[FWTools] install mapserver from FWtools for linux

[Peter Shrock]

Hello, Frank:

I never used Linux and do not have a Linux system. 

I found that Both MS4W and FWTools targeted new complete installation of
MapServer, which is great. However, there are also quite a few times that GIS
people have to deal with existing systems with very limited previledges. 

I am wondering if it is possible for FWTools to issue a "thin" FWTools
mapserver package targeting existing Apache/PHP/PostGIS environment, which has
the mapserver cgi, the corresponding libraries (libpng, freetype, libgd, Zlib,
Proj4, GEOS, GDAL), and warpper script. Mapserver will support WMS and PostGIS.

After I posted my quesiton, I have received inqueries regarding my progress. I
think this "thin" FWTools package will serve a certian percentage of Open GIS
community members and promote Open Source GIS.

Thanks

Peter

--- Frank Warmerdam <warmerdam at pobox.com> wrote:

> Peter Shrock wrote:
> > Hello, all:
> > 
> > I have been looking around in order to figure out if this is possible.
> > 
> > I have purchased a hosting plan which is a linux platform.
> > 
> > All I can do is to upload files to certain folders. There is no services of
> any
> > installation, batch file running, change of Apache config, or envirnmental
> > variables (path) setting.
> > 
> > In windwos, I can just upload mapserv.exe and all libraries to cgi-bin, and
> set
> > Proj path. Then mapserver will work.
> > 
> > I never used Linux, so could anyone please tell me if this is possible:
> >    1: get all the files from FWTools for Linux, and put in the cgi-bin so
> that
> > mapserver will work properly? I only need mapserver and its dependencies.
> >   2: I need to work with PostgIS and Proj.
> > 
> > Do I need to change Apache config?  
> > 
> > Your help is greatly appreciated. I know others have been facing the same
> > problem. An answer will help many people.
> 
> Peter,
> 
> I haven't tried this myself, but it should be possible.  I'm not sure FWTools
> is the best binary distribution for linux to start from.  It contains quite
> a bit of stuff you likely don't need.  As I see it you would need to:
> 
> - upload mapserv executable and all the shared libraries somewhere.
> - upload proj.4 support files (like epsg init file) somewhere
> - create a mapserv wrapper script in the cgi-bin directory which sets
>    environment variables pointing to various things and then executes
>    the real mapserv binary.  Environment variables would include:
>      LD_LIBRARY_PATH: needs to point to directory with all the .so files.
>      PROJ_LIB: needs to point to directory with the proj support files.
> 
> You should not need to alter the Apache configuration.  The key is getting
> the required files uploaded, and the wrapper script pointing to them.
> 
> If you aren't to experienced with this sort of thing, I suspect it will
> be frustrating.  It will likely be hard to find out why things are
> going wrong on the server (when they go wrong) and if you have to do
> everything on the server through the very thin window of an ftp
> client or similar ... well it will likely suck.
> 
> But, it should be doable.
> 
> Do you have a local linux system you can do testing on before you upload
> things?
> 
> Best regards,
> -- 
>
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
> I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
> light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
> and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org
> 
> 



       
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