FStack Forum

A Forum built with Python, Flask, Flask Blueprints, Flask-SQLAlchemy, and Postgresql.

https://fstackforum.com/

Screenshots

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Installation

Clone repository.

$ git clone git@github.com:brandon-wallace/fstack-forum.git

$ cd fstack-forum/

Create a .env file. Add the following environmental variables:

$ vim .env

FLASK_ENV=development
FLASK_APP=run.py
DATABASE_URI='postgresql://<username>:<password>@<hostname>:<port>/<database_name>'
DEV_DATABASE_URI='postgresql://<username>:<password>@<hostname>:<port>/<dev_database_name>'
SECRET_KEY=<your_secret_key>
SECURITY_PASSWORD_SALT=<your_password_salt>

To connect to a local SMTP server add this to the .env file.

MAIL_SERVER='localhost'
MAIL_PORT=25
MAIL_USERNAME=""
MAIL_PASSWORD=""
MAIL_DEFAULT_SENDER="no-reply@<yourdomain.com>"

To use Gmail as an SMTP server add this to the .env file.

MAIL_SERVER='smtp@gmail.com'
MAIL_PORT=465
MAIL_USERNAME="<your_gmail_username@gmail.com>"
MAIL_PASSWORD="<your_gmail_password>"
MAIL_DEFAULT_SENDER=("<Your gmail username>", "<your_gmail_username@gmail.com>")

Initialize and activate virtual environment.

$ pipenv shell

Install dependencies.

$ pipenv install

$ pipenv install flask-debugtoolbar --dev

Install PostgreSQL

Install PostgreSQL

Create a database.

$ sudo su - postgres

$ psql

# CREATE DATABASE fstackforum.db

# CREATE DATABASE fstackforumdev.db

# \q

Create tables in the database.

$ python3 

>>> from application.models import User, Post, Comment

>>> from application import db, create_app

>>> app = create_app()

>>> app.app_context().push()

>>> db.create_all()

# Output

[...]
2020-07-05 13:50:21,831 INFO sqlalchemy.engine.Engine  
CREATE TABLE "user" (                                  
        id SERIAL NOT NULL,                            
        username VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,                 
        email VARCHAR(120) NOT NULL,                   
        email_confirmed BOOLEAN NOT NULL,              
        email_confirmed_on TIMESTAMP WITHOUT TIME ZONE,
        image_file VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,               
        password VARCHAR(60) NOT NULL,                 
[...]

>>> exit()

Start the development server.

$ flask run -h 127.0.0.1 -p 5000

Navigate to http://127.0.0.1:5000

Run application as a service.

Create a systemd service to run application.

$ vim /etc/systemd/system/fstackforum.service 

[Unit]
Description=Use Guicorn to run fstackforum.
After=network.target

[Service]
User=<your_username>
Group=<group_name> 
WorkingDirectory=/path/to/fstackforum
ExecStart=/path/to/gunicorn --workers 3 --bind unix:/path/to/fstackforum/fstackforum.sock wsgi:app 

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start the service.

$ sudo systemctl enable fstackforum.service

$ sudo systemctl start fstackforum.service

Troubleshooting

Add logging to Gunicorn. Change the systemd file from this.

ExecStart=/path/to/gunicorn --workers 3 --bind unix:/path/to/fstackforum/fstackforum.sock wsgi:app 

To this:

ExecStart=/path/to/gunicorn --workers 3 --bind unix:/path/to/fstackforum/fstackforum.sock wsgi:app --error-logfile /path/to/fstackforum/gunicorn-error.log --log-level debug

Check the systemd service.

$ sudo systemctl status fstackforum.service

$ journal -xe

License

This project is licensed under the GPL-3.0 License.