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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html lang="en" dir="LTR">
<head>
<title>RT FAQ</title>
<meta NAME="Author" CONTENT="Michael Brader">
<meta NAME="Description" CONTENT="RT FAQ (text version)">
<meta NAME="Keywords" CONTENT="RT Request Tracker FAQ Frequently Asked Questions">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">
<style type="text/css">
BODY
{
background: white;
color: black;
margin-left: 10%;
margin-right: 10%;
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</head>
<body>
<pre>
$Id: FAQ.html,v 1.2 1999/10/06 21:48:18 jesse Exp $ -*- text -*-
Archive-name: rt-faq
Last-modified: Wednesday October 6 16:31:20 EST 1999
</pre>
<h1>RT Frequently Asked Questions</h1>
<hr>
<h3>Introduction</h3>
<p>This is the RT Frequently Asked Questions list.
<p>RT is an automated system for monitoring, answering, and
documenting requests. It was designed as a system to aid
helpdesks, but could conceivably work just as well for development
teams, construction groups, political insurgencies, or circus
performers -- in short, any situation in which a particular group
of people needs to request information or action from another
group of people, while monitoring the status of these requests.
<p>RT was developed by Jesse Vincent <jesse@fsck.com> and he
remains the primary maintainer aided and abetted by the members of
the rt-devel mailing list. Development of RT has been sponsored in
part by Utopia Inc, by The Leftbank Operation and by Wesleyan
University. Some of the RT code has been derived from Remy Evard's
req package.
<p>If you have a Web browser, the official hypertext version is
at: <a href="http://www.fsck.com/projects/rt/docs/FAQ.html">
<URL:http://www.fsck.com/projects/rt/docs/FAQ.html> </a>
<p>This FAQ is maintained by Michael Brader. All errors are mine
unless otherwise attributed :-) Special thanks to Jesse, Tobias,
Charlie and the rt-devel mailing list for their contributions.
<p><strong>What's changed since last time?</strong>
<ul>
<li>1. Minor updates for RT 1.0</li>
</ul>
<p>This file was last modified on Wednesday October 6 16:31:20 EST 1999
<hr>
<h3>Table Of Contents</h3>
<ul>
<li>1. Introduction and basic RT concepts
<p>
<ul>
<li>Q1.1 What is the latest version of RT?</li>
<li>Q1.2 Where do I get RT?</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><p>2. Installation
<p>
<ul>
<li>Q2.1 What other packages/modules are required?</li>
<li>Q2.2 Upgrading from RT version 0.9.1 or lower.</li>
<li>Q2.3 How do I get a clean RT installation?</li>
</ul>
<li><p>3. Request manipulation
<p>
<ul>
<li>Q3.1 How do I access the database directly?</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><p>4. Web interface
<p>
<ul>
<li>Q4.1 When I use webrt, it comes up with "No valid RT</li>
<li>Q4.2 How do I merge two requests from the web interface?</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><p>5. Mail
<p>
<ul>
<li>Q5.1 Sendmail won't let me run rt-mailgate</li>
<li>Q5.2 Why are mail messages being split in two?</li>
<li>Q5.3 Does RT have MIME support?</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><p>9. Miscellaneous
<p>
<ul>
<li>Q9.1 Are there any newsgroups for discussing RT. Mailing lists?</li>
<li>Q9.2 My problem is not in the FAQ. What now?</li>
<li>Q9.3 Why did Jesse write RT?</li>
<li>Q9.4 Who has helped or sponsored the development of RT?</li>
<li>Q9.5 What other resources are available?</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h2>1. Introduction</h2>
<hr>
<h3>Q1.1 What is the latest version of RT?</h3>
<p>The latest stable version is 0.99.9 which was released on the
4th of August 1999.
<p>The latest alpha version of RT is 1.0.0pre2 which was released
on the 1st of October 1999
<p>This is a beta release leading up to the release of RT 1.0
which should come out any day now.
<hr>
<h3>Q1.2 Where do I get RT?</h3>
<p>The latest released version of RT can be found at <a
href="ftp://ftp.fsck.com/pub/rt/devel/rt.tar.gz">
ftp://ftp.fsck.com/pub/rt/devel/rt.tar.gz</a>
<p>You will occasionally find alpha releases in the same
directory. You should not use these unless you are on the rt-devel
mailing list (rt-devel@fsck.com)
<hr>
<h2>2. Installation</h2>
<hr>
<h3>Q2.1 What other packages/modules are required?</h3>
<p>You will need the following packages to install and run RT
successfully. The download URL for some of these resources can
change frequently. If it doesn't work, go to the general URL and
navigate to the version you require.
<ul>
<li>Perl version 5.003 or higher<br>
General URL : <a href="http://www.perl.com/CPAN/">http://www.perl.com/CPAN/</a><br>
Download URL: <a href="http://www.perl.com/CPAN/src/stable.tar.gz">http://www.perl.com/CPAN/src/stable.tar.gz</a><br>
Mirrors : (should be automatic, but you can try
<a href="http://www.perl.com/CPAN/SITES.html">http://www.perl.com/CPAN/SITES.html</a>)
</li>
<li>MySQL 3.20.x, 3.21.x or 3.22.x<br>
General URL : <a href="http://www.mysql.com">http://www.mysql.com</a><br>
Download URL: <a href="http://www.mysql.com/download.html">http://www.mysql.com/download.html</a><br>
Mirrors : <a href="http://www.mysql.com/mirrors.html">http://www.mysql.com/mirrors.html</a>
</li>
<li>GNU Make ( http://www.gnu.org )<br>
General URL : <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/make/make.html">http://www.gnu.org/software/make/make.html</a><br>
Download URL: <a href="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/make/">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/make/</a><br>
Mirrors : <a href="http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html</a>
<p>I know for sure that GNU Make supports the conditionals
syntax RT's Makefile uses. I can't be sure about anything
else. If you don't have GNU Make, but feel reasonably
comfortable with Makefiles, you probably can get by without
it.
</ul>
<p>You will need the following Perl packages, all available from
CPAN:
<ul>
<li>Msql-Mysql-modules
<p>Download URL: <a href="http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/Msql/">http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/Msql/</a>
<p>When installing Msql-Mysql-modules, it is imperative that
you say yes when asked "Do you want to install the MysqlPerl
emulation?" Please note that Msql-Mysql-modules requires DBD
to be installed to function. See the Msql-Mysql-modules
documentation for more information.
</li>
<li>CGI.pm
<p>Download URL: <a href="http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/CGI/">http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/CGI/</a>
<p>CGI.pm and CGI::Cookie are used for our basic Form and
Cookie processing. We recommend that you use at least 2.53 as
we know that version works.
</li>
<li>Digest::MD5
<p>Download URL: <a href="http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/MD5/">http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/MD5/</a>
<p>Digest::MD5 is a perl module used for generating MD5 hashes
of files or strings, in this case, the password hashes used by
the Web interface. It is required for web authentication to
work.
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Q2.2 Upgrading from RT version 0.9.1 or lower.</h3>
<p>This is the contents of the file README.91UPGRADE which should be part of the release:
<pre>
Since RT 0.9.1, the codebase and database format have undergone
incompatible changes. This version of the installation package
does NOT come with an easy upgrade path from 0.9.1 or before.
However, the instructions below should make the upgrade possible.
This version of RT should be significantly more stable than
0.9.1, but new buglets may have crept into my code when I wasn't
looking. As always, I look forward to any comments you may have.
Jesse
jrvincent@wesleyan.edu
To upgrade from .9.1 to a post-.9.4 version :
"mysqldump -c -t rt > (YOUR_RT_DUMP_FILE)"
edit (YOUR_RT_DUMP_FILE) to remove the ACL line for "root"
(Something like
grep -v "INSERT INTO users VALUES ('root'" \
(YOUR_RT_DUMP_FILE) > (YOUR_RT_DUMP_FILE2)
should do the trick
copy your current RT installation to a safe location
"mysqladmin drop rt"
install a fresh copy of RT .9.8, as if for the first time
mysql rt < (YOUR_RT_DUMP_FILE2)
copy your transaction tree back into place
copy rt/etc/templates/queues back into place
</pre>
<hr>
<h3>Q2.3 How do I get a clean RT installation?</h3>
<p>While you are installing and testing RT, you may end up with a
lot of test transactions cluttering up the database. If you would
like to clear them out, the following should do the trick (from
Bryan Allbery allbery@ece.cmu.edu):
<p>Run mysql, connect to the MySQL database, and delete everything
in the each_req and transaction tables.
<p>Then remove everything under the transactions directory
wherever you installed RT (/usr/local/rt/transactions in my case).
<hr>
<h2>3. Request Manipulation</h2>
<hr>
<h3>Q3.1 How do I access the database directly?</h3>
<p>Mysql has a command line interface. Log onto the database host
and enter the following command, substituting symbols in ALL CAPS
for those specified in the Makefile (or in etc/config.pm) where
appropriate:
<pre>
mysql -u <MYSQL_DBADMIN> -p -h <RT_MYSQL_HOST> rt
</pre>
<p>Enter the password at the prompt. The password is the one
specified as RT_MYSQL_PASS in the Makefile.
<p>You should see a prompt similar to this:
<pre>
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 4985 to server version: 3.22.23b
Type 'help' for help.
mysql>
</pre>
<p>You can then access the database using SQL commands. Enter
"help" to get a summary of the available commands. For example, to
see all RT users, enter "select * from users;" and you should see
something like the following (the output has been edited, removing
columns to fit inside 80 characters - missing fields are password,
email, phone, office and comments):
<pre>
+----------+-----------------------+-----+----------+
| user_id | real_name | ... | admin_rt |
+----------+-----------------------+-----+----------+
| testuser | RT test user | ... | 0 |
| charlieb | Charlie Brady | ... | 1 |
| chris | Chris Maltby | ... | 0 |
| mbrader | Michael Brader | ... | 1 |
+----------+-----------------------+-----+----------+
4 rows in set (0.01 sec)
</pre>
<hr>
<h2>4. Web Interface</h2>
<hr>
<h3>Q4.1 When I use webrt, it comes up with "You are not logged in"
or "No valid RT credentials found". What's going on?</h3>
<p>Until you are successfully authenticated, this message and a
login box are displayed. Enter your RT username and password and
click OK.
<p>If you still can't log in, you (or your administrator) will
have to check whether you are in the database of users and that
your password is correct.
<p>The most common problems with authentication are:
<ol>
<li>User have turned off cookies.</li>
<li>MSIE bug</li>
<li>You're not using the right domain name (i.e.
<URL:http://skylight.fsck.com/rt/webrt.cgi> gives same
behaviour while <URL:http://www.fsck.com/rt/webrt.cgi>
doesn't)</li>
<li>The cookie is based at several things, also the IP people
are sitting at - sites using IP masquerading and similar stuff
might get the broken authentication.</li>
</ol>
<hr>
<h3>Q4.2 How do I merge two requests from the web interface?</h3>
<p>Select the request you would like to merge into another
request. Click on "Serial number", enter the serial number of the
second request and click on the merge button.
<hr>
<h2>5. Mail</h2>
<hr>
<h3>Q5.1 Sendmail won't let me run rt-mailgate</h3>
<p>If you get an error like the following:
<pre>
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
|"/usr/local/rt/bin/rt-mailgate general action"
(expanded from: <rt-action@mustang.hiwaay.net>)
----- Transcript of session follows -----
sh: rt-mailgate not available for sendmail programs
554 |"/usr/local/rt/bin/rt-mailgate general action"... Service unavailable
</pre>
<p>then, the following information from Jesse should help:
<pre>
Sendmail has a program called smrsh. smrsh restricts what binaries can
be run from sendmail aliases. I think it keeps the programs in
/etc/smrsh on redhat6. add a symlink from
/usr/local/rt/bin/rt-mailgate to /etc/smrsh/rt-mailgate and things
should work better.
</pre>
<hr>
<h3>Q5.2 Why are mail messages being split in two?</h3>
<p>Older versions of RT (before 0.99.9) has a bug where lines
beginning with 'From' were not being correctly escaped. You should
upgrade to the latest version of RT.
<hr>
<h2>9. Miscellaneous</h2>
<hr>
<h3>Q9.1 Are there any newsgroups for discussing RT. Mailing lists?</h3>
<p>Currently, there are no newsgroups but there are several
mailing lists:
<ul>
<li>rt-users - for users or administrators of RT
<p>To subscribe, send mail to rt-users-request@fsck.com with a
body containing the word
<pre>
subscribe
</pre>
<p>To unsubscribe, send mail to rt-users-request@fsck.com with
a body containing the word
<pre>
unsubscribe
</pre>
</li>
<li>rt-devel - for those who wish to develop RT or understand
its internal implementation.
<p>To subscribe/unsubscribe, follow the instructions for
rt-users but using the address rt-devel-request@fsck.com
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Q9.2 My problem is not in the FAQ. What now?</h3>
<p>If you're still having problems, I suggest the following steps:
<ul>
<li>Ensure you are running the latest copy of RT</li>
<li>Make sure that the Perl libraries you are using are the
versions specified in the INSTALL file</li>
<li>send mail to rt-users@lists.fsck.com detailing your
problem. You should include:
<p>
<ul>
<li>the version of RT you are running (the output of the
`rt` command is sufficient)</li>
<li>a description of the system you are running RT on (the
output of `uname -a`)</li>
<li>the version of Perl you are using (the output of `perl
-V`)</li>
<li>the name and version of your web server software and the
name and version of any browsers which are being used (if
the problem relates to the web interface)</li>
<li>any local or contributed patches that have been
installed should be mentioned.</li>
<li>the nature of the problem, including detailed steps on
how to reproduce it.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Q9.3 Why did Jesse write RT?</h3>
<p>Jesse began RT at the urgings of a coworker while working for
the summer for Utopia, Inc, and continued work while attending
Wesleyan University and working for Cohesive Network Systems' New
England Division (at the time, the LeftBank Operation). All three
groups have benefitted from it, and hoped to share these benefits
with the user community at large by keeping Jesse fed and amused
while working.
<hr>
<h3>Q9.4 Who has helped or sponsored the development of RT?</h3>
<p>From Jesse:
<pre>
A lot of people are responsible for making RT a better
program. Many thanks to Lauren Burka, who originally tasked
me with writing this beast. She forced me to use a database
backend. I've thanked her for it every day since. Rich
West rewrote this readme and did some UI hacking. Adam
Hirsch, Kit Kraysha, Robin Garner, Jens Glaser, John Adams,
Trey Belew, Sean Dague, Nathan Mehl, Kee Hinckley, Rich
West, Dale Bewley, Serge Zhuk, Gerald Abshez, Dave Hull,
Dave Schenet Dave Walton, Jan Okrouhly, Tobias Brox Lamont
Lucase and Charlie Brady have all contributed bug reports,
code or ideas that have helped RT along.
Arepa, Inc., Utopia Inc, Wesleyan University and The
Leftbank Operation have paid me to update RT and release it
to the public. Without their support RT would not exist.
If I've left you out, please drop me a line ....it wasn't
intentional.
Enjoy
Jesse Vincent
jesse@fsck.com
</pre>
<hr>
<h3>Q9.5 What other resources are available?</h3>
<p>Jesse maintains a web site for RT at <a
href="http://www.fsck.com/projects/rt/">
http://www.fsck.com/projects/rt/</a>
<hr>
<p>RT is 1996-1999 by Jesse Vincent <jesse@fsck.com>
<p>This FAQ is Copyright 1999 Michael Brader
<mbrader@stoic.com.au>. Please send comments, and
suggestions to me and the development mailing list
<rt-devel@fsck.com>
<p>__END__
</pre>
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