This article is part of a series on the Tryton framework, to complement the Maestro project on GitHub. This article describes installing the Tryton server (trytond) on FreeBSD.

Caution – this is a Work in Progress  updating original 2014-05-24 post for Tryton 5.2 on FreeBSD 12.0 using Virtualenv.

Install FreeBSD

Boot vm from boot CD/DVD and follow the standard install procedure, including creating an admin user and including it in the wheel group.

I always configure remote access using ssh keys only for for security, Copy the public ssh key for the admin user to ~/.ssh, edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config to add “AllowUsers adminusername” and restart sshd.

Check for and install available FreeBSD OS updates, and install the pkg packaging system port..

# freebsd-update fetch
# freebsd-update install
# pkg update   

You can check the installed packages for reported vulnerabilities (-F is required for initial use only to download a new vulnerability database).

# pkg audit -F

Install PostgreSQL

The files belonging to the Postgresql database system will be owned by user “postgres”, who must also own the server process.

# pkg install postgresql93-server-9.3.4
# echo "postgresql_enable=YES" >> /etc/rc.conf
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/postgresql initdb
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/postgresql start

The default configuration file (/var/db/postgres/data96/postgresql.conf is acceptable and does not need editing. Only localhost will have access to PostgreSQL, which is adequate as Tryton will be served from the same server. 

Add a PostgreSQL “tryton” super-user.

dale@casper:~ % sudo su postgres
$ createuser -sdrP tryton
Enter password for new role:
Enter it again:
$ exit
dale@casper:~ %

The “tryton” super-user password will ned to be entered in trytond.conf (the trytond daemon configuration file) for Tryton to access its database.

Restart PostgreSQL.

dale@casper:~ % sudo /usr/local/etc/rc.d/postgresql restart
LOG:  ending log output to stderr
HINT:  Future log output will go to log destination "syslog".
dale@casper:~ %

Confirm localhost can connect to the PostgreSQL server (“-W” causes psql to prompt for the user password).

dale@casper:~ % psql --username=tryton -W --list
Password for user tryton:
List of databases
Name       | Owner    | Encoding | Collate | Ctype | Access privileges
-----------+----------+----------+---------+-------+-----------------------
postgres   | postgres | UTF8     | C       | C     |
template0  | postgres | UTF8     | C       | C     | =c/postgres +
           |          |          |         |       | postgres=CTc/postgres
template1  | postgres | UTF8     | C       | C     | =c/postgres +
           |          |          |         |       | postgres=CTc/postgres
(3 rows)
dale@casper:~ %

Install Tryton Dependencies

Install Python and other dependencies using pkg.

% sudo pkg install python
% sudo pkg install py36-pip
% sudo pkg install bash
% sudo pkg install py36-virtualenv
% sudo pkg install py36-virtualenvwrapper
% sudo pkg install libxml2
% sudo pkg install libxslt
% sudo pkg install graphviz

Install the Python pydot package, the Python interface to Graphviz, and psycopg2, the Python interface to PostgreSQL.

% sudo pip install pydot
% sudo pip install psycopg2

Create a trytond system user

The “tryton” system user will execute the trytond daemen. The tryton user’s home directory (/home/tryton) will be configured as the root of the Tryton file system for storing document attachments. 

dale@casper:~ % sudo adduser
Username: tryton
Full name: trytond system user
Uid (Leave empty for default):
Login group [tryton]:
Login group is tryton. Invite tryton into other groups? []:
Login class [default]:
Shell (sh csh tcsh bash rbash nologin) [sh]:
Home directory [/home/tryton]:
Home directory permissions (Leave empty for default):
Use password-based authentication? [yes]: no
Lock out the account after creation? [no]: no
Username   : tryton
Password   : <disabled>
Full Name  : tryton system user
Uid        : 1002
Class      :
Groups     : tryton
Home       : /home/tryton
Home Mode  :
Shell      : /bin/sh
Locked     : no
OK? (yes/no): yes
adduser: INFO: Successfully added (tryton) to the user database.
Add another user? (yes/no): no
Goodbye!
dale@casper:~ % 

Create a Tryton source directory

Create a sub-child directory in  the tryton user directory for Tryton source code.

dale@casper:~ % sudo mkdir /home/tryton/tryton
dale@casper:~ %

Configure a virtual environment

Create a “default” virtual environment to use for execution.

dale@casper:~ % su - Password:
root@casper:~ # bash
[root@casper /root]# cd /home/tryton/tryton 
[root@casper /home/tryton/tryton]# virtualenv default
Using base prefix '/usr/local'
New python executable in /usr/home/tryton/default/bin/python3.6
Also creating executable in /usr/home/tryton/default/bin/python
Installing setuptools, pip, wheel...done.
[root@casper /home/tryton/tryton]# source default/bin/activate
(default) [root@casper /home/tryton/tryton]# 

Install trytond and modules

Install trytond – the Trytond server daemon.

(default) [root@casper /home/tryton/tryton]# pip install trytond

trytond modules provide areas of functionality to trytond. You can generate a list of all available modules using pip.

(default) [root@casper /home/tryton/tryton]# pip search tryton

Install the trytond_sale module to provide a basic set of functionality.

(default) [root@casper /home/tryton/tryton]# pip install trytond_company

Modules often have dependencies. To see all the trytond modules which were installed, you can use pip to list installed modules and grep to filter for trydond.

(default) [root@casper /home/tryton/tryton]# pip list | grep trytond
trytond 5.2.6
trytond-account 5.2.3
trytond-account-invoice 5.2.2
trytond-account-invoice-stock 5.2.0
trytond-account-product 5.2.0
trytond-company 5.2.0
trytond-country 5.2.0
trytond-currency 5.2.1
trytond-party 5.2.0
trytond-product 5.2.1
trytond-sale 5.2.0
trytond-stock 5.2.1
(default) [root@casper /home/tryton/tryton]#

Create log directory for trytond

dale@casper:~ % sudo mkdir /var/log/trytond
dale@casper:~ % sudo chown -R tryton:tryton /var/log/trytond

Create json-rpc data directory for trytond

dale@casper:~ % sudo mkdir /var/run/trytond
dale@casper:~ % sudo chown -R tryton:tryton /var/log/trytond

Create trytond.conf

The Tryton configuration file trytond.conf is read by the Tryton server daemon trytond when it starts, and includes such site-specific data as:

• computer addresses to respond to (jsonrpc).
• username and password for the PostgreSQL “tryton” super-user.
• Tryton “administrator” password (required to create, drop, backup or restore a database).
• specify FreeBSD-specific directory paths

Unfortunately, the pip install for trytond currently does not copy the default trytond.conf file in the package to a suitable location (or rather, to any location). Download the trytond server distribution from PyPi, extract and copy trytond/etc/trytond.conf to /usr/local/etc/trytond.conf.

Edit parameters in /usr/local/etc/trytond.conf using the following as reference:

jsonrpc = *:8000,0.0.0.0:8000
jsondata_path = /var/run/trytond

db_type = postgresql
db_host = localhost
db_port = 5432
db_user = tryton
db_password = appleton

admin_passwd = appleton

pidfile = /var/run/trytond/trytond.pid
logfile = /var/log/trytond/trytond.log

data_path = /home/tryton

Create tryton rc script

An rc.d script will be created to manage starting and stopping trytond, and to start trytond after booting. I’m using a basic rc.d startup script created by Christoph Larsen for the GNU Health project, and added support for status reporting. Copy the following code to /usr/local/etc/rc.d/trytond

#!/bin/sh

#
# PROVIDE: trytond
# REQUIRE: DAEMON
# BEFORE:  LOGIN
#
# Originally created by: Christoph H. Larsen
# http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/health-dev/2011-11/msg00008.html
#

. /etc/rc.subr

name=trytond
rcvar=`set_rcvar`

load_rc_config $name

: ${trytond_enable="NO"}
: ${trytond_user="tryton"}
: ${trytond_group="tryton"}

start_cmd=${name}_start
stop_cmd=${name}_stop
restart_cmd=${name}_restart
status_cmd=${name}_status

command="/usr/local/bin/trytond"
required_files="/usr/local/etc/trytond.conf"

trytond_start() {
  su tryton -c "$command --config=/usr/local/etc/trytond.conf" &
}

trytond_stop() {
if [ -f /var/run/${name}/${name}.pid ]; then
  kill `cat /var/run/${name}/${name}.pid`
  fi
}

trytond_restart() {
  if [ -f /var/run/${name}/${name}.pid ]; then
  kill `cat /var/run/${name}/${name}.pid`
  sleep 1
  fi
  su tryton -c "$command --config=/usr/local/etc/trytond.conf" &
}

run_rc_command "$1"

Make /usr/local/etc/rc.d/trytond executable

# chmod u+x /usr/local/etc/rc.d/trytond

Add trytond_enable to /etc/rc.conf

# echo "trytond_enable=YES" >> /etc/rc.conf

Start trytond

Start trytond using the rc script:

# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/trytond start

Once started, you can check if trytond is running with the status option:

# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/trytond status

or stop the server if needed:

# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/trytond stop

Create and configure a new Tryton database

Download and install the Tryton desktop client for your system. Launch the Tryton client and access menu: File > Databases > New database.

Enter the Tryton server admin password (“admin_passwd” in trytond.conf) in the password field, then click Change beside the IP address and change the address to that of your server.

You must enter the password first, before changing the server address, because the Tryton client will attempt to connect to the server immediately after the server address is changed, and will report “Unable to connect” if the admin password was not already entered.

Enter the name of the database to create (e.g. “scc”) and the admin password for the database, then click Create.

Login to the new database as user “admin” and the password you entered to create the database. The Module Configuration Wizard will run automatically after login to configure the new database.

• Add user (e.g. “Dale Scott”, login “dale”), optionally add permissions (you may need to update user permissions after installing modules, so this is optional at this point),
  • add Permissions: “Administration” (which will be the only permission group available)
  • add Rule: Read, Write, Create, Delete, Model: View Search (which will be the only rule available available)

Install Tryton modules into the database

Mark modules for install

The Tryton modules previously installed to the server will not be installed in a Tryton database.

In the Tryton client, access the menu: Administration > Modules > Modules. Mark the following modules for install (double-click in the Mark for Install column):

• dashboard
• product
• product-attribute
• production
• project
• project-plan
• purchase
• sale
• stock
• stock-lot
• stock-split

Install marked modules

There are two ways to install the marked modules, you can either:

• Select Launch Action icon in the Modules menu bar and then Perform Pending Installation/Upgrade, or
• Execute the Perform Pending Installation/Upgrade Wizard from the main Tryton menu.

After the install/upgrade completes, the Module Configuration wizard runs and will query you to configure the installed modules.

Create a Company

A company is a type of ‘party’. To identify a party as a company in a new database you must first create a new party, then select it as the new company.

• Name
  • Swift Construction Company
• Addresses
  • Name: Default
  • Street: 1 Swift Way
  • Zip: 13054
  • City: Shopton
  • Country: United States
  • Subdivision: New York
• Language
  • English

Configure Company

• Enter Company > Currency
  • US Dollar
• On the Company > Employees > Party view
  • select the new company (e.g. Swift Construction Company)
  • select Add

Create Chart of Accounts

• Company: Swift Construction Company
• Account Template: Minimal Account Chart
• Create Default Properties
  • Default Receivable Account: Main Receivable
  • Default Payable Account: Main Payable

You will need to reload the menu in the Tryton client if it isn’t now displaying menu choices for the new modules (i.e. access menu: User > Menu Reload (Ctrl-T).

The Tryton server has been installed and you can connect to it from a Tryton client. You have also created a new Tryton database with the modules necessary to implement Maestro workflows.

Miscellaneous

Update FreeBSD periodic databases

I don’t know if installing packages triggers the periodic databases to update, but since I often don’t run a virtual machine long enough to cross day, week or month boundaries (when they update automatically), I typically manually update them after major system changes.

# periodic daily
# periodic weekly
# periodic monthly

References

• Installing PostgreSQL on FreeBSD
• HowTo Setup Database Server with PostgreSQL and pgadmin3
• FreeBSD Diary – PostgreSQL
• trytond.conf doesn’t get installed in /etc (Tryton bug report)
• pip install trytond – no config file (Tryton mailing list)