Install redmine 1.3.2 on ubuntu server 11.10 with Apache + Passenger

Redmine is a powerful issue tracker and project management web application. This tutorial explains how install the last version of redmine 1.3.2 on a Ubuntu server 11.10 with MySQL, Apache and Passenger.


To start, install the following packages. When asked type the root password for the MySQL database.

 sudo apt-get install git-core build-essential ruby1.8-dev rubygems rake mysql-server libmysqlclient-dev  

Install Rack and Rails gems

 sudo gem install rack -v=1.1.3

 sudo gem install rails -v=2.3.14

 sudo gem install mysql

 sudo gem install rdoc 

You can add the --http-proxy http://user:password@proxy_ip_address:port to install gems behind a proxy server.

Configure mysql database, create a new database named redmine, add the redmine user and grant administrative rights to redmine database:

 mysql -u root -p  
 mysql> CREATE DATABASE redmine DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;  
 mysql> CREATE USER 'redmine'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'type_user_password';  
 mysql> GRANT ALL privileges ON redmine.* TO 'redmine'@'localhost';  
 mysql> exit

Download the latest version of Redmine from its Git repository. Optional if you are behind a proxy you need to configure its address with:

 git config --global http.proxy http://user:password@proxy_ip_address:port  

Download Redmine project to /opt directory:

 cd /opt  
 sudo git clone http://github.com/edavis10/redmine.git  
 cd redmine  
 sudo git checkout -b 1.3.2 1.3.2  

Configure Redmine:

 sudo cp config/database.yml.example config/database.yml  
 sudo nano config/database.yml  

Remove the contents of the file and type:

 production:  
  adapter: mysql  
  database: redmine  
  host: localhost  
  username: redmine  
  password: redmine_user_password  
  encoding: utf8  

Add required directories:

 sudo mkdir -p /opt/redmine/tmp /opt/redmine/public/plugin_assets  
 sudo mkdir /opt/redmine/tmp/pids  

Add required rights:

 sudo chown -R www-data:www-data files log tmp public/plugin_assets  
 sudo chmod -R 755 files log tmp public/plugin_assets  
 sudo chmod -R 777 files public/plugin_assets  

Finish redmine configuration:

 sudo rake generate_session_store  
 sudo RAILS_ENV=production rake db:migrate  
 sudo RAILS_ENV=production rake redmine:load_default_data  

Test redmine without Apache:

 sudo ruby script/server webrick -e production  

Now you can go to http://server_address:3000 and check if everything works. Type Ctrl+Z to stop the server.

Configure Apache to work with Redmine and Passenger: Add the required packages:

 sudo apt-get install apache2 apache2-prefork-dev libapr1-dev libaprutil1-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev  
 sudo gem install passenger  
 sudo ruby /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-3.0.11/bin/passenger-install-apache2-module 

Add passenger to apache:

 sudo nano /etc/apache2/mods-available/passenger.load  

Type the following text:

 LoadModule passenger_module /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-3.0.11/ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so  

Configure passenger:

 sudo nano /etc/apache2/mods-available/passenger.conf  

Type the following text:

 PassengerRoot /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-3.0.11  
 PassengerRuby /usr/bin/ruby1.8  

Enable Apache modules:

 sudo a2enmod passenger  
 sudo a2enmod rewrite  

Add a link from redmine to the www directory:

 sudo ln -s /opt/redmine/public/ /var/www/redmine  

Configure Apache:

 sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/default  

Type the following text:

 <VirtualHost *:80>  
      ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost  
      DocumentRoot /var/www  
      RailsEnv production  
      RailsBaseURI /redmine  
      <Directory /opt/redmine/public/>  
           Options FollowSymLinks  
           AllowOverride None  
           Order deny,allow  
           Allow from all  
      </Directory>  
      ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log  
      # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,  
      # alert, emerg.  
      LogLevel warn  
      CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined  
 </VirtualHost>  

Additionally add RMagick library:

 sudo apt-get install librmagick-ruby1.8  

Restart the Apache server:

 sudo service apache2 restart  

And that's all, go to http://server_address/redmine to start using redmine. Use "admin" as administrator user and password.