postgresql.txt

.. index:: postgres; deployment notes

==========================
PostgreSQL/psycopg Backend
==========================

This are notes about PostqreSQL backend based on the psycopg adapter for
Roundup issue tracker.

Prerequisites
=============

To use PostgreSQL as backend for storing roundup data, you should
additionally install:

1. PostgreSQL_ 8.x or higher

2. The psycopg_ python interface to PostgreSQL_

Note that you currently need at least version 2.8 of psycopg_ -- the
postgresql backend will work with 2.7 but if you're using the native
postgresql indexer you need at least 2.8. Also if you want to run the
tests, these also need 2.8. If your distribution has an older version we
suggest that you install into a python virtual environment.

.. _psycopg: https://www.psycopg.org/
.. _PostgreSQL: https://www.postgresql.org/


Preparing the Database
======================

Roundup can use Postgres in one of two ways:

  1. Roundup creates and uses a database
  2. Roundup uses a pre-created database and creates and uses a schema
     under the database.

In the examples below, replace ``roundupuser``, ``rounduppw`` and
``roundupdb`` with suitable values.

This assumes that you are running Postgres on the same machine with
Roundup. Using a remote database, setting up SSL/TLS and other
authentication methods is beyond the scope of this
documentation. However examples are welcome on the wiki or mailing
list.

Creating a Role/User
--------------------

For case 1 (Roundup user creates and uses a database) create a user
using::

  psql -c "CREATE ROLE roundupuser WITH CREATEDB LOGIN PASSWORD 'rounduppw';" -U postgres

After running ``roundup-admin init`` to create your databases, you can
remove the CREATEDB permission using::

  psql -c "ALTER ROLE roundupuser NOCREATEDB;"

If needed (e.g. you want to deploy a new tracker) you can use ``ALTER
ROLE`` with ``CREATEDB`` to add the permission back.

For case 2 (Roundup user uses a schema under a pre-created database)
you need to create the user::

  psql -c "CREATE ROLE roundupuser LOGIN PASSWORD 'rounduppw';" -U postgres

This psql command connects as the postgres database superuser. You may
need to run this under sudo as the postgres user or provide a password
to become an admin on the postgres db process.


Creating a Database
-------------------

For case 1, roundup will create the database on demand using the
``roundup_admin init`` command. So there is nothing to do here.

For case 2, run::

   psql -c "CREATE DATABASE roundupdb;GRANT CREATE ON DATABASE roundupdb TO roundupuser;" -U postgres

This creates the database and allows the roundup user to create a new
schema when running ``roundup_admin init``.


Running the PostgreSQL unit tests
=================================

The user that you're running the tests as will need to be able to access
the postgresql database on the local machine and create and drop
databases and schemas. See the config values in 'test/db_test_base.py' 
about which database connection, name and user will be used.

At this time the following commands will setup the users and required
databases::

  sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE ROLE rounduptest WITH CREATEDB LOGIN PASSWORD 'rounduptest';" -U postgres

  sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE ROLE rounduptest_schema LOGIN PASSWORD 'rounduptest';" -U postgres
  sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE DATABASE rounduptest_schema;GRANT CREATE ON DATABASE rounduptest_schema TO rounduptest_schema;" -U postgres

Note ``rounduptest`` and ``rounduptest_schema`` are well known
accounts, so you should remove/disable the accounts after testing and
set up a suitable production account. You need to remove any database
owned by ``rounduptest`` first. To clean everything up, something like
this should work::


  sudo -u postgres psql -c "DROP DATABASE rounduptest;" -U postgres
  sudo -u postgres psql -c "DROP ROLE rounduptest;" -U postgres
  sudo -u postgres psql -c "DROP DATABASE rounduptest_schema;" -U postgres
  sudo -u postgres psql -c "DROP ROLE rounduptest_schema;" -U postgres

If the ``rounduptest`` database is left in a broken state
(e.g. because of a crash during testing) dropping the database and
restarting the tests should fix it. If you have issues while running
the schema test, you can drop the ``rounduptest` schema in the
``rounduptest_schema`` database.
   
Credit
======

The postgresql backend was originally submitted by Federico Di Gregorio
<fog@initd.org>