decfdb6abe
Tried to simplify the document, to reduce unneded info, and to use a less informal language. For example, the introductory links describing git made sense 10 years ago. Today they are not needed to understand what Etherpad is. And mercurial was always better than git, anyways :) The mailing list and the IRC channel seem pretty dead by now. Let's just move everything to Github issues, which was the de facto situation anyways. About the donation links: I am the maintainer, and I do not know the identity of the owners of the donation links, so it is correct to remove them. The same was done on the website three months ago: https://github.com/ether/ether.github.com/commit/d4ef04605da5
120 lines
6.1 KiB
Markdown
120 lines
6.1 KiB
Markdown
# A real-time collaborative editor for the web
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# About
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Etherpad is a real-time collaborative editor scalable to thousands of simultaneous real time users. It provides full data export capabilities, and runs on _your_ server, under _your_ control.
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**[Try it out](https://beta.etherpad.org)**
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# Installation
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## Requirements
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- `nodejs` >= **8.9.0**
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## GNU/Linux and other UNIX-like systems
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### Quick install on Debian/Ubuntu
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```
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curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo -E bash -
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sudo apt install -y nodejs
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git clone --branch master https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite.git && cd etherpad-lite && bin/run.sh
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```
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### Manual install
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You'll need git and [node.js](https://nodejs.org) installed (minimum required Node version: **8.9.0**).
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**As any user (we recommend creating a separate user called etherpad):**
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1. Move to a folder where you want to install Etherpad. Clone the git repository: `git clone --branch master git://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite.git`
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2. Change into the new directory containing the cloned source code: `cd etherpad-lite`
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3. run `bin/run.sh` and open <http://127.0.0.1:9001> in your browser.
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To update to the latest released version, execute `git pull origin`. The next start with `bin/run.sh` will update the dependencies.
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[Next steps](#next-steps).
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## Windows
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### Prebuilt Windows package
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This package runs on any Windows machine, but for development purposes, please do a manual install.
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1. [Download the latest Windows package](https://etherpad.org/#download)
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2. Extract the folder
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Run `start.bat` and open <http://localhost:9001> in your browser. You like it? [Next steps](#next-steps).
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### Manually install on Windows
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You'll need [node.js](https://nodejs.org) and (optionally, though recommended) git.
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1. Grab the source, either
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- download <https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/zipball/master>
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- or `git clone --branch master https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite.git`
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2. start `bin\installOnWindows.bat`
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Now, run `start.bat` and open <http://localhost:9001> in your browser.
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Update to the latest version with `git pull origin`, then run `bin\installOnWindows.bat`, again.
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If cloning to a subdirectory within another project, you may need to do the following:
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1. Start the server manually (e.g. `node/node_modules/ep_etherpad-lite/node/server.js`)
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2. Edit the db `filename` in `settings.json` to the relative directory with the file (e.g. `application/lib/etherpad-lite/var/dirty.db`)
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3. Add auto-generated files to the main project `.gitignore`
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# Next Steps
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## Tweak the settings
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You can modify the settings in `settings.json`.
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If you need to handle multiple settings files, you can pass the path to a settings file to `bin/run.sh` using the `-s|--settings` option: this allows you to run multiple Etherpad instances from the same installation.
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Similarly, `--credentials` can be used to give a settings override file, `--apikey` to give a different APIKEY.txt file and `--sessionkey` to give a non-default SESSIONKEY.txt.
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**Each configuration parameter can also be set via an environment variable**, using the syntax `"${ENV_VAR}"` or `"${ENV_VAR:default_value}"`. For details, refer to `settings.json.template`.
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Once you have access to your `/admin` section settings can be modified through the web browser.
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If you are planning to use Etherpad in a production environment, you should use a dedicated database such as `mysql`, since the `dirtyDB` database driver is only for testing and/or development purposes.
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## Secure your installation
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If you have enabled authentication in `users` section in `settings.json`, it is a good security practice to **store hashes instead of plain text passwords** in that file. This is _especially_ advised if you are running a production installation.
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Please install [ep_hash_auth plugin](https://www.npmjs.com/package/ep_hash_auth) and configure it.
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If you prefer, `ep_hash_auth` also gives you the option of storing the users in a custom directory in the file system, without having to edit `settings.json` and restart Etherpad each time.
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## Plugins and themes
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Etherpad is very customizable through plugins. Instructions for installing themes and plugins can be found in [the plugin wiki article](https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/wiki/Available-Plugins).
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## Helpful resources
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The [wiki](https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/wiki) is your one-stop resource for Tutorials and How-to's.
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Documentation can be found in `doc/`.
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# Development
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## Things you should know
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You can debug Etherpad using `bin/debugRun.sh`.
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If you want to find out how Etherpad's `Easysync` works (the library that makes it really realtime), start with this [PDF](https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/raw/master/doc/easysync/easysync-full-description.pdf) (complex, but worth reading).
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## Contributing
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Read our [**Developer Guidelines**](https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)
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# Get in touch
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The official channel for contacting the development team is via the [Github issues](https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/issues).
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# HTTP API
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Etherpad is designed to be easily embeddable and provides a [HTTP API](https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/wiki/HTTP-API)
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that allows your web application to manage pads, users and groups. It is recommended to use the [available client implementations](https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/wiki/HTTP-API-client-libraries) in order to interact with this API.
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# jQuery plugin
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There is a [jQuery plugin](https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite-jquery-plugin) that helps you to embed Pads into your website.
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# Plugin Framework
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Etherpad offers a plugin framework, allowing you to easily add your own features. By default your Etherpad is extremely light-weight and it's up to you to customize your experience. Once you have Etherpad installed you should visit the plugin page and take control.
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# Translations / Localizations (i18n / l10n)
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Etherpad comes with translations into all languages thanks to the team at TranslateWiki.
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# FAQ
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Visit the **[FAQ](https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/wiki/FAQ)**.
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# License
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[Apache License v2](http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html)
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