= Creating a Planet for your LoCo Team =

<<Include(LoCoMenuHeader)>>

== Installing and configuring ==

 1. Go to http://www.planetplanet.org/ and download the latest tar archive (tar.bz) planet-x.x.tar.bz2
 2. Extract this into a non public directory.

For example: 
{{{
/home/user/planet/ 
}}}

 3. Copy one of the example directories for your own planet. 

For example:
{{{
cp /home/user/planet/examples/fancy/ /home/user/planet/myplanetname/
}}}

 4. create an output directory, this should be the directory which is accessable by the public over http.   

For example: (some common locations would be)
{{{
mkdir /home/user/public_html/planet/
}}} or 
{{{
mkdir /var/www/planet/
}}} or 
{{{
mkdir /home/user/htdocs/planet/
}}}

 5. Now navigate back to your myplanetname directory. In this directory you should find a config.ini and an index.html.tmpl. Open the config.ini file with your favorite text editor. 

For example: 
{{{
edit /home/user/planet/myplanetname/config.ini 
}}}

 6. Important options to configure: 
 
 * name =
 * link =
 * owner_name = 
 * owner_email = 
 * template_files = 
For example: template_files = myplanetname/index.html.tmpl examples/atom.xml.tmpl examples/rss20.xml.tmpl examples/rss10.xml.tmpl examples/opml.xml.tmpl examples/foafroll.xml.tmpl 
(the example xml templates for most people will be fine so leave them) 
 * output_dir = 
For example: (some common locations would be) mkdir /home/user/public_html/planet/ or mkdir /var/www/planet/ or mkdir /home/user/htdocs/planet/ NOTE this must be the directory that you created in step 4. 

 7. Add feeds to your config.ini. There should be examples already in your config.ini file. The syntax is: [[http://url/to/my/feed]]
name = bob

 8. Generate your planet's page: execute the planet.py file with the config.ini file, planet.py  path/to/config.ini

For example: 
{{{
/home/user/planet/planet.py /home/user/planet/myplanetname/config.ini 
}}}

 9. You now find that the output directory now has files in it. Navigate with your browser to check that it looks OK. 

== Automating ==

Automating can be done using the crontab facitily. 

 1. To edit your crontab type: crontab -e  
 1. Input the values for how oftern you would like the planet to run/update/generate.

Here is a reminder of the cron syntax. 
{{{
minute (0 - 59) hour (0 - 23) day of month (1 - 31) month (1 - 12) day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0) command to be executed
}}}
For example 
{{{
0 * * * * cd /home/user/planet/ && ./planet.py ./myplanetname/config.ini
}}}

This means when the minute is 0 , every hour, every day, every month and every day of the week. run "cd /home/user/planet/ && ./planet.py ./myplanetname/config.ini" 

 3. Save and quit the crontab editor.

For more information on crontab https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CronHowto


== Customising ==

Customise the look of the planet page by editing the index.html.tmpl which should be located in your /home/user/planet/myplanetname/

Make sure that any files you use in your template are put into your publicly accessable directory that you created in step 4. 

Example: 

http://www.ubuntu-uk.org/planet/templatefiles/

Feel free to use these and modify these files to your liking.

Produces: http://www.ubuntu-uk.org/planet/

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CategoryLoCoTeams