Revision as of 10:07, 29 October 2009

To Wikify: http://experiment.dreamwidth.org/9596.html

Installing and Settings Things Up

You'll only have to do this once.

Get a Dreamhack

What's a Dreamhack? To put it simply, it's a mirror of the Dreamwidth site where you can test your changes.

1. Apply for a Dreamhack by filling this form.
2. Get PuTTY - choose the 'Windows installer for everything except PuTTYtel' .exe file - and install it.
3. Run PuTTY. In the configuration window, enter "hack.dreamwidth.net" for the host name. Go to Connection/Data and enter the username/login given to you in the welcome e-mail. It should be something like dh-xxx. You may also want to change the Window/Appearance, Window/Colours and Window/Selection settings. Once you're done, go back to Session. Select Default Settings and click on Save.
4. Click on Open. Click Yes on the pop-up message box.
5. Enter the password given to you in the welcome e-mail when asked. Note that no characters are displayed and the cursor won't move. It's normal.
6. Change your password by typing:

   passwd

7. On your Dreamhack, the default user is called 'system'. You need to set its password so you can access this account. Type:

   $LJHOME/bin/upgrading/make_system.pl

8. Once you're done type:

   start-apache

9. You can access your Dreamhack at http://yourusername.hack.dreamwidth.net/ and log in as system. You may want to upgrade your account to a paid one by going here.

Install WinSCP

What for? WinSCP will allow you to see and manage the files of your Dreamhack. You'll use it to edit the theme/layout files.

1. Install WinSCP. I chose the Explorer mode because I don't need to access any files on my computer but choose what's best for you.
2. Use "hack.dreamwidth.net" for the host name. Enter your username and password. Click on Save then on Login.

Set Up Your Dreamhack

Again?! Yes, you need to create some files that will make keeping your Dreamhack up-to-date easier.

1. Follow the steps outlined at Back Up Your Configs. N.B. To create files, go to WinSCP, go to the right directory, right-click on New/File and edit.
2. Also create the dwu, dws and dwdb scripts as explained in Scripting.
3. In PuTTY, type this then Enter:

cd $LJHOME/cvs/dw-free
hg qinit -c

This will create a directory where your patches will be put into: ~/dw/csv/dw-free/.hg/patches/

Do the same thing with dw-nonfree if you're working with non-free styles:

cd $LJHOME/cvs/dw-nonfree
hg qinit -c

The directory will be: ~/dw/csv/dw-nonfree/.hg/patches/

Create a Bugzilla account

Simply click here.

How All of This Works

• Your Dreamhack has two parts:
  • the live part (~/dw/*)
  • two main repository parts (~/dw/cvs/dw-free/* and ~/dw/cvs/dw-nonfree/*).

• What you see on http://yourusername.hack.dreamwidth.net/ is the live part.

• But you edit files in the repository parts and you create patches in the repository parts.

• To make the live part match the repository parts, you use 'synchronize':

  dws

• You also use 'update database':

  dwdb

• You mustn't forget to regularly update the repository parts by running 'update':

  dwu

Of course, you'll have to run dws and dwdb again after that. You'll do this often. :)

• To edit files, you use WinSCP.

• To create patches and update code, you use PuTTY.

• To find bugs, file bugs, upload patches, you use Buzilla.