# Askbot Project Documentation

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# Initial Configuration of Askbot

While most configuration settings for askbot can be done at any time through the web-interface, some manipulations on the server are still necessary.

## Installing Askbot as a new Django project (standalone app)

Note

Firstly - if you are preparing the project directory manually, make sure that the directory name does not have the . - dot - symbol, because it is illegal for Python modules. For example:

    mkdir mydjangosite
    cd mydjangosite

When installing Askbot for the first time, you will need to initialize the project setup files by typing:

    askbot-setup

and answering the questions. The askbot-setup script will ask you where to deploy Askbot. If you are in the directory where the Askbot project resides, you can answer . (. refers to the current directory). There may be an error message; ignore it.

Note

All Django sites have four project-wide files:

    settings.py - the main settings configuration file
    urls.py     - main url configuration
    __init__.py - often empty but needed for Python
    manage.py   - the hook allowing to run management commands

askbot-setup adds those files to the directory you select (and some more things specific to Askbot).

New in version 0.7.24: askbot-setup also have command line arguments such as folder name(name), database name, database password and database user also added verbosity support. You can also specify a local settings file to append it’s contents to the deployment settings file.

Parameter | Purpose
--- | ---
-n <NAME> | Name of the instance, this is the name that the folder will use.
-d <DATABASE_NAME> | The database name that the instance will use.
-u <DATABASE_USER> | The database user that the instance will use.
-p <DATABASE_PASSWORD> | The database password for the user.
–domain=<DOMAIN_NAME> | Domain name for the application.
–append-settings=<SETTINGS_FILE> | Allows to append a setting file content to the settings file, the parameter is the file to use.

Note

askbot-setup command line arguments detail parameter is available when you type: askbot-setup –h.

Note that if you already have a Django site you will not want to use askbot-setup, because you don’t want to just overwrite your existing settings.py. See below for instructions.

Another thing you have to do if you are creating a brand new Django project is edit the file settings.py. At the very minimum, you will need to provide the correct values to some settings.

All values must be enclosed in single quotes, as shown below:

    DATABASE_ENGINE = '' #e.g. 'mysql'
    DATABASE_NAME = '' #name of the database you created, e.g. 'askbot'.
    DATABASE_USER = '' #name of the database user, e.g. 'askbotuser'.
    DATABASE_PASSWORD = '' #password to the database
    CSRF_COOKIE_DOMAIN = ''#e.g. 'example.com' or 'askbot.example.com' (localhost/IP address for tests)

Note

The files settings.py and urls.py may also need to be touched up when you upgrate the software, because new versions may bring new dependencies and add new site urls.

## Adding Askbot to an existing Django project

If you are adding askbot to an existing Django project, you will need to merge settings.py and urls.py into your project manually. The templates to be used can be found in the askbot/setup_templates subdirectory.