Ubuntu 22.04

This page provides instructions on installing Autolab for development on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. If you encounter any issue along the way, check out Troubleshooting.

  1. Upgrade system packages and installing prerequisites

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get upgrade
    sudo apt-get install build-essential git libffi-dev zlib1g-dev autoconf bison libssl-dev libyaml-dev libreadline-dev libncurses5-dev libgdbm6 libgdbm-dev libmysqlclient-dev libjansson-dev universal-ctags sqlite3 libsqlite3-dev pkg-config
    
  2. Cloning Autolab repo from Github to ~/Autolab

    cd ~/
    git clone https://github.com/autolab/Autolab.git
    cd Autolab
    
  3. Setting up rbenv and ruby-build plugin (You may ignore the message about adding a line to bashrc)

    git clone https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv.git ~/.rbenv
    echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
    echo 'eval "$(rbenv init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc
    source ~/.bashrc
    
    ~/.rbenv/bin/rbenv init
    git clone https://github.com/sstephenson/ruby-build.git ~/.rbenv/plugins/ruby-build
    
  4. Installing Ruby (Based on ruby version)

    cd Autolab
    rbenv install  `cat .ruby-version`
    
  5. Installing MySQL (If you would just like to test Autolab, then you can skip this step by using SQLite)
    Following instructions from How to Install MySQL on Ubuntu

    sudo apt install mysql-server
    sudo service mysql start
    
    sudo mysql
    mysql> ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY '<password>';
    mysql> exit;
    
    sudo mysql_secure_installation
    > There will be a few questions asked during the MySQL setup.
    * Validate Password Plugin? N
    * Remove Anonymous Users? Y
    * Disallow Root Login Remotely? Y
    * Remove Test Database and Access to it? Y
    * Reload Privilege Tables Now? Y
    
    sudo mysql -u root -p
    mysql> ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH auth_socket;
    mysql> exit;
    
  6. (If you are using MySQL) Create a new user with access to autolab_test and autolab_development databases. Because a password rather than auth_socket is needed, we need to ensure that user uses mysql_native_password

    sudo mysql
    mysql> CREATE USER '<username>'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY '<password>';
    mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
    mysql> exit;
    
  7. Installing Rails

    cd Autolab
    gem install bundler -v $(tail -n1 Gemfile.lock)
    bundle install
    

    Refer to Troubleshooting for issues installing gems.

  8. Initializing Autolab Configs

    cp config/database.yml.template config/database.yml
    cp config/school.yml.template config/school.yml
    cp config/autogradeConfig.rb.template config/autogradeConfig.rb
    
    • Edit school.yml with your school/organization specific names and emails.
    • Edit database.yml with the correct credentials for your chosen database. Refer to Troubleshooting for any issues and suggested development configurations.
  9. Create a .env file to store Autolab configuration constants

    cp .env.template .env
    

    If you have not installed Tango yet, you do not need to do anything else in this stage. If you have already installed Tango, you should make sure to fill in the .env file with values consistent with Tango's config.py

  10. Initialize application secrets

    ./bin/initialize_secrets.sh
    
  11. (Using MySQL) Editing Database YML. Change the and fields in config/database.yml to the username and password that has been set up for the mysql. For example if your username is user1, and your password is 123456, then your yml would be

    development:
        adapter: mysql2
        database: autolab_development
        pool: 5
        username: user1
        password: '123456'
        socket: /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
        host: localhost
        variables:
            sql_mode: NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION
    
    test:
        adapter: mysql2
        database: autolab_test
        pool: 5
        username: user1
        password: '123456'
        socket: /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
        host: localhost
        variables:
            sql_mode: NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION
    
  12. (Using SQLite) Editing Database YML. Comment out the configurations meant for MySQL in config/database.yml, and insert the following

    development:
        adapter: sqlite3
        database: db/autolab_development
        pool: 5
        timeout: 5000
    
    test:
        adapter: sqlite3
        database: db/autolab_test
        pool: 5
        timeout: 5000
    
  13. Granting permissions on the databases. Setting global sql mode is important to relax the rules of mysql when it comes to group by mode

    (access mysql using your root first to grant permissions)
    mysql> grant all privileges on autolab_development.* to '<username>'@localhost;
    mysql> grant all privileges on autolab_test.* to '<username>'@localhost;
    mysql> SET GLOBAL sql_mode=(SELECT REPLACE(@@sql_mode,'ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY',''));
    mysql> exit
    
  14. Initializing Autolab Database

    cd Autolab
    bundle exec rails db:create
    bundle exec rails db:reset
    bundle exec rails db:migrate
    
  15. Create initial root user, pass the -d flag for developmental deployments:

    # For production:
    ./bin/initialize_user.sh
    
    # For development:
    ./bin/initialize_user.sh -d
    
  16. If you are just testing Autolab, you can populate the database with sample course & students

    cd Autolab
    bundle exec rails autolab:populate
    
  17. Run Autolab!

    cd Autolab
    bundle exec rails s -p 3000 --binding=0.0.0.0
    
  18. Visit localhost:3000 on your browser to view your local deployment of Autolab, and login with either the credentials of the root user you just created, or choose Developer Login with

    Email: "admin@foo.bar"
    
  19. Install Tango, the backend autograding service. Information on linking Autolab to Tango can be found on this page as well.

  20. If you would like to deploy the server, you can try out Phusion Passenger.

  21. If you would like to configure Github integration to allow students to submit via Github, please follow the Github integration setup instructions.

  22. If you would like to configure LTI integration to link Autolab courses to LTI platforms, please follow the LTI integration setup instructions.

  23. Now you are all set to start using Autolab! Please fill out this form to join our registry so that we can provide you with news about the latest features, bug-fixes, and security updates. For more info, visit the Guide for Instructors and Guide for Lab Authors.