EPrints Live CD Help

Introduction

The EPrints3 Live CD is designed to help you experience EPrints without the need for a machine to run it on. The CD comes complete with a fully installed EPrints3 distribution which also has our own training archive already set up. It also contains a recent version of out training documentation and exercises as well as example material.

From the environment the CD provides you can harness the full power of EPrints3 to setup your own archives for testing and also have an easy way to test new EPrints functionality without putting your active archive at risk.

For new repository maintainers the Live CD can also be one click installed permanently onto your hard drive. This will enable you to preserve changes to your archives between reboots (without needing to use a memory stick).

The Live CD really does provide the all in one solution for experiencing EPrints repository management software.

The CD is currently only available for the x86 (32-bit) platforms and is based upon the Ubuntu Linux distribution.

Development News

The Live CD is now based upon the xubuntu build of ubuntu. It is now based upon the 8.04 release of ubuntu which comes with long term support (LTS). xubuntu is also smaller, thus the LiveCD is now only ~550 mb.

The live CD is was based upon the Ubuntu Linux Live CD with Open Office removed to make available the space to install EPrints + all its dependencies whilst still remaining small enough to fit on a single CD.

Using the LIVE CD (Start Here)

• Download the image (Documentation#Download) and burn it to a cd using your favorite cd writing application. (Make cup of tea)
• Boot PC from the CD. (Drink cup of tea)
• Open Firefox or similar browser and navigate to http://training.eprints.org (which is linked to your local machine, no net connection required)

To Install From the Live CD

• From a clean boot into the Live CD click the install icon. (Go make fresh coffee from ungrounded coffee beans)
• Once installed and running from your hard drive execute the following from within a terminal:

 sudo touch /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
 sudo apache2ctl stop
 sudo apache2crl start

• To enable the training archive:

 sudo echo "127.0.0.1 training.eprints.org training" >> /etc/hosts.conf

Storing your Archive on a Memory Stick - Now via the EPrints GUI

2008-08-28: This feature has just been committed into the EPrints SVN and will be on the next LiveCD release.

NON-LiveCD Prerequisits

To enable this feature you need to add

+repository/backup

to the admin accounts user roles under Admin Login->Profile->Administer Account (web server restart may be required)

Complete Backup

This backup script currently backs up the entire EPrints root tree and the archive you are currently within the interface of. No other archives will be backed up.

• Log in as Admin user
• Click Admin link
• Click Backup Repository
• Save archive to your desired location

Complete Restore

The restore script restores a single archive alongside any others which may already exist. You may need to edit the eprints apache-includes file to make other archives work again (this functionality will come automatically in later version of the restore script).

• Log in as Admin user (to the archive you want to restore!)
• Click Admin link
• Click Restore Repository
• Upload your backup file and wait for the process to complete.

Storing your Archive on a Memory Stick (With Bash Scripts)

By using the live cd, any changes made will be lost when the system is shut down to avoid this we have created some scripts which backup your archive onto a memory stick.

These scripts should be stored somewhere on the memory stick and the files are stored in a folder called "live_cd" relative to the position to the scripts.

Extract this file onto your memory stick and execute as root:

Archive only Backup

This will only backup your archive, it will not include any of the global plugins or settings which apply to all repositories.

 root@ubuntu$ bash archive_to_usb.sh archive_name

Complete EPrints Tree Backup

This will backup everything in your eprints3 tree.

  root@ubuntu$ bash all_to_usb.sh archive_name
 

Don't forget to safely unmount the memory stick, on the live cd close any windows which popped up when the memory stick was inserted and then as root:

 root@ubuntu$ cd /
 root@ubuntu$ umount /media/disk

Script Details

The script backs up both your archive and the related database by doing the following, it assumes you have not set a root password on the mysql database:

archive_to_usb.sh:

 #!/bin/bash
 if [ "$1" = "" ]
 then
   echo "No Archive Specified"
 else
   FOO=`pwd`
   mkdir "$FOO/live_cd"
   rm -fR "$FOO/live_cd/$1"
   mkdir "$FOO/live_cd/$1"
   tar -cf "$FOO/live_cd/$1/$1.tar" /usr/share/eprints3/archives/$1
   mysqldump -u root $1 > $FOO/live_cd/$1/$1.sql
   echo "DONE"
 fi

all_to_usb.sh:

 #!/bin/bash
 if [ "$1" = "" ]
 then
       echo "No Archive Specified"
 else
  FOO=`pwd`
  mkdir "$FOO/live_cd"
  rm -fR "$FOO/live_cd/eprints3"
  mkdir "$FOO/live_cd/eprints3"
  rm -fR "$FOO/live_cd/$1"
  mkdir "$FOO/live_cd/$1"
  tar -cf "$FOO/live_cd/eprints3/eprints3.tar" /usr/share/eprints3/*
  mysqldump -u root $1 > "$FOO/live_cd/$1/$1.sql"
  echo "DONE"
 fi    

Restoring your archive from memory stick

Don't forget to follow the step above to configure ePrints to run from the live cd first!

Locate the place where you extracted the files to previously on your memory stick and as root:

Archive Only

 root@ubuntu$ bash usb_to_archive.sh archive_name

Complete EPrints Tree

 root@ubuntu$ bash usb_to_all.sh archive_name  

Script Details

Pretty much the opposite of the other script:

usb_to_archive.sh:

 #!/bin/bash
 if [ "$1" = "" ]
 then
   echo "No Archive Specified"
 else
   FOO=`pwd`
   rm -fR /usr/share/eprints3/archives/$1
   tar -xf live_cd/$1/$1.tar -C /
   echo "drop database $1" | mysql -u root
   echo "create database $1" | mysql -u root
   mysql -u root $1 < live_cd/$1/$1.sql
   echo "DONE"
 fi 

usb_to_all.sh:

 #!/bin/bash
 if [ "$1" = "" ]
 then
  echo "No Archive Specified"
 else
  FOO=`pwd`
  rm -fR /usr/share/eprints3/
  tar -xf live_cd/eprints3/eprints3.tar -C /
  echo "drop database $1" | mysql -u root
  echo "create database $1" | mysql -u root
  mysql -u root $1 < live_cd/$1/$1.sql
  echo "DONE"
 fi

Troubleshooting

If you find any problems with the CD please contact myself (David Tarrant) dct05r[at]ecs.soton.ac.uk.

Any problems with the EPrints software should be referred to the EPrints development team.