xTuple uses Vagrant to build disposable Linux virtual machines (VMs). The files in the xtuple-vagrant repository simplify spinning up new VMs for several different use cases, including hosting demonstration databases and developing for the mobile web and desktop clients.
The setup files and instructions below are designed to let you edit files on either the host computer or from the VM. There are other ways to use Vagrant. This system works for us.
Vagrant is open-source software used to create lightweight and portable virtual development environments. Vagrant works like a "wrapper" for VirtualBox that can create, configure, and destroy virtual machines with the use of its own terminal commands. Vagrant facilitates the setup of environments without any direct interaction with VirtualBox and allows developers to use preferred editors and browsers in their native operating system. This blog describes a typical workflow using Vagrant in a development environment.
New to Github? Learn more about basic Github activities here.
Note: If you are using a Windows host, please use these instructions.
- Download and install VirtualBox 4.3.12. Do not open VirtualBox or create a virtual machine. This will be done by Vagrant later.
- Download and install Vagrant 1.6.4. Package managers like apt-get and gem install will install different versions of Vagrant so you must use the download page.
Make sure you have git installed on your host computer. You can do this in any of several different ways:
$ sudo apt-get install git
on some Linux distributions- installing Xcode from Apple's App Store
- downloading GitHub's desktop client
- downloading an installer from git-scm.com
Fork the following repositories on GitHub:
- xtuple
- xtuple-extensions
- qt-client only if you are going to make changes to xTuple's desktop client
- openrpt only if you are going to make changes to the OpenRPT report writer
- csvimp only if you are going to make changes to the CSVImp utility
Important: If you have previously forked these repositories, you should update your fork and update your dependencies.
Clone your forks of the xtuple
and xtuple-extensions
repositories to a directory on your host machine:
host $ mkdir dev
host $ cd dev
host $ git clone --recursive https://github.com/<your-github-username>/xtuple.git
host $ git clone --recursive https://github.com/<your-github-username>/xtuple-extensions.git
host $ #and the following only if you plan to change them
host $ git clone --recursive https://github.com/<your-github-username>/qt-client.git
host $ git clone --recursive https://github.com/<your-github-username>/openrpt.git
host $ git clone --recursive https://github.com/<your-github-username>/csvimp.git
Clone xtuple's xtuple-vagrant
repository in a separate directory adjacent to your development folder:
host $ cd ..
host $ ls dev # this should show xtuple, xtuple-extensions, ...
host $ mkdir vagrant
host $ cd vagrant
host $ git clone https://github.com/xtuple/xtuple-vagrant.git # no need to fork
host $ cd xtuple-vagrant
You probably need to configure your VM before you start it for the first time. We've made it easy to change some basic settings that control how the VM interacts with the host computer and what software gets installed in the VM. You can change the amount of memory the VM uses, its hostname and IP address, what version of PostgreSQL is installed, etc.
There is a list of variables at the top of the Vagrantfile
. You can override these settings by creating a file called xtlocal.rb
and placing new variable assignments in this file. For example, if you need to change the amount of memory the VM can use, override the xtVboxMemory
setting:
host $ cat 'xtVboxMemory = "2048"' > xtlocal.rb
One common case is configuring a second or third VM running on a single host. This is easy to do. You must overrride the network address of the VM and the network ports that the host forwards to the VM. To assign these ports manually, change the xtlocal.rb
file to look like this:
xtHostAddr = "192.168.33.11"
xtHostAppPort = 8444
xtHostRestPort = 3001
xtHostWebPort = 8889
You can also use the xtHostOffset
variable. First get the variables to change:
host $ egrep ^xtHost Vagrantfile > xtlocal.rb
Then edit the resulting file to look something like this:
xtHostOffset = 2
xtHostAddr = "192.168.33.12"
xtHostAppPort = xtGuestAppPort + xtHostOffset
xtHostRestPort = xtGuestRestPort + xtHostOffset
xtHostWebPort = xtGuestWebPort + xtHostOffset
Now make sure the VM will play nicely with your host machine:
host $ vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest
Important: Make sure the xtSourceDir
variable matches the
location of the cloned xTuple source code on the host machine. It
should be a relative path
Important: The default configuration runs a script to set up the VM
for mobile-web client development. You can override this by changing the
xtHostSetupFile
:
mvdev_setup.sh
sets up the VM for developing the mobile web client.qt4src_setup.sh
downloads the source code for Qt 4, then compiles and installs it. This takes a long time but is similar to the configuration we use to build the desktop client for releases. The resulting VM may be used for both desktop and mobile web client development.- Create your own script to set up a VM for a differeutn purpose.
Start the virtual machine:
host $ vagrant up
Vagrant will automatically run the shell script named by the
xtHostSetupFile
variable in either the Vagrantfile
or xtlocal.rb
to install the right tools. This may take anywhere from a few minutes
to a few hours to run, depending on which script you choose to run.
Connect to the virtual machine via ssh:
host $ vagrant ssh
Note that the xTuple source code is synced to the folder ~/dev
:
vagrant $ ls dev # you should see xtuple and xtuple-extensions
Start the datasource:
vagrant $ cd dev/xtuple/node-datasource
vagrant $ node main.js
Launch your local browser and navigate to application using localhost
http://localhost:8888
or the static IP address of the the virtual
machine http://192.168.33.10:8888
. You will need to use a different
IP address if you changed xtHostAddr
in your xtlocal.rb
.
The default username and password to your local application are admin
The xTuple ERP desktop client application can use the database
server running in the vagrant VM. Just make sure the application
matches the xTuple database version - that is, run a 4.9.1 client
to talk to a 4.9.1 database, 4.10.0 development client to talk to
a 4.10.0 development database, etc. Just make sure to log in to
the database using the admin
user, admin
password (unless you changed it!-),
and proper IP address and database server port.
If you set up the VM for desktop client development, you can
tweak the VM configuration to make it easier
to work in. Set the xtGui
variable to true
in xtlocal.rb
and
restart the VM:
host $ vagrant reload
This will reboot the VM and show the Linux display in a VirtualBox
window so you can work in it directly. You can still connect to
the VM on the command line with vagrant ssh
. Remember that you should
use vagrant commands to shutdown or reboot the VM whenever possible.
Note: This section is optional and only relevant if you are changing the xTuple ERP desktop client application.
Qt Creator is a good IDE for working with Qt projects but we at
xTuple have had trouble getting it to work properly. The
qtkpt_setup.sh
and qt4src_setup.sh
scripts install Qt Creator
for you but you do not have to use it. There are a few things you
need to know:
- Open the qt-client project by navigating to the
qt-client
directory and openingxtuple.pro
- The xTuple widgets plugin must be installed properly before you can edit
.ui
files. You can tell whether it's installed by opening a.ui
within Creator and making sure there is a section called xTuple Custom Widgets in the widgets palette. - If it isn't there, check Tools > Form Editor > About Qt Designer Plugins... and look under Failed Plugins.
- If the xTuple plugin is listed but there was an error loading it, try clicking the Refresh button.
- If the xTuple plugin is not listed:
- close the
.ui
file - open any
.cpp
file in thewidgets
directory and make a simple change, like adding then removing a space - save the modified
.cpp
- click the Build Project button (looks like a hammer)
- open Refresh the plugins again as described above
- open a
.ui
file and double-check the widgets palette
- close the
- If you continue to have problems:
- make sure you have write-permissions on
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt4/plugins/designer
and that it containslibxtuplewidgets.so
- check that
/etc/ld.so.conf.d/xtuple.conf
exists and that it lists both the/home/vagrant/dev/qt-client/lib
and/home/vagrant/dev/qt-client/openrpt/lib
dirs. If not, create this file, add each of these directories on separate lines, and runldconfig
.
- make sure you have write-permissions on
Shutting down, restarting, and destroying your VM:
See Configure Your VM if you have special
needs, such as more than one xTuple vagrant VM. If running on a Mac
with 8GB of RAM or less, set
your VM to use 2GB. Set xtVboxMemory = "2048"
in your xtlocal.rb
,
then either vagrant up
or vagrant reload
.