Rik Goldman - Wed, 2011/01/05 - 20:03
SchoolTool was first mentioned at TKL in response to a blog post by Liraz [1]. As I endeavored to create patches for the Ubuntu School Server in a Box blueprint, I was pleased to see it on the list of server technologies to be considered for incorporation [2].

SchoolTool is a technology to manage calendars, gradebooks, attendance, reporting, and more. It can be deployed to small teams or to entire institutions [3].

I hadn't planned on tackling this one yet, as I have a growing queue, but took a minute to survey what's involved and found myself committed before I knew it.

Attached is the patch I developed from build notes. I will follow up with build notes for the prototype.

I'll note here something that may be a problem: PDF functionality for reporting depends on msttcorefonts from Multiverse. Documentation suggests an alternative is being pursued, but no mention of progress is made.

[1] http://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/gnu-high-school#comment-3571

[2] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Education/EdubuntuServer

[3] http://www.schooltool.org/

Forum: 
General
Tags: 
tklpatch
core
school
schooltool
education
server
administration

Rik Goldman - Wed, 2011/01/05 - 20:05

Build Notes

Resource

Default Credentials

Username: manager

Password: schooltool

Given VM with TKL Core 11.0 Lucid running:

Set Hostname

# Set Hostname
HOSTNAME=schooltool
echo "$HOSTNAME" > /etc/hostname
sed -i "s|127.0.1.1 \(.*\)|127.0.1.1 $HOSTNAME|" /etc/hosts

Add Repositories

Edit /etc/apt/source.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/schooltool-owners/ppa/ubuntu lucid main 
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/schooltool-owners/ppa/ubuntu lucid main

Uncomment multiverse

Add Key

apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 386b7051

Update and Install

apt-get update
apt-get install schooltool-2009 msttcorefonts -y

Modify Configuration

sed -i 's|127.0.0.1|0.0.0.0|' /etc/schooltool/schooltool-2009/paste.ini

Modify Services.txt for Confconsole

Nano /etc/confconsole/services.txt

Add a line for SchoolTool:

SchoolTool:    http://$ipaddr:7080 #use spaces, not tabs

Shutdown and Test

shutdown -r now


Tom Hoffman's picture

Tom Hoffman - Sat, 2011/01/08 - 01:43

Thanks Rik!

We're shooting for getting rid of the multiverse truetype fonts by the April Natty release.  SchoolTool itself should be in Universe by then as well.

Alon Swartz's picture

Alon Swartz - Sun, 2011/01/09 - 15:50

Sounds good Tom, but seeing that TurnKey 11.0 is based on Lucid LTS, we won't be able to get those updates. Unless we install from upstream tarball or ppa, in which case there won't be security updates. OTOH, schooltool being in universe doesn't guarantee security updates anyway...

So, questions.

  • What do you recommend?
  • Could you possibly outline the high-level differences in the Lucid version and the upcoming Natty release?
  • Are there specific dependency issues we should look out for if we backport the package?
  • Would you be willing to provide a backport for Lucid, and push it into the official archive?
Jeremy Davis's picture

Jeremy Davis - Tue, 2011/01/11 - 04:20

Then perhaps you could create a privately hosted repo? Or an official PPA for Lucid? I know the TKL devs aren't huge fans of including PPAs in TKL appliances but if its an official one then perhaps that would be an option?

Tom Hoffman's picture

Tom Hoffman - Tue, 2011/01/11 - 22:00

We should be able to do a PPA to allow people to install the Natty release of SchoolTool on Lucid.  I don't want to bother with this for the Maverick release because it's not very different from the Lucid version, and getting into universe has been a multi-year ordeal for us due to the Zope dependency insanity.  We need to keep a laser focus on not screwing up getting into Natty.  After that's settled, I think we can help you out.

menesis's picture

menesis - Wed, 2011/02/09 - 20:50

I have uploaded the latest schooltool release and a minimum of required dependencies to SchoolTool development PPA . It extends the SchoolTool PPA.

The font problem is not solved yet.

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