3.org/#download before you install ccHost. (It's a simple download-unpack operation.)
For example (on Linux):
-
- tar xzf getid3.tar.gz
- cp -a getid3/getid3 /var/www/localhost/htdocs/cchost/
The ccHost installer will 'find' your getID3 installation if it's roughly in the same area of the server, however it is not required that your getID3 be visible on the web and in fact, it's probably more secure if it isn't.
ccHost Terminal Installtion
- Unzip the ccHost ZIP or tar. bz2 archive on your local system and copy the files (retaining the directory structure) to your web-server directory. Change the group and permissions of the files so they may be written by the web server (e.g., in the following lines, the web-server account is "apache").
- For example:
- cp -a cchost-1.0.3 /var/www/localhost/htdocs/cchost
- chgrp -R apache /var/www/localhost/htdocs/cchost
- chmod g+w /var/www/localhost/htdocs/cchost/
- chmod -R g+w /var/www/localhost/htdocs/cchost/cclib/phptal/phptal_cache/
- For example:
- Create a new database for ccHost (e.g., named "cchost") and create an administrative user to access it (e.g., "cchostadmin"). For example:
- mysql -p -u root
- mysql> CREATE DATABASE cchost;
- mysql> GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE ON cchost.* TO 'cchostadmin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE';
- Make sure to change 'YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE' (and maybe 'cchostadmin') to something unique to your site.
- Many systems provide phpMyAdmin to take care of these tasks.
- Create directory /var/log/cchost or other location to store log files. Must be writable by the web-server account (e.g., "apache"). For example:
- mkdir /var/log/cchost
- chown apache:apache /var/log/cchost
Finish with Install
Browse to http://where_you_installed_cchost/ccadmin
Everything else you need to know will be on the screen from that point on, including suggested php.ini and .htaccess settings, access permissions requirements, etc.
More .htaccess file settings
Put the following into a file named '.htaccess' in your root directory of a ccHost setup if you can't set your php.ini settings for your hosting setup. These settings should work, but should be tested first. They correct many memory problems people have with ccHost.
# php configs http://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.memory-limit # http://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.php#ini.list php_value max_input_time 200 php_value max_execution_time 200 php_value memory_limit 20M php_value upload_max_filesize 20M # next line fixes noncompliant & used in php php_value arg_separator.output & php_flag session.use_trans_sid off # turns off annoying autoquotes php_flag magic_quotes_gpc off Options +MultiViews # Stop morons that are hammer your site # Open Clip Art Library had someone DDoS'ing our site <Limit GET> order deny,allow deny from 59.116.0.0/16 </Limit>
Compatibility
Browsers
Tested on: Firefox 1.0+ Mac/PC/Linux, IE 6+ PC, Safari Mac
Cookies must be enabled.
Most skins (the ones people will want to use) require Javascript enabled.
Servers
Primary development is done on Windows XP and up-to-date Linux development systems using apache, mysql, and php.
Linux
ccHost on Apache (2.0.49 up to at least apache-2.0.55-r1) on Linux,
One should be able to easily install mysql, php, and apache (if they are not already available) through their distributions packaging system.
Windows IIS Server
Windows users with their installation disks may install optionally the Windows IIS Web Server. This option has been tested. However, there might still be issues with it, and if so, please file a bug.
Mac OS X =
NOTE: This setup is similar to Linux.
Verified:
- OS X 10.4.6
- default OS X MySQL build, 4.0.26
- GetID3 1.7.7
- default Apache/PHP
Development
Source and Code Documentation
- Browsable Anonymous SVN
- Online Documentation including developer's guide.
- HOWTO use this project's Subversion (SVN) - use module 'cchost'
- Help with cctools SVN setup
People
Research
- Possible solution for forms and other enhancements - http://www.gamingheadlines.co.uk/wod/formstyle/
Communication
- Chat: #cc on irc.freenode.net
- Wiki: This page (http://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/CcHost)
- Mailing List: https://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/cctools-cchost
Bugs, Patches and Feature Requests
Make sure to use the 'ccHost' category when filing bugs. Also, please use a real email so that we can followup on any bugs posted. Be descriptive when posting and commenting on bugs (every bit counts).
Web Hosting Services
Common web hosting services like Dreamhost and WebsiteSource provide an administration interface from which to setup a mysql database. Hosting services also provide some FTP or SFTP mechanism to upload the cchost installation files as well. 99% of all services provide support for PHP as well. If you have questions about support in this area, check the requirements below and with your hosting service.
Windows
XAMPP
It is recommended to download XAMPP for Windows, which provides an easy install of Apache web server, MySQL database server, and PHP and perl programming languages. This is the easiest way to get up and running, as this system replicates the standard Open Source (and Linux) setup of a time-tested server, Apache, along with the required MySQL database and PHP programming language, all necessary to use ccHost.
Follow the instructions for installation of XAMPP to know where to put the uncompressed ccHost package to properly work with your local setup.
Upgrade existing ccHost installations
- Log in as administrator
- Copy this installation over your current installation.
- Browse to: http://where_you_installed/?update=1
Note to 1.x ccHost installations: phpBB2 is no longer used for reviews. There is a script for importing existing phpBB2 format reviews into the new native reviewing system. Contact fourstones@users.sourceforge.net for details.
- The text for the front page can be changed by editing ccfiles/home.xml. The other menu functions and so on are generally modified using the admin functions of the site.
Zeitgeist
Goal
The goal of this project is to spread media content that is licensed under Creative Commons throughout the web in much the same way that weblogs spread CC licensed text.
Short Description
"Web-based System Supporting Remixing and Collaboration on Media"
Slightly Longer Description
ccHost is an open source (GPL licensed) project that provides web-based infrastructure to support collaboration, sharing, and storage of multi-media using the Creative Commons licenses and metadata. It is the codebase used by ccMixter and other sites.
Besides its focus on sharing content, ccHost differniates itself from other multi-media hosting programs by emphasizing the reuse (a.k.a. remixing) of content between artists, not only between artists on any given installation of ccHost, but between all installations across the web and any web site that implements the Creative Commons Sample Pool API, including non-ccHost sites such as the freesound project.
Release Notes
Press Releases
= Sound Bites
Please add your own sound bite...
Screenshots
- "ccHost enables you to 'run your own flickr or youtube while having an infrastructure for legally sharing audio, video, text, and other media." Jon Phillips 22:50, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Usage Examples
- ccMixter - Primary usage of ccHost is the Creative Commons remix site, ccMixter.
- Open Source Cinema
- Matrix Rayne Online
- remix.linux
- ccmixter South Africa
- fourstones.net Victor's personal website
- Open Clip Art Library ccHost in testing
- TeacherHost - for Instructors to share instructional materials.
- http://adrenalinicsound.com/music/
- http://creativecommons.org.tw/formoz
- Please add your installation here.
Redistribution
HOWTO Tag a Release
Really, each major release needs to be tagged, but this 2.0.1 is the first SVN release, and we did it post CVS -> SVN migration. In the future, this is the proper way to tag and branch.
svn copy https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/cctools/cchost/trunk \ https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/cctools/cchost/tags/2_0_1 \ -m "Tagging 2.0.1 bugfix release"
Here is more about SVN merging/branching.
Packaging
Sign Package
You should do this for all packages (RPM, tar.gz, zip, tar.bz2, etc)
gpg --detach-sign --armor cchost-VERSION.tar.gz
Verify Package
gpg --verify cchost-VERSION.tar.gz.asc