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GeoDjango Dependencies with Apt-get on Ubuntu

The GeoDjangoInstall wiki describes in detail how to install GeoDjango dependencies from source, which for many reasons is a great approach.

However, with the recent Ubuntu releases you can also use the Synaptic Package Manager (apt-get install on the command line) to handle the installation work for you.

• Note: if you take this route, be advised that the location of install directories will differ significantly from the source install approach. ie. PostGIS will be installed inside the PostgreSQL contrib and share directories specific to the PostgreSQL version number.

This writeup is based on Ubuntu 7.10. Any readers should update for other versions.

Short Version

• Install Django from trunk
• Add the Ubuntu universe and multiverse debs
• Update and upgrade Ubuntu with Apt-get
• Easy_install Pycopg2
• If you need Postgres and Apache apt-get them
  • make sure to grab the dev versions
  • edit pg_hba.conf to allow django connections
• Apt-get postgis, libgdal, libgeos, and proj
• Create your PostGIS enabled PostgreSQL db
• Proceed with writing your first GeoDjango app
  • Sample apps for GeoDjango at: ​geodjango-basic-apps

Full Instructions

Step 1

Add the universe and multiverse debian repositories

#if you have the desktop edition
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
#if you have the server edition
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
# if you know how to use vim, you probably don't need to be reading this page!
sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list
## Add these Universe / Multiverse sites to the bottom of the page
## Make sure to specify the correct Ubuntu version
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-updates universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-updates universe multiverse

Step 2

Then upgrade and update ubuntu based on these new sources

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

Step 3

Use easy_install to install psycopg2

wget http://peak.telecommunity.com/dist/ez_setup.py
sudo python ez_setup.py
sudo easy_install psycopg2

Step 4

Install Apache and PostgreSQL (if you need them)

apt-get install apache2 apache2-threaded-dev apache2-doc apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils ssl-cert  

sudo apt-get install postgresql postgresql-contrib postgresql-server-dev-8.3 # or -8.2

• Then make sure that the postgresql programs are on your path or in .bash_profile

  Export PATH=/usr/lib/postgresql/8.3/bin/
  

• Open up access in the pg_hba.conf file

  sudo vim /etc/postgresql/8.3/main/pg_hba.conf
  # change ident sameuser to trust - WARNING SECURITY RISK
  # comment out this line to allow, for instance, to django/psycopg2 to connect without password
  local   all         postgres                          ident sameuser
  

  • Restart the server by switching into the default user

    sudo su - postgres
    pg_ctl -o -i -D /var/lib/postgresql/8.3/main/ restart
    

Step 5

Apt-get install postgis, libgdal, libgeos, and proj

• Note: search for the exact package names with

  apt-cache search GIS_LIB_NAME
  

apt-get install postgresql-8.3-postgis libgeos-dev libgeos-c1 libgdal1-dev proj

Step 6

Create your PostGIS template_postgis database

# Switch to the default postgres user
sudo su - postgres
# Create a template database with UTF encoding owned by the postgres user (or your user of choice)
createdb -E UTF8 -O postgres -U postgres template_postgis
# Now you can switch back to your normal user
exit
# Load the required procedural language for postgis
createlang plpgsql -d template_postgis -U postgres

Now you are ready to actually load the postgis functions and tables as sql inserts

• Note: the two postgis sql files (lwpostgis.sql and spatial_ref_sys.sql) were likely installed in the postgres share directory

  pg_config --sharedir # will give you that dir
  # Also look in:
  ls /usr/share/ # or /usr/local/share/
  

Try:

psql -d template_postgis -U postgres -f /usr/share/postgresql-8.3-postgis/lwpostgis.sql
# Note: ignore any NOTICES, like 'psql:/usr/share/lwpostgis.sql:44: NOTICE:  type "histogram2d" is not yet defined'

• You should see output like:

  BEGIN
  CREATE FUNCTION
  CREATE OPERATOR
  [...]
  CREATE TYPE
  CREATE AGGREGATE
  COMMIT
  

• If you get an error about not being able to find geos add /usr/local/lib to /etc/ld.so.conf and run:

  ldconfig # Then restart PostgreSQL
  

Then load the geographic projections table:

psql -d template_postgis -U postgres -f /usr/share/postgresql-8.3-postgis/spatial_ref_sys.sql

Whoa! Hopefully that worked, and you will only have to do it once!

From then on create a PostGIS database like:

createdb -U postgres -T template_postgis DB_NAME

Step 7

Return to GeoDjangoInstall for troubleshooting and tests for GDAL and GEOS (see bottom of page)

Step 8

Check out ​MapServer, ​Mapnik, and ​OpenLayers, open source mapping applications recommended for use with GeoDjango.

Install these and a few other helpful utilities with:

sudo apt-get install cgi-mapserver mapserver-bin python-gdal python-mapscript gdal-bin