Django can be installed on a shared environment if you use FastCGI with it.
Note: You will need the FLUP module and Django installed. VPS and Dedicated plans can use these instructions, but shared and reseller plans already have these modules installed.
Here we go!
First, we need to install the flup module and django. We can use easy_install to do that.
Run these commands...
easy_install django
No easy_install on your server?
- Go to http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools#files and download the appropriate egg for your version of Python, i.e. setuptools-0.6c11-py2.4.egg. Do NOT rename it.
- Run it as if it were a shell script, i.e. sh setuptools-0.6c11-py2.4.egg . Setuptools will install itself using the matching version of Python (normally python2.4), and will place the easy_install executable in the default location for installing Python scripts.
- Go back to the top of this page and try the two easy_install lines, again.
Almost done!
Note: This next part can be done by any user who has SSH access. This means VPS, dedicated, shared, and reseller.
Create a new django project or upload your existing project (not shown). It might be a good idea to create a new dummy project just to have a baseline to test your installation.
To start a new project, run these commands...
cd newproject
chmod +x manage.py
./manage.py startapp newapp
Note: These last parts can be done by anyone with access to a VPS, dedicated, shared, or reseller plan.
Create the file index.fcgi and place it inside your www directory (same as public_html) or the document root you desire. Change the file's permissions to 0755. Next, edit the file and enter this code:
import sys, os
# Add a custom Python path. (optional)
sys.path.insert(0, "/home/username")
# Switch to the directory of your project.
os.chdir("/home/username/newproject")
# Set the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE environment variable.
os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = "newproject.settings"
from django.core.servers.fastcgi import runfastcgi
runfastcgi(method="threaded", daemonize="false")
The code above will work for anyone who literally followed the previous commands to install Django and create a new project. If you changed the project or directory names, you will need to make those same changes to the above code.
Finally, here are the .htaccess rewrite rules which belong in the same directory as your new index.fcgi file.
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.fcgi/$1 [QSA,L]
All finished.
Note: If you have more than one python installation, you may need to specify for which one you're installing setuptools. This seems to only be necessary for Resellers.
Here's how to fix the problem from SSH:
/usr/bin/python ez_setup.py
/usr/bin/easy_install django flup==1.0.2
WGET is not enabled by default, so you will need to contact HostGator at least once and request for us to enable WGET.
AddHandler fcgid-script .fcgi
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
and it now ends with
RewriteRule (media/.*)$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(admin/.*)$ curlgen.fcgi/$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^(macros/.*)$ curlgen.fcgi/$1 [L]
where curlgen.fcgi is the name of my FCGI script
That script is simply
#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys, os, user
# sys.path.insert(0, "/usr/lib/python2.4")
sys.path.insert(0, "/home/robert/django")
sys.path.insert(0, "/home/robert/django/projects")
sys.path.insert(0, "/home/robert/django/projects/curlgen")
# Switch to the directory of your project. (Optional.)
# os.chdir("/home/robert/django/projects/curlgen")
# Set the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE environment variable.
os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = "curlgen.settings"
from django.core.servers.fastcgi import runfastcgi
runfastcgi(method="threaded", daemonize="false")
BECAUSE:
I am building a project in ./projects/curlgen
You will place your user name and your project name in place of my 'robert' and 'curlgen' and 'macros'
Be sure your FCGI script is set to 755 permissions so that it will execute.