WASPII
WEB Based Announcement Mailing List Software


Installation


What Is WASPII?

Features

System Requirements

Download

Installation

Admin Notes

Sample Config

Sample Screen Shots

Using WASPII

Contact

 
Note: You will need root privileges to go through the installation. The script might work properly if you have write privileges to your system's cgi root and http root.

1.

Assuming that you have saved the downloaded file to /tmp/waspii; untar the downloaded waspiisetup file using the commands:

# cd /tmp/waspii
# tar xvf waspiisetup.tar

or
# cd /tmp/waspii
# uncompress waspiisetup.tar.Z
# tar xvf waspiisetup.tar

2. If you agree to use the name "waspii" as the waspii directory name (recommended); go to step 4.

 

3. If you want another name; edit the install.sh script file to assign another name to the variable "waspii". I recommend leaving it as it is.

 

4. Change your default directory to your temporary location and run the install.sh script.

cd /tmp/waspii
./install.sh

 

5. The script will ask a few questions, to which you must give correct answers. In case you simply hit the Enter key, the default values indicated by square braces will be assumed.

 

6. Where is your PERL? [/usr/bin/perl]:
You should enter the absolute path to your system's PERL interpreter. The script checks whether the path you specify really contains an executable PERL.

 

7. What is the fully qualified domain name of this WASPII host?
The script will prompt the computer's hostname as reported by the "hostname" command. Change it if necessary. A valid name should look something like : lists.bilkent.edu.tr

 

8. Where is your http document root? :
You should enter the absolute path to your web service's document root. On a typical Apache server, it will look something like /home/httpd/html. Another typical web document root path is /usr/local/WWW/htdocs. Contact your web admin if you hesitate. The script will test whether it can write to document root directory you specify.

 

9. cgi-bin path [/home/httpd/cgi-bin] :
You should enter the absolute path to your web service's cgi root. On a typical Apache server, it will look something like /home/httpd/cgi-bin. Another typical web cgi root path is /usr/local/WWW/cgi-bin. Contact your web admin if you hesitate. The script will test whether it can write to cgi root directory you specify.

 

10. cgi-bin name relative to main URL [cgi-bin] :
Be careful here! It seems that the question is redundant but it is not. The script is asking you to enter the name one has to append to the web server's name to reach a script in the cgi-bin directory. In most web server installations, the cgi-bin name is "cgi-bin". You might need to have a look at  your web server's configuration  files to figure out this.

 

11. What is the userID for your httpd daemon? [nobody]
Every web service has a userID to run with. Normally your web admin should have chosen a userID with minimum threat to  overall system security. Typical userID's for the http server daemon are "nobody", "www", "web", "http". You might need to have alook at your web server's configuration files.

 

12. Please enter your WASPII server IP address (nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn):
You will see this question if the script cannot figure out the computer's IP address. The script uses the "hostname --ip-address" command to get the IP address.

 

13. Enter secondary admin host IP:
The WASPII server computer will be the trivial administrator host for the WASPII system you are configuring. Usually it is easier for administrators to use their desktop computers, rather than the server itself; to manage WASPII along with other services. If this is the case for you too, you should enter your desk top computer's IP address as the secondary admin host IP.

 

14. HTTP Meta Description text [WASPII - Announcement Mailing Lists] :
This is the text which will appear as HTTP Meta Descr. on all web pages created/displayed by WASPII. Not a very important parameter because most of the WASPII pages are in fact created on the fly and they don't have much chance to be found and indexed by web indexing robots. I suggest you accept the default value.

 

15. WEB Page title [WASPII Announcement System] :
This is the text which will appear as titles on all web pages created/displayed by WASPII. Not a very important parameter because most of the WASPII pages are in fact created on the fly and they don't have much chance to be found and indexed by web indexing robots. I suggest you accept the default value.

 

16. Sender name [WASPII Announcements] :
This is the user name that will appear on announcement and various confirmation messages sent by the WASPII system. Please note that this is not a real user. It will simply appear in the "From:" field of outgoing messages. I use "Bilkent Announcements" as the sender's name. No real UNIX account associated to this user has to be opened.

 

17. Admin e-mail address [listmaster@yourhostname.yourdomainname] :
This is the e-mail address your users will use to contact you. I recommend you create a new user on your host with the name "listmaster" and forward mail received by this account to your own personal account.

$mail_to_admin is a flag; which, if equal to "yes" causes a copy of each mail sent to subscribers to be sent to the list administrator too.

18. Full path to your sendmail program [/usr/lib/sendmail] :
You should enter the full path to your SMTP mail transport agent. In most installations, it is /usr/lib/sendmail.

 

19. Path to htpasswd program or equivalent [/usr/bin/htpasswd] :
All web (http) server programs have a password protection scheme to limit access to certain web page directories. Authorized users and  their passwords are entered/changed/removed by programs that are installed as part of the web server software. For Apache web servers, This program is /usr/bin/htpasswd. You might need to see your http server software's documentation.

 

20. Done! You should   now see the message :

Installation complete...

Now point your browser to http://xxxx.yyy/.../lists.htm  to start your WASPII
.

21. What this install script has done is this: (assuming you chose the default values)
  1. A directory called "waspii" is created under the http document root and a few html files are copied there.
  2. Another directory called "waspii" is created onder the http cgi root  and WASPII related scripts are copied there.
  3. The .hosts.admin file is created containing the IP numbers of the host you have installed WASPII on and the secondary admin host you might have specified.
  4. File and directory ownerships are set to the http daemon's userID.
  5. The file   ..../cgi-root/waspii/TEMPLATE/config.pl is created to hold WASPII options/parameters; which you can later edit (with caution).

 

22. I strongly recommend that you read "Admin Notes" to make full use of WASPII features.