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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 Ubuntu releases you can also use the Synaptic Package Manager (apt-get install on the command line) to handle some of the installation work for you. In the next version of Ubuntu (8.10), it will likely be possible to install almost everything needed using Synaptic as libraries are updated.

• 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 8.04 LTS. Any readers should update this document based on their experience from this version and note differences with newer versions.

Short Version

The following is a list of commands to enter into the Terminal to install GeoDjango on Ubuntu. For more detailed explanations on the installation process see the GeoDjangoInstall wiki.

#Download and Install the latest version of Django
cd ~
wget http://www.djangoproject.com/download/1.0/tarball/
tar xzvf Django-1.0.tar.gz 
sudo python ~/Django-1.0/setup.py install  #Enter password to give root privileges as prompted throughout the installation
#Install Apache2, PsycoPg2, PostGreSQL, PostGIS, build-essential [to be able to compile libraries], and Mod_Python
sudo apt-get install apache2 python-psycopg2 postgresql build-essential libapache2-mod-python postgresql-8.3-postgis #Press 'y' to confirm download
wget http://download.osgeo.org/gdal/gdal-1.5.2.tar.gz #The version in the Repositories is currently not new enough for GeoDjango
wget http://download.osgeo.org/geos/geos-3.0.0.tar.bz2  #The version in the Repositories is currently not new enough for GeoDjango
tar xzvf gdal-1.5.2.tar.gz
cd gdal-1.5.2
./configure --datadir=/usr/local/share/gdal
make
sudo make install
cd ~
bzip2 -dc geos-3.0.0.tar.bz2 | tar -x
cd geos-3.0.0
./configure
make
sudo make install       
sudo cp /usr/share/gcs.csv /usr/local/share/
sudo pico /etc/postgresql/8.3/main/pg_hba.conf #Edit to allow Django Connections, as per the regular Django Docs
sudo pico /etc/apache2/sites-available/default #Edit to Create Django Locations, as per the regular Django Docs 

Create your PostGIS enabled PostGreSQL db

sudo su postgres
createuser [username]   
psql 
    alter user [username] with password '[password]';
    \q
createdb [dbname]
createlang plpgsql [dbname]
psql -d [dbname] -f /usr/share/postgresql-8.3-postgis/lwpostgis.sql
psql -d [dbname] -f /usr/share/postgresql-8.3-postgis/spatial_ref_sys.sql

Notes

Add the following to near the beginning of the settings.py file for any GeoDjango app you create:
    GDAL_LIBRARY_PATH = '/usr/local/lib/libgdal.so'
Add the following to the Apache2 config file in the Location Subsection:
    SetEnv GDAL_DATA /usr/local/share/ 

Full Instructions

Step 1

Download all needed programs and libraries using apt-get and wget [commandline] or Synaptic and Firefox [GUI]:

apt-get install apache2 python-psycopg2 postgresql build-essential libapache2-mod-python postgresql-8.3-postgis  
wget http://www.djangoproject.com/download/1.0/tarball/
wget http://download.osgeo.org/gdal/gdal-1.5.2.tar.gz 
wget http://download.osgeo.org/geos/geos-3.0.0.tar.bz2  

Synaptic or apt-get will download and install the specified packages in one step. Django and the other libraries still need to be installed as described below.

Step 2

• Open up access in the pg_hba.conf file

  sudo pico /etc/postgresql/8.3/main/pg_hba.conf #Alternatively use gedit or a text editor of your choice  
  # 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 (or start) the server by switching into the default postgres user

    sudo su - postgres
    /etc/init.d/postgresql-8.3 start
    exit
    

Step 3

Compile and install these libraries so GeoDjango can find them Extract gdal-1.5.2.tar.gz and geos-3.0.0 to folders on your Desktop and install::

    #in the gdal-1.5.2 directory
    ./configure --datadir=/usr/local/share/gdal
    make
    sudo make install

    #in the geos-3.0.0 directory
    ./configure
    make
    sudo make install       

    sudo cp ~/Desktop/geos-3.0.0/capi/libs/* /usr/lib/
    sudo cp /usr/share/gdal/gcs.csv /usr/local/share/

Step 4

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 5

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

Step 6

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

Install these using Synaptic or the command:

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