We're starting with a clean x86 64-bit Ubuntu 16.04 system with python3.5 but with neither Apache nor Django installed:
$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS Release: 16.04 Codename: xenial
Use Ubuntu's apt (Advanced Packaging Tool) to install our base apache2 installation
Install
$ sudo apt install apache2 Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following additional packages will be installed: apache2-bin apache2-data apache2-utils libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap liblua5.1-0 Suggested packages: apache2-doc apache2-suexec-pristine | apache2-suexec-custom The following NEW packages will be installed: apache2 apache2-bin apache2-data apache2-utils libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap liblua5.1-0 0 upgraded, 7 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded. Need to get 1,374 kB of archives. After this operation, 5,865 kB of additional disk space will be used.
We want mod-wsgi, which is an Apache module for the implmenentation of python WSGI (Web Server Gateway Interface). This will enable us to run our Django application using Apache and also do cool things like SSE server push via WSGI, and this will be the subject of a future article.
mod-wsgi
Determine whether it's already installed:
$ dpkg -S mod_wsgi dpkg-query: no path found matching pattern *mod_wsgi*
Install it for python 3 making sure to use the Apache library for python3. Information on various Ubuntu HTTP server packages can be found on the Ubuntu package site.
$ sudo apt install libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3 Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following NEW packages will be installed: libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded. Need to get 78.6 kB of archives. After this operation, 249 kB of additional disk space will be used. Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/universe amd64 libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3 amd64 4.3.0-1.1build1 [78.6 kB] Fetched 78.6 kB in 0s (681 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3. (Reading database ... 259242 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3_4.3.0-1.1build1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3 (4.3.0-1.1build1) ... Setting up libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3 (4.3.0-1.1build1) ... apache2_invoke: Enable module wsgi
Note the last line above that states the module was enabled. Although it's not necessary, let's check that it is indeed installed and where it's located:
$ dpkg -S mod_wsgi libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3: /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_wsgi.so libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3: /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_wsgi.so-3.5
Check if our Apache Web Server is running
$ ps -e | grep apache 3231 ? 00:00:00 apache2 3234 ? 00:00:00 apache2 3235 ? 00:00:00 apache2
Install Django from source
It's so easy to work with Django from source using git. We'll install it under our /build tree:
$ cd /build $ git clone https://github.com/django/django.git Cloning into 'django'... remote: Counting objects: 386325, done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (22/22), done. remote: Total 386325 (delta 8), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 386303 Receiving objects: 100% (386325/386325), 157.03 MiB | 3.38 MiB/s, done. Resolving deltas: 100% (280454/280454), done. Checking connectivity... done.
Checkout the latest production branch
$ cd django $ git tag -l | grep 1.10.6 1.10.6 $ git checkout 1.10.6 Note: checking out '1.10.6'. You are in 'detached HEAD' state. You can look around, make experimental changes and commit them, and you can discard any commits you make in this state without impacting any branches by performing another checkout. If you want to create a new branch to retain commits you create, you may do so (now or later) by using -b with the checkout command again. Example: git checkout -b <new-branch-name> HEAD is now at 320ec4e... [1.10.x] Bumped version for 1.10.6 release.
Create our own development branch so we can make changes to the source, commit them, create patches, etc.
$ git checkout -b dev_1.10
Determine where to configure the django library:
$ python3.5 Python 3.5.2 (default, Nov 17 2016, 17:05:23) [GCC 5.4.0 20160609] on linux Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> import site >>> site.getsitepackages() ['/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages', '/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages', '/usr/lib/python3.5/dist-packages'] >>> quit() $ cd /usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages $ sudo sh -c "echo '/build/django' > django.pth"
Note that the last line above creates a path configuration file so python can find our Django library.
Verify it's installed in our python3 environment:
$ python3 Python 3.5.2 (default, Nov 17 2016, 17:05:23) [GCC 5.4.0 20160609] on linux Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> import django >>> django.VERSION (1, 10, 6, 'final', 0)
Now we have Apache running and Django installed so python3.5 can import it and use it.
Create an example Django test project: tstdj under /build
$ python3.5 /build/django/django/bin/django-admin.py \ startproject tstdj
Find your settings.py file under tstdj and modify your ALLOWED_HOSTS so it includes your interface (e.g., 192.168.1.17). If you don't do this, you'll see an error when you visit your website explaining what you need to fix (courtesy of the Django developers).
If you want to take a break and verify your Django test project is OK, you can use:
$ cd /build/tstdj $ python3 manage.py runserver
You'll get a warning that you haven't applied your migrations yet. If you unfamiliar with runserver and migrations, head over to djangoproject.com and walk through the tutorial.
Configure the Apache server to serve Django
Now it's time to tie it all together and serve up your Django project using Apache and mod-wsgi.
Open up two terminals side-by-side to modify Apache conf files and view Apache logs:
First terminal:
$ cd /etc/apache2 $ grep APACHE_LOG_DIR envvars export APACHE_LOG_DIR=/var/log/apache2$SUFFIX
Second terminal, making use of the path determined for APACHE_LOG_DIR above:
$ cd /var/log/apache2
This second terminal will let you view errors in error.log and accesses in access.log.
For completeness sake, make sure mod-wsgi is enabled:
$ sudo a2enmod wsgi Module wsgi already enabled
In the first terminal open up /etc/apache2/apache2.conf with your favorite editor after making a copy of it:
$ sudo cp apache2.conf apache2.conf.orig
Add the following lines to the end of apache2.conf:
WSGIDaemonProcess <username> processes=2 threads=12 python-path=/build/tstdj
WSGIProcessGroup <username>
WSGIRestrictEmbedded On
WSGILazyInitialization On
WSGIScriptAlias / /build/tstdj/tstdj/wsgi.py
<Directory /build/tstdj/tstdj>
Require all granted
</Directory>
Note that there are many options for configuring, tuning, and tweaking both Apache and mod-wsgi. These just happen to be set up for our testing but are similar to the ones we use on a production site. Refer to the documentation of both projects for further information.
Now, restart Apache and give it a try. If you have errors, review error.log in /var/log/apache2 or submit a comment below and we'll try our best to help you.
$ sudo service apache2 restart
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