Downloading and Installing the Publius Server

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Publius Server Software Installation

Warning: Publius is an experimental system and should not be installed on critical or sensitive computers.

1. Read the Publius Software "Terms and Conditions" and download the server software from the software download page. Only download the software if you agree to the "Terms and Conditions" listed on the download page.

2. Copy the file onto your server so that it can be executed from as a CGI script.

3. Create a directory on your system that will be used for the storage of Publius documents. This directory must be readable, writeable and searchable by the Publius server script.

4. Bring the script into your favorite editor. If the path to perl on line 1 is incorrect change it to the correct one.

5. Go to line 31. Replace the phrase "Publius Directory" with the FULL path to the directory created in step 3. For example, if the path of the step 3 directory is /home/publius then line 31 will look like this - my $publiusFileDir="/home/publius";

6. Go to line 34. The variable declared on this line allows you to limit the number of Publius files that will be stored on your server. The default number is 1000. The maximum size of a Publius file is 100K This means that Publius can store 10 files per megabyte. A file limit of 1000 means you need to set aside 100 megabytes of disk space. If you have set aside more you can raise this limit. For example, if you have set aside 200 megabytes of disk space for Publius you can raise this value to 2000. If you do not wish to limit the number of files stored, the value can be made negative. For 200 megabytes of disk space the line 24 will look like this - my $maxNumFiles=2000;

7. Save the file to disk and make sure the file's permissions are set so that it can be executed as a CGI script.

8. If the directory created in step 3 is viewable via a WWW browser then place an empty "index.html" file inside the directory.

9. Test the script by entering the scripts CGI URL into your WWW browser. If "No Publius Directory Specified" appears you need to redo step 5. If NOTHING appears in your WWW browser (blank browser screen) you can assume the script was installed correctly.

10. The Publius server requires Libwww-Perl. This may not be included with your Perl distribution so you may need to install it.

11. Please read the Publius Server FAQ for other information about other installation options including disk partitions and CGI wrappers

12. If you would like to host a Publius server during the trial please e-mail your URL to the Publius Project (publius@cs.nyu.edu). Your server should be connected to the Internet 24 hours a day / 7 days a week. Please read the Publius Server FAQ for more information.