[tahoe-dev] report on progress for v1.8.0 release

Thu Sep 23 07:22:58 UTC 2010

Folks:

For the last few days I've been working with our loyal buildslave
operators to make sure zfec, pycryptopp, and tahoe-lafs build and pass
tests on lots of platforms. It is looking good!

http://tahoe-lafs.org/buildbot-zfec/waterfall?show_events=true
http://tahoe-lafs.org/buildbot-pycryptopp/waterfall?show_events=true
http://tahoe-lafs.org/buildbot/

Thanks very much to all of the buildslave operators: Arthur, Brian,
David Abrahams, David Triendl, Eugen, François, Frédéric, Josh, Kyle,
Marc, Nathan, Randy, Ruben, Samuel, Shawn, and Zandr!

The buildslaves upload binary packages of zfec and pycryptopp to this
server, and the build scripts look there when building tahoe-lafs:

http://tahoe-lafs.org/source/tahoe-lafs/deps/tahoe-lafs-dep-eggs/?C=M;O=D

One package that I know people are going to have trouble with is
PyCrypto. I toyed with the idea of scripting our buildslaves to build
binaries of PyCrypto, but I guess that's taking on too much work that
I don't really want to do. I would rather spend time making Tahoe-LAFS
not need PyCrypto any more: http://twistedmatrix.com/trac/ticket/4633
.

So, after the discussion with Josh and David-Sarah about
quickstart.html I have drafted this version of it. Please read this
and tell me what you think. Maybe even try it out and report whether
it works for you:

Regards,

Zooko

<!DOCtype HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>Getting Tahoe-LAFS</title>
    <link rev="made" class="mailto" href="mailto:zooko[at]zooko[dot]com">
    <meta name="description" content="how to get Tahoe-LAFS">
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
    <meta name="keywords" content="tahoe-lafs secure decentralized
filesystem installation">
  </head>

  <body>
    <h1>About Tahoe-LAFS</h1>
    <p>Welcome to <a href="http://tahoe-lafs.org">the Tahoe-LAFS
project</a>, a secure, decentralized, fault-tolerant storage system.
<a href="about.html">About Tahoe-LAFS.</a>

    <h1>How To Get Tahoe-LAFS</h1>

    <p>This procedure has been verified to work on Windows, Mac,
OpenSolaris, and too many flavors of Linux and of *BSD to list.  It's
likely to work on other platforms.

    <h2>In Case Of Trouble</h2>

    <p>There are a few 3rd party libraries that Tahoe-LAFS depends on
that might not be easy to set up on your platform.  If the following
instructions don't Just Work without any further effort on your part,
then please write to the <a
href="http://tahoe-lafs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tahoe-dev">the
tahoe-dev mailing list</a> where friendly hackers will help you out.
You might also find clues in the Advanced Install section described
below.

    <h2>Install Python</h2>

    <p>Check if you already have an adequate version of Python
installed by running <cite>python -V</cite>.  Python v2.4 (v2.4.4
or greater), Python v2.5, Python v2.6, or Python v2.7
will work. Python v3 does not work. On Windows, we recommend the
use of Python v2.6 (native, not Cygwin). If you don't have one of
these versions of Python installed, then follow the instructions on <a
href="http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.6.6/">the Python
download page</a> to download and install Python v2.6. Make sure
that the path to the installation directory has no spaces in it (e.g.
on Windows, do not install Python in the "<tt>Program Files</tt>"
directory).</p>
    <p>If you are on Windows, you now must manually install the
pywin32 package from <a
href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/files/">the pywin32
site</a> before getting Tahoe-LAFS. Make sure to get the correct file
for the version of Python you are using — e.g. ending in
"py2.6.exe" for Python v2.6. If using 64-bit Windows, the file
should have "win-amd64" in its name.</p>

    <h2>Get Tahoe-LAFS</h2>

    <p>Download the latest stable release, v1.8.0:</p>
    <pre><a
    href="http://tahoe-lafs.org/source/tahoe-lafs/releases/allmydata-tahoe-1.8.0.zip">http://tahoe-lafs.org/source/tahoe-lafs/releases/allmydata-tahoe-1.8.0.zip</a></pre>

    <h2>Set Up Tahoe-LAFS</h2>

    <p>Unpack the zip file and cd into the top-level directory.</p>

    <p>Run <cite>python setup.py build</cite> to generate the
<cite>tahoe</cite> executable in a subdirectory of the current
directory named <cite>bin</cite>.</p>

    <p>On Windows, the <cite>build</cite> step might tell you to open
a new Command Prompt (or, on XP and earlier, to log out and back in
again). This is needed the first time you set up Tahoe-LAFS on a
particular installation of Windows.</p>

    <p>Optionally run <cite>python setup.py test</cite> to verify that
it passes all of its self-tests.</p>

    <p>Run <cite>bin/tahoe --version</cite> (on Windows,
<cite>bin\tahoe --version</cite>) to verify that the executable tool
prints out the right version number.</p>

    <h2>Run Tahoe-LAFS</h2>

    <p>Now you are ready to deploy a decentralized filesystem.  The
<cite>tahoe</cite> executable in the <cite>bin</cite> directory can
configure and launch your Tahoe-LAFS nodes.  See <a
href="running.html">running.html</a> for instructions on how to do
that.</p>

    <h2>Advanced Installation</h2>

    <p>For optional features such as tighter integration with your
operating system's package manager, you can see the <a
href="http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe/wiki/AdvancedInstall">AdvancedInstall</a>
wiki page. The options on that page are not necessary to use
Tahoe-LAFS and can be complicated, so we do not recommend following
that page unless you have unusual requirements for advanced optional
features. For most people, you should first follow the instructions on
this page, and if that doesn't work then ask for help by writing to <a
href="http://tahoe-lafs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tahoe-dev">the
tahoe-dev mailing list</a>.</p>
  </body>
</html>