Debian: TaskFreak Installation

TaskFreak! is an open source project and task management tool. Tool is an understatement, this thing is handy! Installing this is listed as easy and JustWorks(tm) but the documentation on it I feel is lacking. I've compiled a list detailed instructions below to get started with a Debian Lenny system and all of the pre-installation requirements.

Pre-Installation packages required:

# apt-get install apache2 mysql-server mysql-client php5 php5-mysql

# wget http://www.taskfreak.com/files/stable/taskfreak-multi-mysql-0.6.1.tgz

# tar -zxvf taskfreak-multi-mysql-0.6.1.tgz

# mv taskfreak/* /var/www/
Note: Be sure that all of the hidden . files get moved as well!

# pico /var/www/include/config.php
Note: Change the three lines listed with //edit me (DB_USER, DB_PASS & DB_BASE). These three variables are how you will be connecting to the MySQL database that we create a few lines down. Do _NOT_ use the root account for this as it will not work (and you shouldn't even if it does)


# mysql -u root -p
Note: You should have been given the opportunity to set a root password for your mysql installation. You will only need this initially to create the database and new user for TaskFreak.

-> create database [DB_BASE];

-> create user '[DB_USER]'@'localhost' identified by '[DB_PASS]';

-> grant all privileges on '[DB_BASE].* to '[DB_USER]'@'localhost' with grant option;

-> exit
Note: Be cautious of the punctuation. Remember that words between [ ] come from your install/config.php file and you do not enter the [ ] symbols, just the words. The ' and ; punctuation marks are specificly spaced and required. There should be a ; after every mysql command or when you press enter you will get a blank -> prompt. If that happens, just type a ; and press enter and it should continue.

Once the above has been completed, open your browser to point to your installation http://server.ip.address/install/index.php. Click the link at the top-left "Check Install" -- there will be errors about missing tables. To correct this, scroll down to the bottom and click the "YES create missing tables for me" button. The tables get created and the database returns a green OK for each element.

Logon to your new TaskFreak! server with the following url : http://server.ip.address/index.html