Prerequisites¶

In order to use Zope, you must have the following pre-requisites available:

• A supported version of Python, including the development support if installed from system-level packages. Supported versions include:
  • 2.6.x
• Zope needs the Python zlib module to be importable. If you are building your own Python from source, please be sure that you have the headers installed which correspond to your system’s zlib.
• A C compiler capable of building extension modules for your Python (gcc recommended). This is not necessary for Windows as binary releases of the parts that would need compiling are always made available.
• If you wish to install Zope as a Service on Windows, you will need to have the pywin32 package installed.

Installing Zope¶

Unless using buildout to build a zope instance as described below, you will need to install Zope separately. If you want to create a buildout-based Zope instance, please skip directly to that section.

$ virtualenv --no-site-packages my_zope
$ cd my_zope
$ source bin/activate
$ bin/easy_install -i http://download.zope.org/Zope2/index/<Zope version> Zope2

$ wget http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/Z/Zope2/Zope2-<Zope version>.tar.gz
$ tar xfvz Zope2-2.12.0.tar.gz
$ cd Zope2-2.12.0
$ /path/to/your/python bootstrap/bootstrap.py
$ bin/buildout

$ easy_install -i http://download.zope.org/Zope2/index/<Zope version> Zope2

Creating a classic Zope Instance¶

Once you’ve installed Zope, you will need to create an “instance home”. This is a directory that contains configuration and data for a Zope server process. The instance home is created using the mkzopeinstance script:

$ bin/mkzopeinstance

You can specify the Python interpreter to use for the instance explicitly:

$ bin/mkzopeinstance --python=$PWD/bin/zopepy

You will be asked to provide a user name and password for an administrator’s account during mkzopeinstance. To see the available command-line options, run the script with the --help option:

$ bin/mkzopeinstance --help

Creating a buildout-based Zope Instance¶

If you wish to use buildout to manage your Zope instance, then the instance is created as follows:

• Create a directory for your instance. In this directory, create a etc, logs and var subdirectories.

• Download the following file into your instance directory:

  http://svn.zope.org/*checkout*/zc.buildout/trunk/bootstrap/bootstrap.py

• Create a buildout configuration as follows:

[buildout]
parts = instance
extends = http://svn.zope.org/*checkout*/Zope/tags/<Zope version>/versions.cfg

[instance]
recipe = zc.recipe.egg
eggs = Zope2
interpreter = py
scripts = runzope zopectl
initialization =
  import sys
  sys.argv[1:1] = ['-C',r'${buildout:directory}/etc/zope.conf']

This is the minimum but all the usual buildout techniques can be used.

• Create a Zope configuration file starting as follows:

%define INSTANCE <path to your instance directory>

python $INSTANCE/bin/py[.exe on Windows]

instancehome $INSTANCE

• Now, run the following commands:

  $ /path/to/your/python bootstrap.py
  $ bin/buildout
  

  In the bin subdirectory of your instance directory, you will find runzope and zopectl scripts that can be used as normal.

Using your Zope instance¶

There are various ways to run Zope from your newly created instance. They are all described below.

$ /path/to/zope/instance/bin/zopectl fg

$ /path/to/zope/instance/bin/zopectl start

bin\zopectl install

bin\zopectl remove

bin\zopectl install --help

bin\zopectl install --startup=auto

Configuring Zope¶

Your Zope instance is configured through a file, either found by default:

$ /path/to/zope/instance/bin/zopectl show
...
Config file:  /path/to/zope/instance/etc/zope.conf

or passed explicitly on the commandline:

$ /path/to/zope/instance/bin/zopectl -c /tmp/other.conf show
...
Config file:  /tmp/other.conf

When starting Zope, if you see errors indicating that an address is in use, then you may have to change the ports Zope uses for HTTP or FTP. The default HTTP and FTP ports used by Zope are 8080 and 8021 respectively. You can change the ports used by editing ./etc/zope.conf appropriately.

The section in the configuration file looks like this:

<http-server>
  # valid keys are "address" and "force-connection-close"
  address 8080
  # force-connection-close on
</http-server>

The address can just be a port number as shown, or a host:port pair to bind only to a specific interface.

Logging In To Zope¶

Once you’ve started Zope, you can then connect to the Zope webserver by directing your browser to:

http://yourhost:8080/manage

where ‘yourhost’ is the DNS name or IP address of the machine running Zope. If you changed the HTTP port as described, use the port you configured.

You will be prompted for a user name and password. Use the user name and password you provided in response to the prompts issued during the “make instance” process.

If you are using a buildout-based Zope instance, you will need to create a user as follows:

$ bin/zopectl adduser username password

Now you’re off and running! You should be looking at the Zope management screen which is divided into two frames. On the left you can navigate between Zope objects and on the right you can edit them by selecting different management functions with the tabs at the top of the frame.

If you haven’t used Zope before, you should head to the Zope web site and read some documentation. The Zope Documentation section is a good place to start. You can access it at http://docs.zope.org/

Troubleshooting¶

• This version of Zope requires Python 2.6.4 or better. It will not run with Python 3.x.
• The Python you run Zope with must have threads compiled in, which is the case for a vanilla build. Warning: Zope will not run with a Python version that uses libpth. You must use libpthread.
• To build Python extensions you need to have Python configuration information available. If your Python comes from an RPM you may need the python-devel (or python-dev) package installed too. If you built Python from source all the configuration information should already be available.
• See the Changelog for important notes on this version of Zope.