Ubuntu Gutsy - Django installation

Django is a commonly used framework when developing webapps.

Let's take a look at installing Django on an Ubuntu Gutsy Slice and look at integrating database support.

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Prerequisites

Assuming you are using Apache, we need to install the correct mod:

sudo aptitude install libapache2-mod-python

Once done, we are ready to install the main Django package.

As with most packages, you can install them in one of two ways.

The first, and most common way to install Django, is from the Trunk (via subversion). This provides the latest features and bug fixes and is the recommended route:

Trunk

Let's go ahead and install via svn. Ensure you have subversion installed:

sudo aptitude install subversion

As with all sysadmin work, consistency is key. As such, create a 'sources' directory in your home folder and move into it:

mkdir /home/demo/sources
cd /home/demo/sources

Now we can check out the latest version:

svn co http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk/ django-trunk

Lastly, we need to create a couple of symlinks:

sudo ln -s /home/demo/sources/django-trunk/django /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/django
sudo ln -s /home/demo/sources/django-trunk/django/bin/django-admin.py /usr/local/bin/django-admin.py

Stable

The second installation method is via the Ubuntu package manager 'aptitude'.

This will install a known and stable version of Django but, of course, will be a slightly older version.

Let's try that now:

sudo aptitude install python-django

This method also takes care of any dependencies.

You can find the installed version like so:

django-admin --version

On my test slice that installed version 0.96.

Database

Now we can have a quick look at three databases (databii?) we can use with Django.

Namely, MySQL, Postgres and Sqlite.

MySQL

Installation of MySQL and the python bindings is simply:

sudo aptitude install mysql-server python-mysqldb

Note this will install exim4 as a dependency. If you would prefer something like Postfix, then do a post install:

sudo aptitude install postfix

This will remove exim4 and install postfix.

Postgres

Postgres and needed bindings are equally simple to install:

sudo aptitude install postgresql python-psycopg2

Note this won't install exim4 or postfix so you will need to install one of these should you have that requirement:

sudo aptitude install postfix

SQlite

This one is very simple as SQLite is automatically supported with Python 2.5.

Other Packages

Well, that's the base requirements for Django installed but there are a few other pacjages that you may find useful such as memcached and imaging utilities.

To install these, enter the following:

sudo aptitude install python-imaging python-docutils memcached

Done.

Summary

Although there are a couple of choices to make such as trunk vs stable and which database you prefer to use, installing Django is fairly simple.

BTW - thanks go to Jared (SuperJared) for the notes to enable this (and future) Django articles. Any mistakes are likely due to my interpretation of very clear and precise instructions :)

PickledOnion.