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Prev: [[ManualRequirements]] --- Up: [[UserManual]] --- Next: [[ManualApacheConfig]]
This guide walks you through installing RT from source on a modern, popular Linux distro. Specifically, that means a distribution based on Debian or Red Hat that’s been released since around 2020.


----
This guide assumes:


= GENERAL INSTALLATION =
* You can install packages generally available in Debian/Ubuntu or Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS.
* You want to install RT, and all of its Perl dependencies, from source to get the latest versions. (This is a trade-off. It means the boundaries of your install will be very clear, but you won’t get security updates for RT or Perl modules from your distribution.)
* You are willing to install a couple of extra tools to manage the RT installation similarly to how you would in other packaging systems (like PyPI, npm, etc.).
* You are willing to do a relatively maximal install of RT, enabling all the options during installation and then setting what you need in the configuration. (You could save a little space and time by being pickier about your options, but then that complicates the guide and makes it harder to turn those options on later if you want.)
* You are using a regular user account on the Linux system that can get superuser privileges with sudo.


== 1. Unpack ==
== Install the base dependencies ==


== 2. Run the configure script ==
These are required by RT, either to run or to install the dependencies.


From within the temporary directory you just created, run the "configure" script. You'll want to read this entire section, and decide on the option switches which you will want to specify to configure, before you actually run it. Having multiple console windows available during (this or any other) install is '''exceptionally''' helpful.
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>sudo apt install autoconf build-essential cpanminus curl libexpat-dev libgd-dev libssl-dev libz-dev gnupg graphviz lynx openssl perl</pre>
|<pre>sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled powertools
sudo dnf install patch tar which gcc gcc-c++ perl-core perl-App-cpanminus graphviz expat-devel gd-devel lynx openssl openssl-devel
sudo setenforce 0</pre>
|}


To see a list of configuration options, use the "help" flag, which will show you a list of options:
(Turning off SELinux enforcement is required on Red Hat-based distributions because, as of October 2021, nobody has written a policy for RT.)


./configure --help
== Install a database ==
yes Adrian please help .. you think your so cool with your sweater on!! er..


We've also listed the options here. Defaults are specified in brackets.
You need access to a database server. It can be remote, or you can install a database server alongside RT. RT supports a few different databases, but the best supported options are PostgreSQL and MariaDB.


Configuration:
=== Installing and configuring the PostgreSQL server ===
  -h, --help              display this help and exit
  --help=short        display options specific to this package
  --help=recursive    display the short help of all the included packages
  -V, --version          display version information and exit
  -q, --quiet, --silent  do not print `checking...' messages
  --cache-file=FILE  cache test results in FILE [disabled]
  -C, --config-cache      alias for `--cache-file=config.cache'
  -n, --no-create        do not create output files
  --srcdir=DIR        find the sources in DIR [configure dir or `..']


=== Installation directory ===
If you want to install a fresh PostgreSQL database server alongside RT:


By default, `make install' will install all the files in `/opt/rt3/bin', `/opt/rt3/lib' etc. You can specify an installation prefix other than `/opt/rt3' using `--prefix', for instance `--prefix=$HOME'.
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>sudo apt install postgresql</pre>
|<pre>sudo dnf install postgresql-server</pre>
|}


--prefix=PREFIX        install architecture-independent files in PREFIX
In order to set up RT’s database, you will need a PostgreSQL account that can create databases and roles and be authenticated with a password. If you don’t have that, you can create it by running:
                          [/opt/rt3]
--exec-prefix=EPREFIX  install architecture-dependent files in EPREFIX
                          [PREFIX]


=== Installation directory fine-tuning ===
<pre>sudo createuser --createdb --createrole --login --pwprompt rt_admin</pre>
Set the password when prompted. Record this; you’ll need it later.


Here are some more configure switches you can use to fine tune exactly where the install process should put its files. If you don't know why or to where you might change these, just accept the default.
=== Enable password authentication in PostgreSQL ===


--bindir=DIR          user executables [EPREFIX/bin]
You need to consider this step whether you install the database locally, or use an existing one already running. RT supports connecting to PostgreSQL a few different ways, but authenticating with a username and password is simplest, and this guide is written based on that. Not all PostgreSQL installations allow this authentication method by default. You need to review your <code>pg_hba.conf</code> file located at:
--sbindir=DIR          system admin executables [EPREFIX/sbin]
--libexecdir=DIR      program executables [EPREFIX/libexec]
--datadir=DIR          read-only architecture-independent data [PREFIX/share]
--sysconfdir=DIR      read-only single-machine data [PREFIX/etc]
--sharedstatedir=DIR  modifiable architecture-independent data [PREFIX/com]
--localstatedir=DIR    modifiable single-machine data [PREFIX/var]
--libdir=DIR          object code libraries [EPREFIX/lib]
--includedir=DIR      C header files [PREFIX/include]
--oldincludedir=DIR    C header files for non-gcc [/usr/include]
--infodir=DIR          info documentation [PREFIX/info]
--mandir=DIR          man documentation [PREFIX/man]


Optional Features:
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>/etc/postgresql/VERSION/main/pg_hba.conf</pre>
|<pre>/var/lib/pgsql/VERSION/data/pg_hba.conf</pre>
|}


--disable-FEATURE      do not include FEATURE (same as --enable-FEATURE=no)
Replace <code>VERSION</code> with the version of your PostgreSQL database. Add these two lines '''above''' any other lines that start with <code>host</code>:
--enable-FEATURE[=ARG]  include FEATURE [ARG=yes]
--enable-layout=LAYOUT  Use a specific directory layout (Default: RT3) Optional Packages:
--with-PACKAGE[=ARG]    use PACKAGE [ARG=yes]
--without-PACKAGE      do not use PACKAGE (same as --with-PACKAGE=no)
--with-rt-group=GROUP  group to own all files (default: rt)
--with-bin-owner=OWNER  user that will own rt executable files (default root)
--with-libs-owner=OWNER user that will own RT libraries (default root)
--with-libs-group=GROUP group that will own rt binaries (default bin)
--with-db-type=TYPE    sort of database RT will use (default: mysql; others are
                        Oracle, Informix, Pg, SQLite)
--with-db-host=HOSTNAME FQDN of database server (default: localhost)
--with-db-port=PORT    port on which the database listens on
--with-db-rt-host=HOSTNAME
                        FQDN of database server (default: localhost)
--with-db-dba=DBA      name of database administrator (default: root)
--with-db-database=DBNAME
                        name of the database to use (default: rt3)
--with-db-rt-user=DBUSER
                        name of database user (default: rt_user)
--with-db-rt-pass=PASSWORD
                        password for database user (default: rt_pass)
--with-web-user=USER    user the web server runs as (default: www)
--with-web-group=GROUP  group the web server runs as (default: www)
--disable-option-checking  ignore unrecognized --enable/--with options
--disable-FEATURE      do not include FEATURE (same as --enable-FEATURE=no)
--enable-FEATURE[=ARG]  include FEATURE [ARG=yes]
--enable-layout=LAYOUT  Use a specific directory layout (Default: relative)
--enable-devel-mode    Turn on development aids that might hurt you in production
--enable-graphviz      Turns on support for RT's GraphViz dependency charts
--enable-gd            Turns on support for RT's GD pie and bar charts
--enable-gpg            Turns on GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) support


Some influential environment variables:
<pre>host  rt5  rt_user  all  md5
host  rt5  rt_admin  all  md5</pre>


PERL        Perl interpreter command
This configuration will let <code>rt_user</code> and <code>rt_admin</code> authorize themselves for the <code>rt5</code> database using an <code>md5</code> crypted password over a network connection (possibly using the localhost loopback network). You might be able to further restrict some of these fields for improved security, but doing so is outside the scope of this install guide. Refer to [https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/auth-pg-hba-conf.html the pg_hba.conf documentation] for more details.


Use these variables to override the choices made by 'configure' or to help it to find libraries and programs with unusual names/locations.
Save your changes and reload the database:


Look at all the available flags and determine your RT install preferences, then
<pre>sudo systemctl reload postgresql</pre>


./configure (with the flags you want)
=== Installing the PostgreSQL client libraries ===


You might find it useful to put all your switches into a script in your build directory called <code>build</code>, so that if you need to run it more than once, or refer back to it, it's been saved somewhere. You can then do your build by merely typing
These are required for RT to be able to talk to any PostgreSQL server.


./build
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>sudo apt install libpq-dev</pre>
|<pre>sudo dnf install postgresql-devel</pre>
|}


== 3. Dependencies ==
Once this is done you can skip ahead to installing a web server.


After you build RT, but before you can run it, you must satisfy RT's myriad dependencies. RT makes use of many components external to the distributed package, and these must all be installed before the package will run. You '''must always''' do this step on install/update or upgrade actions.
=== Installing and configuring the MariaDB server ===


First of all, check for compliance, using the CPAN-based dependency checker (if you have never run CPAN on this machine as this user, see below to manually initialize it first, or else :-):
If you want to install a fresh MariaDB database server alongside RT:


make testdeps
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>sudo apt install mariadb-server</pre>
|<pre>sudo dnf install mariadb-server</pre>
|}


or (the long way)
In order to set up RT’s database, you will need a MySQL superuser account. To stay consistent with PostgreSQL, I suggest setting a password for it. You can do that by running:


perl sbin/rt-test-dependencies --with-&lt;databasename&gt; --with-&lt;web-environment&gt;
<pre>sudo mysql
mysql# GRANT ALL PRIVELEGES WITH GRANT OPTION ON rt5 TO rt_admin@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'YourPassphraseHere';</pre>
Record your passphrase; you’ll need it later.


Instead of &lt;databasename&gt;, type either mysql, postgres or oracle. Instead of &lt;web-environment&gt;, type either fastcgi, modperl1, or modperl2.
=== Adjust MariaDB’s max_allowed_packet setting ===


If there are unsatisfied dependencies (that is, if you are missing stuff), you will see complaints like "such-and-such not installed". Look carefully; these don't stand out that much. Go, ye, and fix dependencies. As root:
You need to consider this step whether you install the database locally, or use an existing one already running. [https://mariadb.com/kb/en/server-system-variables/#max_allowed_packet MariaDB’s <code>max_allowed_packet</code> setting] functionally limits the size of attachments in RT. The default is 16MiB, which is too small for most installations. You can ultimately choose any setting you’re comfortable with; 64MiB here should allow most requests without being too open.


make fixdeps
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>echo -e '[client-server]\nmax_allowed_packet=64M\n' | sudo tee /etc/mysql/conf.d/max_allowed_packet.cnf
sudo systemctl reload mariadb</pre>
|<pre>echo -e '[client-server]\nmax_allowed_packet=64M\n' | sudo tee /etc/my.cnf.d/max_allowed_packet.cnf
sudo systemctl reload mariadb</pre>
|}


or
=== Installing the MariaDB client libraries ===


perl sbin/rt-test-dependencies \
These are required for RT to be able to talk to any MariaDB server.
--with-&lt;databasename&gt; --with-&lt;web-environment&gt; --install


'''NOTE:''' If you have having difficulties with 'make fixdeps' due to errors like:
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>sudo apt install libmariadb-dev libmariadb-dev-compat</pre>
|<pre>sudo dnf install mariadb-devel</pre>
|}


<nowiki>==&gt; Couldn't mkdir '/root/.cpan/build/tmp': File exists          &lt;==
== Install a web server with FastCGI ==
      </nowiki>


'''NOTE: '''Some Perl Packages are using an build routine ( like DateTime modules) , but CPAN can't handle such routines based on build so you have to install this manually.
FastCGI is the best way to host RT’s web interface today. Installing the web server before RT makes the installation process simpler, because RT will be able to automatically some details about your web server like what user it runs as.


Set the following environment variable to tell fixdeps to invoke CPAN as a command line tool:
=== Installing Apache ===


RT_FIX_DEPS_CMD='/usr/bin/perl -MCPAN -e"install %s"'
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>sudo apt install apache2 libapache2-mod-fcgid</pre>
|<pre>sudo dnf install httpd mod_fcgid mod_ssl</pre>
|}


Make sure to export this variable with
<!-- ### Installing nginx -->


export RT_FIX_DEPS_CMD
== Install RT ==


'''NOTE:''' if you've never run CPAN on your machine as the user whom you are building RT as, run it first or this part of the install will not be fun.
=== Get and unpack the RT source code ===


perl -MCPAN -e shell
Download the latest source code using the link on the [https://bestpractical.com/download-page RT download page], extract it using <code>tar -xf</code>, and <code>cd</code> into the source code directory to run the rest of the commands in this section. For example:


You'll be walked through the configuration process. When you're done:
<pre>curl -O https://download.bestpractical.com/pub/rt/release/rt-5.0.2.tar.gz
tar -xf rt-5.0.2.tar.gz
cd rt-5.0.2</pre>
=== Pre-configure RT ===


quit
This command will detect some information about your system in order to install RT properly, and decide which set of dependencies to install. Here’s what the different parts of our command are doing:


'''NOTE:''' if things are still messed up, you are logged in as root, right?
* <code>--with-db-type=TYPE</code> - Replace <code>TYPE</code> with <code>Pg</code> for PostgreSQL, or <code>mysql</code> for MariaDB.
* <code>--prefix=/opt/rt5</code> sets the directory where RT will install all of its libraries, tools, and supporting files. You can choose another path if you like.
* The rest of the options tell RT to install additional dependencies for optional features.


Alternately, you could install missing items by hand. For example:
Make sure you have <code>cd</code>ed into the RT source directory, and run:


perl -MCPAN -e 'install DBD::mysql'
<pre>./configure --with-db-type=TYPE --prefix=/opt/rt5 --with-attachment-store=disk --enable-externalauth --enable-gd --enable-graphviz --enable-gpg --enable-smime</pre>
For more background, [https://docs.bestpractical.com/rt/latest/configure.html refer to the RT configure options documentation].


would install DBD::mysql.
=== Install RT and its Perl dependencies ===


'''NOTE:''' Some modules may require environment variables defined, for example <code>Apache::Request</code>.
This command will download, build, and install all of the Perl modules necessary to run RT with the configuration you set above. Here’s what the different parts of the command are doing:


'''NOTE:''' If you are using FastCGI, you will need to make sure that the FCGI module is installed. If not, run
* <code>make dirs</code> sets up RT's directory structure. We do this first to install dependencies under it.
* <code>make fixdeps</code> actually installs those dependencies.
* <code>RT_FIX_DEPS_CMD='cpanm …'</code> tells RT to use cpanminus to install dependencies (instead of the older, default <code>cpan</code> command), and to install them where RT will automatically load them.
* <code>make install</code> installs all of RT’s files under <code>/opt/rt5</code> (or the prefix directory you set in the previous step). It will only run if <code>fixdeps</code> succeeds. Setting <code>PERL5LIB</code> tells it where you installed those dependencies.


perl -MCPAN -e 'install FCGI'
Make sure you have <code>cd</code>ed into the RT source directory, and run:


or something equivalent.
<pre>sudo make dirs
sudo ln -s . /opt/rt5/local/lib/perl5
make fixdeps RT_FIX_DEPS_CMD='cpanm --sudo --quiet --local-lib=/opt/rt5/local'
sudo make install PERL5LIB=/opt/rt5/local/lib</pre>
If it works, the command will eventually output a message that says “Congratulations. RT is now installed.” followed by instructions about configuring and setting up the database. We’ll do that next.


=== Configure RT ===


'''NOTE:''' If you are using RHEL5, you may end up with all sorts of errors. These can be fixed by installing Scalar::Util
[https://docs.bestpractical.com/rt/latest/RT_Config.html RT has many configuration options.] You can put configuration options in the file <code>/opt/rt5/etc/RT_SiteConfig.pm</code>, or in individual files under <code>/opt/rt5/etc/RT_SiteConfig.d/</code>. Use an editor to save all the text below to <code>/opt/rt5/etc/RT_SiteConfig.pm</code> (you can just overwrite the existing file, or add this to the bottom of what’s there) and then fill in settings for your site everywhere the text <code>EDIT WITH</code> appears.


perl -MCPAN -e 'install Scalar::Util'
<pre>
# Single-quote all values EXCEPT the special value `undef`
# that turns off a setting.


Re-check to make sure everything was installed properly:
# rtname appears in ticket email subjects. It needs to be globally unique,
# so use your organization's domain name.
Set($rtname, 'EDIT WITH yourdomain.example.com');
# Organization is used in the database for ticket links, etc. It also needs to
# be globally unique, so use your organization's domain name.
Set($Organization, 'EDIT WITH yourdomain.example.com');
# WebDomain is domain name of the RT web server. RT uses it to construct links
# and defend against CSRFs.
Set($WebDomain, 'EDIT WITH rt.yourdomain.example.com');
# WebPort is the port where the RT web server runs. Edit the number below if
# you're not using the standard HTTPS port.
Set($WebPort, '443');


make testdeps
# DatabaseUser is the name of the database account RT uses to read and store
# data. 'rt_user' is the default but you can change it if you like.
# DO NOT use the 'rt_admin' superuser created in the instructions above.
Set($DatabaseUser, 'rt_user');
# DatabasePassword is the password for DatabaseUser.
Set($DatabasePassword, 'EDIT WITH SomePassphraseHere');
# DatabaseHost is the hostname of the database server RT should use.
# Change 'localhost' if it lives on a different server.
Set($DatabaseHost, 'localhost');
# DatabasePort is the port number of the database server RT should use.
# `undef` means the default for that database. Change it if you're not
# using the standard port.
Set($DatabasePort, undef);
# DatabaseName is the name of RT's database hosted on DatabaseHost.
# 'rt5' is the default but you can change it if you like.
Set($DatabaseName, 'rt5');
# DatabaseAdmin is the name of the user in the database used to perform
# major administrative tasks. Change 'rt_admin' if you're using a user
# besides the one created in this guide.
Set($DatabaseAdmin, 'rt_admin');


or
# RT can log to syslog, stderr, and/or a dedicated file.
# Log settings are used both by the primary server and by command line
# tools like rt-crontool, rt-ldapimport, etc.
# You set all of RT's $LogTo* paramaters to a standard log level: 'debug',
# 'info', 'notice', 'warning', 'error', 'critical', 'alert', or 'emergency'.
# For a modern install, I recommend logging primarily to syslog, so it goes
# to journald where it's easy to query and automatically gets rotated.
Set($LogToSyslog, 'info');


perl sbin/rt-test-dependencies --with-&lt;databasename&gt; --with-&lt;web-environment&gt;
# When the RT server logs to stderr, that usually goes to your web server's
# error log. Command line tools log to their own stderr. Setting this to
# 'warning' or 'error' helps ensure you get notified if RT's cron jobs
# encounter problems.
Set($LogToSTDERR, 'warning');


'''NOTE:''' Some versions of the <code>MIME::Tools</code> package will not install cleanly. Specifically, <code>MIME::Tools</code> version 5.427 is missing a dependency that will not be installed automatically by the CPAN shell. It requires <code>MIME::Base64</code> to be installed first. Otherwise, <code>MIME::Entity</code> will fail during testing and terminate the installation. Install <code>MIME::Base64</code> explicitly, either manually or using:
# Turn off optional features that require additional configuration.
# If you want to use these, refer to the RT_Config documentation for
# instructions on how to set them up.
Set(%GnuPG, 'Enable' => '0');
Set(%SMIME, 'Enable' => '0');


<nowiki># perl -MCPAN -e "install 'MIME::Base64'"
# Perl expects to find this 1 at the end of the file.
     
1;
      </nowiki>
</pre>
<code>RT_SiteConfig.pm</code> is actually Perl code. RT runs the code directly to load the configuration. Any time you finish editing it, you can check that you didn’t make any syntax errors by running:


Thereafter, installing dependencies worked without further problems for me.
<pre>perl -c /opt/rt5/etc/RT_SiteConfig.pm</pre>


- Ed Eaglehouse
=== Set up RT’s database ===


'''NOTE:''' graphviz dependencies can be met with packages from here: http://www.graphviz.org/Download..php. On [[CentOS]] 5.4, adding the repository provided by graphviz.org and doing
RT includes a tool to help you set up its database. By default, it connects to the database as an administrator to create the database and user that you configured in the previous step.


yum install graphviz graphviz-gd graphviz-devel
(The instructions from <code>make install</code> and RT’s README file tell you to run <code>make initialize-database</code>. That just runs <code>rt-setup-database</code> for you. Running the tool directly makes it easier to pass the options you need.)


cleared up all related requirements. Installing additional packages via
* <code>--action=init</code> tells the tool to create the user, the database, the tables inside it, and insert core data RT needs to function.
* '''If''' you are using an existing database server and the database adminstrator has already created the user account and database for RT, then you can add the <code>--skip-create</code> option.
* '''If''' you have a less common database setup, this tool has additional options to give you finer-grained control over what steps are run and how. Refer to [https://docs.bestpractical.com/rt/latest/rt-setup-database.html the full rt-setup-database documentation] to learn more about those.
* The command reads files from RT’s <code>etc/</code> directory by default, so the easiest way to run it is to <code>cd /opt/rt5</code> first, and then it will find the necessary files automatically.


yum install gd gd-devel
Run:


and
<pre>cd /opt/rt5
sudo sbin/rt-setup-database --action=init</pre>
Enter the password for your database administrator account when prompted.


yum install expat expat-devel
=== Set up fulltext indexing ===


resolved all dependency problems. Doing 'make fixdeps' after a configure stage such as
Fulltext indexing speeds up searches for ticket content, which makes RT a lot nicer to use.


./configure --with-web-handler=modperl2 --enable-graphviz --enable-gd --enable-gpg
* <code>--noask</code> uses the default names for the index, which will be fine for a new install and simplifies the setup.


completed with all dependencies met.
Run:


== 4. rt group ==
<pre>sudo /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-setup-fulltext-index --noask</pre>
Enter the password for your database administrator account when prompted. The end of the process will output some RT configuration that looks like this:


Create a new Unix group called 'rt' (or whatever you gave to the --with-rt-group option to the configure script).
<pre>### EXAMPLE OUTPUT ONLY - Don't use this directly!
Set( %FullTextSearch,
    Enable    => 1,
    Indexed    => 1,
    # Additional output from rt-setup-fulltext-index should be here.
    # The configuration varies by database type.
);</pre>
Copy the output generated when you run <code>rt-setup-fulltext-index</code> and save it to the file <code>/opt/rt5/etc/RT_SiteConfig.d/FulltextIndex.pm</code>.


== 5. For new installations only ==
=== Set permissions ===


If you're upgrading within the RT 3.x series, '''skip to step 6''':
All of RT’s configuration files should be readable by the user that runs the web server, and no other users, in order to protect sensitive information like the database password. RT provides a command to set permissions appropriately according to your distribution and configuration. <code>cd</code> to the directory where you extracted the RT source code, and run:


=== 5.1 Init DB ===
<pre>cd rt-5.0.2
sudo make fixperms</pre>
=== Verify the installation ===


As root and from within the rt build directory, type:
If everything has gone well, then you should be able to set a password for RT’s <code>root</code> user. You’ll use this later to log in to the web interface and continue setting up your system. Run:


make install
<pre>sudo /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-passwd root</pre>
Set the password when prompted. Record this; you’ll need it later.


Now you need to modify the installed [=etc/[[RT SiteConfig|RT_SiteConfig]].pm] to specify the connections to your DBMS engine (wtf shall I write here?!) and then type:
== Set up RT’s web server ==


make initialize-database
=== Configure Apache modules ===


For some database backends ([[MySQL]] at least) it is not able to create the database user. So you have to create that user beforehand and you have to give it rights for the database.
You will need to have the following modules enabled in Apache to run RT. You should already have these installed if you followed the instructions above.


For [[MySQL]] with the default [=$DatabaseUser], [=$DatabaseName] and [=$DatabasePassword], do this SQL command (as root database user):
* <code>alias</code> (required to map URLs to RT)
* <code>fcgid</code> (required for Apache to talk to RT)
* <code>mpm_prefork</code> (Apache requires you to select an MPM. RT is designed to work with the prefork module.)
* <code>ssl</code> (required to serve HTTPS; optional otherwise)


GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON rt3.* TO 'rt_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'rt_pass'
Enable them following these instructions:


Replace the values 'rt3', 'rt_user', 'localhost' and 'rt_pass' by whatever is appropriate for you.
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>sudo a2dismod mpm_event
sudo a2enmod fcgid
sudo a2enmod mpm_prefork
sudo a2enmod ssl</pre>
| <pre>echo LoadModule mpm_prefork_module modules/mod_mpm_prefork.so | sudo tee /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-mpm.conf</pre>
|}


=== 5.2 Drop DB if something goes wrong ===
=== Disable default VirtualHosts (optional) ===


If the make fails, type:
If this web server is dedicated to RT, then you should disable the VirtualHosts that are included with the stock configuration. Run:


make dropdb
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>sudo a2dissite 000-default
sudo a2dissite default-ssl</pre>
|<pre>sudo sed -i~ '/^<VirtualHost\b/ , /^<\/VirtualHost\b/ d' /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf</pre>
|}


fix whatever's broken, and start over from step "init DB" step
=== Configure an Apache VirtualHost ===


=== 5.3 if still failing... ===
Create a file at the following location. You can change the <code>RT</code> part of the filename if you like, but the file must exist in this directory and have a <code>.conf</code> suffix.


If make install still fails, look in <code>/etc/httpd/httpd.conf</code> or <code>/etc/httpd/conf/commonhttpd.conf</code> (or wherever your httpd.conf is; this may vary by Unix distribution; <code>locate httpd.conf</code> may help) for a line that reads "Group &lt;something&gt;" and another that reads "User &lt;somebody&gt;"
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<code>/etc/apache2/sites-available/RT.conf</code>
Then after you create the file, run: <code>sudo a2ensite RT</code>
|<code>/etc/httpd/conf.d/vhost_RT.conf</code>
(This filename needs to come after <code>ssl.conf</code> in the directory listing.)
|}


Go to your RT source directory and type (without the brackets, substituting the right Group and User from the file you just looked at):
Use an editor to save all the text below to the new <code>RT.conf</code> and then fill in settings for your site everywhere the text <code>EDIT WITH</code> appears.


./configure --with-web-group=&lt;something&gt; --with-web-user=&lt;somebody&gt;
<pre>
### Primary RT VirtualHost
# You can change both the bind address and/or the port here as required.
# This default will listen for HTTPS connections on all interfaces.
<VirtualHost *:443>
  # EDIT HERE with the domain name of the web server.
  ServerName rt.yourdomain.example.com
  <IfModule mod_ssl.c>
    SSLEngine on
    # These specify the paths to the SSL certificate and private key Apache
    # should use. These example paths are common for Let's Encrypt. If you
    # don't use Let's Encrypt, the standard location for these files is under
    # (Debian/Ubuntu) /etc/ssl
    # (Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS) /etc/pki/tls
    # EDIT HERE with the appropriate paths for your server
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem
  </IfModule>
  <Location />
    Require all granted
    Options +ExecCGI
    AddHandler fcgid-script fcgi
  </Location>
  AddDefaultCharset UTF-8
  DocumentRoot /opt/rt5/share/html
  ScriptAlias / /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-server.fcgi/
  # The default mod_fcgid timeout is 40 seconds.
  # We increase it here to allow for large ticket searches, etc.
  FcgidIOTimeout 200
  # mod_fcgid only allows 128KiB requests by default. This is too small for users
  # to upload files to RT. You can ultimately choose any setting you're
  # comfortable with; 70MiB here should allow most requests without being too
  # open.
  FcgidMaxRequestLen 73400320
</VirtualHost>
### End primary RT VirtualHost


Skip to step 7.
### Optional HTTPS Redirect VirtualHost
# Most modern servers support HTTPS and want all web traffic to go through it.
# This VirtualHost redirects normal HTTP traffic to HTTPS.
# You can delete this whole section if you don't want or need this.
<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
  # You can change both the bind address and/or the port here as required.
  # This default will listen for HTTP connections on all interfaces.
  <VirtualHost *:80>
    SSLEngine off
    # EDIT HERE both lines below with the domain name of your web server.
    ServerName rt.yourdomain.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://rt.yourdomain.example.com/
  </VirtualHost>
</IfModule>
### End optional HTTPS Redirect VirtualHost
</pre>
After you’ve edited the file, load the configuration with:


=== 5.4 initdb fails ===
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>sudo systemctl reload apache2</pre>
|<pre>sudo systemctl reload httpd</pre>
|}


The defaults were changed in [[PostgreSQL]] 8.1 and now tables are created without [[OIDs]]. One of workarounds is to add the following block at the top of <code>etc/schema.Pg</code> file:
If this command reports an error, double-check the configuration file for typos, especially in option names, file paths, and the
<code>&lt;Section&gt;</code> pairs. Edit again and reload the configuration until it succeeds without output.


--
=== Verify the web interface ===
-- Enforce OID creation for 8.1+
--
set default_with_oids = 't';


Once it's done "make initialize-database" will work perfectly.
You should be able to visit your web server in your browser, and be presented with RT’s login screen. You should be able to log in with username <code>root</code> and the password you set previously.


-- Added by GalaxyMaster &lt;galaxy at openwall.com&gt;
If you run into trouble, the first place to look for more information is by reading Apache’s error log:


== 6. For an Upgrade ==
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>sudo less /var/log/apache2/error.log</pre>
|<pre>sudo less /var/log/httpd/error.log</pre>
|}


For upgrading within the RT 3.x series - if you are not upgrading or have already completed step 5, '''skip to step 7'''.
== Set up RT’s mail server ==


As root, type:
RT both can both send and receive ticket updates via email. Unfortunately, there are too many variables to document a useful setup process here: getting this working usually requires creating DNS records, and coordinating with existing mail servers, which will be the main constraint on your setup. Instead this guide provides a brief overview of how the integration works, and where the connection points are that you likely need to work on.


make upgrade
=== Sending Mail ===


(replace "make" with the local name for Make, if you need to)
RT only knows how to send mail by passing it off to another program on the system. It cannot connect or authenticate directly to external mail servers. In the default configuration, RT runs the standard <code>sendmail</code> command. There are [https://docs.bestpractical.com/rt/latest/RT_Config.html#Outgoing-mail configuration options to send mail through different commands] if you need.


This will build new executable files, config files and libraries without overwriting your RT database.
The most common setup is to install and configure a proper Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) like Postfix or Exim, and then configure it to send mail to the wider Internet as you need. This works well because the MTAs are robust and well-tested; they have flexible configuration to let you send mail out by relaying to other mail servers you specify with optional authentication; and most distributions install one by default anyway. The only hard part is configuring the MTA to send mail following your site’s policies.


It may then instruct you to update your RT system database objects
Other software is available that provides a slimmer version of the <code>sendmail</code> command that connects to an external mail server for you, like ssmtp. These programs are usually easier to configure than an MTA, but they often lose email permanently if they can’t connect to the external server at the time it’s sent. (MTAs keep email queued locally until they successfully deliver it to another server.)


== 7. Configuration ==
=== Receiving email ===


Edit [=etc/[[RT SiteConfig|RT_SiteConfig]].pm] in your RT installation directory, by specifying any values you need to change from the defaults as defined in RT_Config.pm. It is easiest to do this by copying RT_Config.pm to RT_SiteConfig.pm, and then uncommenting and changing anything you need to set, though perhaps this isn't quite the '''best''' approach.
RT installs a command called <code>rt-mailgate</code> that receives an email on standard input and posts it to RT’s REST web interface, where it gets saved in the database and added to a ticket. You need to arrange for a way to send incoming email to this command.


In many cases sensible defaults have been included. In others, you must supply a value. Some values (such as the RT log directory) will come from values you supplied in the Makefile. You'll find further explanation inline in the [[RT SiteConfig|RT_SiteConfig]].pm file. You should look at and consider changing the following entries:
The most common setup is to have an MTA on the same box as RT receive email directly, and then set up mail aliases that call this command when mail comes in. Example <code>/etc/aliases</code> entries look like:


$DatabasePassword = 'rt_pass'
<pre>rt: "|/opt/rt5/bin/rt-mailgate --queue general --action correspond --url https://rt.yourdomain.example.com/"
rt-comment: "|/opt/rt5/bin/rt-mailgate --queue general --action comment --url https://rt.yourdomain.example.com/"</pre>
This works well because, again, you’re probably running an MTA anyway; and the MTA can hold and queue mail if it comes in while RT is down for any reason, giving you a buffer against downtime.


which is the password the [[DatabaseUser]] should use to access the database.
Another common option is to periodically run a tool that fetches mail using a protocol like IMAP, like fetchmail or getmail, and passes it on to <code>rt-mailgate</code>. This is less common because it requires setting up another tool to run, and securely storing another set of mail server credentials. But it is useful when local policy prevents the RT server from receiving email directly.


'''NOTE:''' Some [[MySQL]] users have had trouble with passwords of longer than 8 characters; if you cannot connect, try a password of 8 characters or fewer.
This is much less common, but it might help to know that <code>rt-mailgate</code> doesn’t have to run on the same system as RT itself. It just needs to be able to connect to RT’s web interface. If you don’t have any other options, you can install the RT software on a different system that receives email, and configure ''that'' system to run <code>rt-mailgate</code> and pass it on to the RT server. To do that, just repeat the installation instructions above, skipping the steps about installing the database and web server.


$CanonicalizeEmailAddressMatch = 'subdomain.example.com$';
== Set up RT’s background jobs ==
$CanonicalizeEmailAddressReplace = 'example.com';


The $[[CanonicalizeEmailAddress]] variables allow you to keep incoming messages consistent, such as when a site removes the subdomain from an email address. In the example presented by the defaults, if messages from your organization sometimes come from exchange.example.com and sometimes from example.com, you'd set $[[CanonicalizeEmailAddressMatch]] to exchange.example.com and $[[CanonicalizeEmailAddressReplace]] to example.com
Create a file <code>/etc/cron.d/rt</code> with the following content. You may edit all of the time fields as you see fit. Refer to the crontab(5) man page for details about their definitions.


  $SenderMustExistInExternalDatabase = undef;
<pre>
# Update the fulltext index with new ticket data
*/3 *  *  *  *  root    /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-fulltext-indexer
# Email out dashboards that users have subscribed to
0  *  *  *  *  root    /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-email-dashboards
# Clean old sessions from the database
10 3  *  *  *  root    /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-clean-sessions --older 8d
# Email out weekly digests for users who have requested it
50  4  *  *  Mon root    /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-email-digest -m weekly
# Email out daily digests for users who have requested it
50  5  *  *  *  root    /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-email-digest -m daily
</pre>
You can run all these jobs as the same user that runs your web server, rather than root. Run:


If $[[SenderMustExistInExternalDatabase]] is true, RT will refuse to auto-create non-staff accounts for unknown users filing new tickets by email if you are using the "[[LookupSenderInExternalDatabase]]" option elsewhere in [[RT SiteConfig|RT_SiteConfig]].pm. Instead, an error message will be returned and RT will forward the user's message to $[[RTOwner]] as defined in [[RT SiteConfig|RT_SiteConfig]].pm. If you are not using $[[LookupSenderInExternalDatabase]], this option has no effect. If you define an [[AutoRejectRequest]] template, RT will use this template for the rejection message.
{| style="width: 100%;"
! style="width: 50%;"|Debian/Ubuntu
! style="width: 50%;"|Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
|-
|<pre>sudo sed -i 's/\broot\b/www-data/' /etc/cron.d/rt</pre>
|<pre>sudo sed -i 's/\broot\b/apache/' /etc/cron.d/rt</pre>
|}


$CorrespondAddress = 'RT::CorrespondAddress.not.set';
== Set up RT ==
$CommentAddress = 'RT::CommentAddress.not.set';


$[[CorrespondAddress]] and $[[CommentAddress]] are the default addresses that will be listed in both From: and Reply-To: headers of reply and comment mail, respectively, sent by RT, unless they are overridden by a queue-specific address.
If you’ve gotten this far, congratulations, your RT install is really done now. You can start setting up RT with users, groups, queues, and business logic. [[Main Page|Head back to the main page]] to start exploring those topics.
 
$MailCommand = 'sendmailpipe';
 
$[[MailCommand]] defines which method RT will use to try to send mail. We know sendmailpipe works fairly well. If sendmailpipe doesn't work well for you, try sendmail. Note that you should remove the '-t' from $[[SendmailArguments]] if you use sendmail rather than sendmailpipe. Also note that sendmailpipe and sendmail aren't the names of commands on your system, but instructions that tell RT what mail delivery subsystem to try.
 
*Don't forget to restart the Apache webserver after doing changes in [[RT SiteConfig|RT_SiteConfig]].pm!* This is true of any change, but we mention it here since this is the configuration option you're most likely to have to experiment with.
 
$SendmailArguments = "-oi -t";
 
$[[SendmailArguments]] defines what flags to pass to $Sendmail, assuming you picked sendmail or sendmailpipe as the $[[MailCommand]]. If you picked sendmailpipe, then $[[SendmailArguments]] must include the "-t" flag. The default options are good for most sendmail wrappers and workalikes.
 
$SendmailPath = "/usr/sbin/sendmail";
 
If you selected sendmailpipe as $[[MailCommand]], you must specify the path to your sendmail executable file in $[[SendmailPath]]. If you did not select sendmailpipe this has no effect.
 
In case of '''Exim''', the following configuration works:
 
Set($MailCommand , 'sendmail');
Set($SendmailArguments , "-bm -- &lt;your email address&gt;");
Set($SendmailPath, "/usr/sbin/exim4");
Set($NotifyActor, 1);
$Timezone = 'US/Eastern';
 
$Timezone is used to convert times entered by users into GMT and back again. It should be set to a timezone recognized by your local Unix box, and -- in general -- you should pick the timezone the majority of your users reside in.
 
$UseFriendlyToLine = 0;
 
RT can set a "friendly", rather than blank, To: header when sending messages to Ccs or [[AdminCcs]]. This feature does not work with Sendmail(tm)-brand sendmail. If you are using sendmail, rather than postfix, qmail, exim, or some other program, you must disable this option (by setting it to 0 rather than 1).
 
$WebPath = "";
 
A variable used to help RT construct [[URLs]] that point back to RT. If you've put RT somewhere other than at the root of your webserver, you need to define a [[WebPath]]. RT uses this in the construction of relative [[URLs]]. $[[WebPath]] requires a leading / but no trailing /
 
Example: if your installation is at
 
http://www.fsck.com/rt/
 
set this to "/rt".
 
$WebBaseURL = "http://not.configured:80";
 
A variable used to help RT construct [[URLs]] that point back to RT. $[[WebBaseURL]] is the base of the URL. it should usually include the scheme, the host, and the port if non-standard.
 
Example: "https://fsck.com" or "http://fsck.com:88"
 
$[[WebBaseURL]] doesn't need a trailing /
 
$WebURL = $WebBaseURL . $WebPath . "/";
 
A variable used to help RT construct [[URLs]] that point back to RT. [=$[[WebURL]]] is the combination of [=$[[WebBaseURL]]] and [=$[[WebPath]]]. Generally, you shouldn't change it.
 
$WebImagesURL = $WebURL . "/NoAuth/images/";
 
[=$[[WebImagesURL]]] points to the base URL where RT can find its images. If you're running the [[FastCGI]] version of the RT web interface, you should make RT's [=[[WebRT]]/html/[[NoAuth]]/images] directory available on a static web server and supply that URL as [=$[[WebImagesUrl]]] -- alternately, you can tell Apache not to run it through [[FastCGI]].
 
== THEN ==
 
Configure web server, read [[ManualApacheConfig]]
 
----
 
Prev: [[ManualRequirements]] --- Up: [[UserManual]] --- Next: [[ManualApacheConfig]]
[[Category:RT User Manual]]

Revision as of 10:29, 14 January 2022

Prev: ManualRequirements — Up: UserManual — Next: ManualApacheConfig

This guide walks you through installing RT from source on a modern, popular Linux distro. Specifically, that means a distribution based on Debian or Red Hat that’s been released since around 2020.

This guide assumes:

  • You can install packages generally available in Debian/Ubuntu or Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS.
  • You want to install RT, and all of its Perl dependencies, from source to get the latest versions. (This is a trade-off. It means the boundaries of your install will be very clear, but you won’t get security updates for RT or Perl modules from your distribution.)
  • You are willing to install a couple of extra tools to manage the RT installation similarly to how you would in other packaging systems (like PyPI, npm, etc.).
  • You are willing to do a relatively maximal install of RT, enabling all the options during installation and then setting what you need in the configuration. (You could save a little space and time by being pickier about your options, but then that complicates the guide and makes it harder to turn those options on later if you want.)
  • You are using a regular user account on the Linux system that can get superuser privileges with sudo.

Install the base dependencies

These are required by RT, either to run or to install the dependencies.

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
sudo apt install autoconf build-essential cpanminus curl libexpat-dev libgd-dev libssl-dev libz-dev gnupg graphviz lynx openssl perl
sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled powertools
sudo dnf install patch tar which gcc gcc-c++ perl-core perl-App-cpanminus graphviz expat-devel gd-devel lynx openssl openssl-devel
sudo setenforce 0

(Turning off SELinux enforcement is required on Red Hat-based distributions because, as of October 2021, nobody has written a policy for RT.)

Install a database

You need access to a database server. It can be remote, or you can install a database server alongside RT. RT supports a few different databases, but the best supported options are PostgreSQL and MariaDB.

Installing and configuring the PostgreSQL server

If you want to install a fresh PostgreSQL database server alongside RT:

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
sudo apt install postgresql
sudo dnf install postgresql-server

In order to set up RT’s database, you will need a PostgreSQL account that can create databases and roles and be authenticated with a password. If you don’t have that, you can create it by running:

sudo createuser --createdb --createrole --login --pwprompt rt_admin

Set the password when prompted. Record this; you’ll need it later.

Enable password authentication in PostgreSQL

You need to consider this step whether you install the database locally, or use an existing one already running. RT supports connecting to PostgreSQL a few different ways, but authenticating with a username and password is simplest, and this guide is written based on that. Not all PostgreSQL installations allow this authentication method by default. You need to review your pg_hba.conf file located at:

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
/etc/postgresql/VERSION/main/pg_hba.conf
/var/lib/pgsql/VERSION/data/pg_hba.conf

Replace VERSION with the version of your PostgreSQL database. Add these two lines above any other lines that start with host:

host  rt5  rt_user   all  md5
host  rt5  rt_admin  all  md5

This configuration will let rt_user and rt_admin authorize themselves for the rt5 database using an md5 crypted password over a network connection (possibly using the localhost loopback network). You might be able to further restrict some of these fields for improved security, but doing so is outside the scope of this install guide. Refer to the pg_hba.conf documentation for more details.

Save your changes and reload the database:

sudo systemctl reload postgresql

Installing the PostgreSQL client libraries

These are required for RT to be able to talk to any PostgreSQL server.

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
sudo apt install libpq-dev
sudo dnf install postgresql-devel

Once this is done you can skip ahead to installing a web server.

Installing and configuring the MariaDB server

If you want to install a fresh MariaDB database server alongside RT:

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
sudo apt install mariadb-server
sudo dnf install mariadb-server

In order to set up RT’s database, you will need a MySQL superuser account. To stay consistent with PostgreSQL, I suggest setting a password for it. You can do that by running:

sudo mysql
mysql# GRANT ALL PRIVELEGES WITH GRANT OPTION ON rt5 TO rt_admin@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'YourPassphraseHere';

Record your passphrase; you’ll need it later.

Adjust MariaDB’s max_allowed_packet setting

You need to consider this step whether you install the database locally, or use an existing one already running. MariaDB’s max_allowed_packet setting functionally limits the size of attachments in RT. The default is 16MiB, which is too small for most installations. You can ultimately choose any setting you’re comfortable with; 64MiB here should allow most requests without being too open.

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
echo -e '[client-server]\nmax_allowed_packet=64M\n' | sudo tee /etc/mysql/conf.d/max_allowed_packet.cnf
sudo systemctl reload mariadb
echo -e '[client-server]\nmax_allowed_packet=64M\n' | sudo tee /etc/my.cnf.d/max_allowed_packet.cnf
sudo systemctl reload mariadb

Installing the MariaDB client libraries

These are required for RT to be able to talk to any MariaDB server.

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
sudo apt install libmariadb-dev libmariadb-dev-compat
sudo dnf install mariadb-devel

Install a web server with FastCGI

FastCGI is the best way to host RT’s web interface today. Installing the web server before RT makes the installation process simpler, because RT will be able to automatically some details about your web server like what user it runs as.

Installing Apache

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
sudo apt install apache2 libapache2-mod-fcgid
sudo dnf install httpd mod_fcgid mod_ssl


Install RT

Get and unpack the RT source code

Download the latest source code using the link on the RT download page, extract it using tar -xf, and cd into the source code directory to run the rest of the commands in this section. For example:

curl -O https://download.bestpractical.com/pub/rt/release/rt-5.0.2.tar.gz
tar -xf rt-5.0.2.tar.gz
cd rt-5.0.2

Pre-configure RT

This command will detect some information about your system in order to install RT properly, and decide which set of dependencies to install. Here’s what the different parts of our command are doing:

  • --with-db-type=TYPE - Replace TYPE with Pg for PostgreSQL, or mysql for MariaDB.
  • --prefix=/opt/rt5 sets the directory where RT will install all of its libraries, tools, and supporting files. You can choose another path if you like.
  • The rest of the options tell RT to install additional dependencies for optional features.

Make sure you have cded into the RT source directory, and run:

./configure --with-db-type=TYPE --prefix=/opt/rt5 --with-attachment-store=disk --enable-externalauth --enable-gd --enable-graphviz --enable-gpg --enable-smime

For more background, refer to the RT configure options documentation.

Install RT and its Perl dependencies

This command will download, build, and install all of the Perl modules necessary to run RT with the configuration you set above. Here’s what the different parts of the command are doing:

  • make dirs sets up RT's directory structure. We do this first to install dependencies under it.
  • make fixdeps actually installs those dependencies.
  • RT_FIX_DEPS_CMD='cpanm …' tells RT to use cpanminus to install dependencies (instead of the older, default cpan command), and to install them where RT will automatically load them.
  • make install installs all of RT’s files under /opt/rt5 (or the prefix directory you set in the previous step). It will only run if fixdeps succeeds. Setting PERL5LIB tells it where you installed those dependencies.

Make sure you have cded into the RT source directory, and run:

sudo make dirs
sudo ln -s . /opt/rt5/local/lib/perl5
make fixdeps RT_FIX_DEPS_CMD='cpanm --sudo --quiet --local-lib=/opt/rt5/local'
sudo make install PERL5LIB=/opt/rt5/local/lib

If it works, the command will eventually output a message that says “Congratulations. RT is now installed.” followed by instructions about configuring and setting up the database. We’ll do that next.

Configure RT

RT has many configuration options. You can put configuration options in the file /opt/rt5/etc/RT_SiteConfig.pm, or in individual files under /opt/rt5/etc/RT_SiteConfig.d/. Use an editor to save all the text below to /opt/rt5/etc/RT_SiteConfig.pm (you can just overwrite the existing file, or add this to the bottom of what’s there) and then fill in settings for your site everywhere the text EDIT WITH appears.

# Single-quote all values EXCEPT the special value `undef`
# that turns off a setting.

# rtname appears in ticket email subjects. It needs to be globally unique,
# so use your organization's domain name.
Set($rtname, 'EDIT WITH yourdomain.example.com');
# Organization is used in the database for ticket links, etc. It also needs to
# be globally unique, so use your organization's domain name.
Set($Organization, 'EDIT WITH yourdomain.example.com');
# WebDomain is domain name of the RT web server. RT uses it to construct links
# and defend against CSRFs.
Set($WebDomain, 'EDIT WITH rt.yourdomain.example.com');
# WebPort is the port where the RT web server runs. Edit the number below if
# you're not using the standard HTTPS port.
Set($WebPort, '443');

# DatabaseUser is the name of the database account RT uses to read and store
# data. 'rt_user' is the default but you can change it if you like.
# DO NOT use the 'rt_admin' superuser created in the instructions above.
Set($DatabaseUser, 'rt_user');
# DatabasePassword is the password for DatabaseUser.
Set($DatabasePassword, 'EDIT WITH SomePassphraseHere');
# DatabaseHost is the hostname of the database server RT should use.
# Change 'localhost' if it lives on a different server.
Set($DatabaseHost, 'localhost');
# DatabasePort is the port number of the database server RT should use.
# `undef` means the default for that database. Change it if you're not
# using the standard port.
Set($DatabasePort, undef);
# DatabaseName is the name of RT's database hosted on DatabaseHost.
# 'rt5' is the default but you can change it if you like.
Set($DatabaseName, 'rt5');
# DatabaseAdmin is the name of the user in the database used to perform
# major administrative tasks. Change 'rt_admin' if you're using a user
# besides the one created in this guide.
Set($DatabaseAdmin, 'rt_admin');

# RT can log to syslog, stderr, and/or a dedicated file.
# Log settings are used both by the primary server and by command line
# tools like rt-crontool, rt-ldapimport, etc.
# You set all of RT's $LogTo* paramaters to a standard log level: 'debug',
# 'info', 'notice', 'warning', 'error', 'critical', 'alert', or 'emergency'.
# For a modern install, I recommend logging primarily to syslog, so it goes
# to journald where it's easy to query and automatically gets rotated.
Set($LogToSyslog, 'info');

# When the RT server logs to stderr, that usually goes to your web server's
# error log. Command line tools log to their own stderr. Setting this to
# 'warning' or 'error' helps ensure you get notified if RT's cron jobs
# encounter problems.
Set($LogToSTDERR, 'warning');

# Turn off optional features that require additional configuration.
# If you want to use these, refer to the RT_Config documentation for
# instructions on how to set them up.
Set(%GnuPG, 'Enable' => '0');
Set(%SMIME, 'Enable' => '0');

# Perl expects to find this 1 at the end of the file.
1;

RT_SiteConfig.pm is actually Perl code. RT runs the code directly to load the configuration. Any time you finish editing it, you can check that you didn’t make any syntax errors by running:

perl -c /opt/rt5/etc/RT_SiteConfig.pm

Set up RT’s database

RT includes a tool to help you set up its database. By default, it connects to the database as an administrator to create the database and user that you configured in the previous step.

(The instructions from make install and RT’s README file tell you to run make initialize-database. That just runs rt-setup-database for you. Running the tool directly makes it easier to pass the options you need.)

  • --action=init tells the tool to create the user, the database, the tables inside it, and insert core data RT needs to function.
  • If you are using an existing database server and the database adminstrator has already created the user account and database for RT, then you can add the --skip-create option.
  • If you have a less common database setup, this tool has additional options to give you finer-grained control over what steps are run and how. Refer to the full rt-setup-database documentation to learn more about those.
  • The command reads files from RT’s etc/ directory by default, so the easiest way to run it is to cd /opt/rt5 first, and then it will find the necessary files automatically.

Run:

cd /opt/rt5
sudo sbin/rt-setup-database --action=init

Enter the password for your database administrator account when prompted.

Set up fulltext indexing

Fulltext indexing speeds up searches for ticket content, which makes RT a lot nicer to use.

  • --noask uses the default names for the index, which will be fine for a new install and simplifies the setup.

Run:

sudo /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-setup-fulltext-index --noask

Enter the password for your database administrator account when prompted. The end of the process will output some RT configuration that looks like this:

### EXAMPLE OUTPUT ONLY - Don't use this directly!
Set( %FullTextSearch,
    Enable     => 1,
    Indexed    => 1,
    # Additional output from rt-setup-fulltext-index should be here.
    # The configuration varies by database type.
);

Copy the output generated when you run rt-setup-fulltext-index and save it to the file /opt/rt5/etc/RT_SiteConfig.d/FulltextIndex.pm.

Set permissions

All of RT’s configuration files should be readable by the user that runs the web server, and no other users, in order to protect sensitive information like the database password. RT provides a command to set permissions appropriately according to your distribution and configuration. cd to the directory where you extracted the RT source code, and run:

cd rt-5.0.2
sudo make fixperms

Verify the installation

If everything has gone well, then you should be able to set a password for RT’s root user. You’ll use this later to log in to the web interface and continue setting up your system. Run:

sudo /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-passwd root

Set the password when prompted. Record this; you’ll need it later.

Set up RT’s web server

Configure Apache modules

You will need to have the following modules enabled in Apache to run RT. You should already have these installed if you followed the instructions above.

  • alias (required to map URLs to RT)
  • fcgid (required for Apache to talk to RT)
  • mpm_prefork (Apache requires you to select an MPM. RT is designed to work with the prefork module.)
  • ssl (required to serve HTTPS; optional otherwise)

Enable them following these instructions:

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
sudo a2dismod mpm_event
sudo a2enmod fcgid
sudo a2enmod mpm_prefork
sudo a2enmod ssl
echo LoadModule mpm_prefork_module modules/mod_mpm_prefork.so | sudo tee /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-mpm.conf

Disable default VirtualHosts (optional)

If this web server is dedicated to RT, then you should disable the VirtualHosts that are included with the stock configuration. Run:

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
sudo a2dissite 000-default
sudo a2dissite default-ssl
sudo sed -i~ '/^<VirtualHost\b/ , /^<\/VirtualHost\b/ d' /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf

Configure an Apache VirtualHost

Create a file at the following location. You can change the RT part of the filename if you like, but the file must exist in this directory and have a .conf suffix.

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
/etc/apache2/sites-available/RT.conf

Then after you create the file, run: sudo a2ensite RT

/etc/httpd/conf.d/vhost_RT.conf

(This filename needs to come after ssl.conf in the directory listing.)

Use an editor to save all the text below to the new RT.conf and then fill in settings for your site everywhere the text EDIT WITH appears.

### Primary RT VirtualHost
# You can change both the bind address and/or the port here as required.
# This default will listen for HTTPS connections on all interfaces.
<VirtualHost *:443>
  # EDIT HERE with the domain name of the web server.
  ServerName rt.yourdomain.example.com
  <IfModule mod_ssl.c>
    SSLEngine on
    # These specify the paths to the SSL certificate and private key Apache
    # should use. These example paths are common for Let's Encrypt. If you
    # don't use Let's Encrypt, the standard location for these files is under
    # (Debian/Ubuntu) /etc/ssl
    # (Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS) /etc/pki/tls
    # EDIT HERE with the appropriate paths for your server
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem
  </IfModule>
  <Location />
    Require all granted
    Options +ExecCGI
    AddHandler fcgid-script fcgi
  </Location>
  AddDefaultCharset UTF-8
  DocumentRoot /opt/rt5/share/html
  ScriptAlias / /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-server.fcgi/
  # The default mod_fcgid timeout is 40 seconds.
  # We increase it here to allow for large ticket searches, etc.
  FcgidIOTimeout 200
  # mod_fcgid only allows 128KiB requests by default. This is too small for users
  # to upload files to RT. You can ultimately choose any setting you're
  # comfortable with; 70MiB here should allow most requests without being too
  # open.
  FcgidMaxRequestLen 73400320
</VirtualHost>
### End primary RT VirtualHost

### Optional HTTPS Redirect VirtualHost
# Most modern servers support HTTPS and want all web traffic to go through it.
# This VirtualHost redirects normal HTTP traffic to HTTPS.
# You can delete this whole section if you don't want or need this.
<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
  # You can change both the bind address and/or the port here as required.
  # This default will listen for HTTP connections on all interfaces.
  <VirtualHost *:80>
    SSLEngine off
    # EDIT HERE both lines below with the domain name of your web server.
    ServerName rt.yourdomain.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://rt.yourdomain.example.com/
  </VirtualHost>
</IfModule>
### End optional HTTPS Redirect VirtualHost

After you’ve edited the file, load the configuration with:

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
sudo systemctl reload apache2
sudo systemctl reload httpd

If this command reports an error, double-check the configuration file for typos, especially in option names, file paths, and the <Section> pairs. Edit again and reload the configuration until it succeeds without output.

Verify the web interface

You should be able to visit your web server in your browser, and be presented with RT’s login screen. You should be able to log in with username root and the password you set previously.

If you run into trouble, the first place to look for more information is by reading Apache’s error log:

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
sudo less /var/log/apache2/error.log
sudo less /var/log/httpd/error.log

Set up RT’s mail server

RT both can both send and receive ticket updates via email. Unfortunately, there are too many variables to document a useful setup process here: getting this working usually requires creating DNS records, and coordinating with existing mail servers, which will be the main constraint on your setup. Instead this guide provides a brief overview of how the integration works, and where the connection points are that you likely need to work on.

Sending Mail

RT only knows how to send mail by passing it off to another program on the system. It cannot connect or authenticate directly to external mail servers. In the default configuration, RT runs the standard sendmail command. There are configuration options to send mail through different commands if you need.

The most common setup is to install and configure a proper Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) like Postfix or Exim, and then configure it to send mail to the wider Internet as you need. This works well because the MTAs are robust and well-tested; they have flexible configuration to let you send mail out by relaying to other mail servers you specify with optional authentication; and most distributions install one by default anyway. The only hard part is configuring the MTA to send mail following your site’s policies.

Other software is available that provides a slimmer version of the sendmail command that connects to an external mail server for you, like ssmtp. These programs are usually easier to configure than an MTA, but they often lose email permanently if they can’t connect to the external server at the time it’s sent. (MTAs keep email queued locally until they successfully deliver it to another server.)

Receiving email

RT installs a command called rt-mailgate that receives an email on standard input and posts it to RT’s REST web interface, where it gets saved in the database and added to a ticket. You need to arrange for a way to send incoming email to this command.

The most common setup is to have an MTA on the same box as RT receive email directly, and then set up mail aliases that call this command when mail comes in. Example /etc/aliases entries look like:

rt: "|/opt/rt5/bin/rt-mailgate --queue general --action correspond --url https://rt.yourdomain.example.com/"
rt-comment: "|/opt/rt5/bin/rt-mailgate --queue general --action comment --url https://rt.yourdomain.example.com/"

This works well because, again, you’re probably running an MTA anyway; and the MTA can hold and queue mail if it comes in while RT is down for any reason, giving you a buffer against downtime.

Another common option is to periodically run a tool that fetches mail using a protocol like IMAP, like fetchmail or getmail, and passes it on to rt-mailgate. This is less common because it requires setting up another tool to run, and securely storing another set of mail server credentials. But it is useful when local policy prevents the RT server from receiving email directly.

This is much less common, but it might help to know that rt-mailgate doesn’t have to run on the same system as RT itself. It just needs to be able to connect to RT’s web interface. If you don’t have any other options, you can install the RT software on a different system that receives email, and configure that system to run rt-mailgate and pass it on to the RT server. To do that, just repeat the installation instructions above, skipping the steps about installing the database and web server.

Set up RT’s background jobs

Create a file /etc/cron.d/rt with the following content. You may edit all of the time fields as you see fit. Refer to the crontab(5) man page for details about their definitions.

# Update the fulltext index with new ticket data
*/3 *   *   *   *   root    /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-fulltext-indexer
# Email out dashboards that users have subscribed to
0   *   *   *   *   root    /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-email-dashboards
# Clean old sessions from the database
10  3   *   *   *   root    /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-clean-sessions --older 8d
# Email out weekly digests for users who have requested it
50  4   *   *   Mon root    /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-email-digest -m weekly
# Email out daily digests for users who have requested it
50  5   *   *   *   root    /opt/rt5/sbin/rt-email-digest -m daily

You can run all these jobs as the same user that runs your web server, rather than root. Run:

Debian/Ubuntu Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS
sudo sed -i 's/\broot\b/www-data/' /etc/cron.d/rt
sudo sed -i 's/\broot\b/apache/' /etc/cron.d/rt

Set up RT

If you’ve gotten this far, congratulations, your RT install is really done now. You can start setting up RT with users, groups, queues, and business logic. Head back to the main page to start exploring those topics.