Install OpenTA using Docker

See the readme at https://github.com/opentaproject/openta-public

Fully install OpenTA either locally or remote vps

Make sure you communicate with a web server

  • sudo apt install nginx nginx-common nginx-core

  • make sure you can communicate with the server port 8000 either locally or through the internet

    • create a small file index.html

    • start a python web server in the same directory

      • python3 -m http.server 8000

    • make sure you see the file at localhost:8000

Make sure you can serve a django instance

  • mkdir django ; cd django

  • sudo apt install python3 python3-venv python3-pip -y

  • python3 -m venv env

  • source env/bin/activate

  • pip install django

  • django-admin startproject mysite .

  • python manage.py runserver

Clone the openta repo

This procedure is not generally available yet since as of 2026-01-03 the entire repository is not yet public

Install necessary tools on your linux box

ssh -L 8000:localhost:8000

  • Note the povray installation and texlive installation is optional;

# install  core packages ; povray and texlive is optional

sudo apt-get update ;
sudo apt-get --fix-broken install graphviz libldap2-dev libcairo2 libcairo2-dev \
    libgraphviz-dev libjpeg-dev  libxml2-dev  libxslt1-dev  libzmq3-dev  memcached  \
    libmemcached-dev  vim rsync apt-utils redis libnss3 poppler-utils \
    uuid bc texlive-latex-base texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-fonts-extra \
    texlive-latex-extra povray povray-includes cron
sudo apt-get update

# install postgres14

curl https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | gpg --dearmor \
    | tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/apt.postgresql.org.gpg >/dev/null
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ bullseye-pgdg main"  \
    > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/postgresql.list'
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install postgresql-14ssh -L 8000:localhost:8000
sudo apt install postgresql-client-common
sudo systemctl enable postgresql
sudo -u postgres createdb opentadefault1

# install chromedriver if you want to do runtests
sudo apt install -y chromium-browser

# if you are not running locally

sudo apt install chromium-browser
sudo apt install -y xvfb
  • Check

    • psql --version

    • systemctl status postgresql

  • make sure your allow login with the postgres user and password [ often postgres postgres ]

  • make sure postgres can access that database

Build the frontend (or use CDN - see below)

  • git clone https://github.com/opentaproject/openta-public.git  openta

  • cd openta/frontend

  • npm install --force

    • if npm is missing: sudo apt install npm

  • npm run build

Build the backend

  • Important: use python3.11

  • sudo mkdir -p /subdomain-data/CACHE; sudo chmod -R  a+w /subdomain-data;

  • cd; cd openta/openta/django/

  • python3.11 -m venv env

  • source env/bin/activate

  • pip install --upgrade pip

  • pip install -r requirements.txt

  • pip install -r requirements_dev.txt

Set important enviromental variables

  • export SUPERUSER=super ### EXAMPLE

  • export SUPEURSER_PASSWORD=superuser-password ### EXAMPLE

  • export PGPASSWORD=postgres

  • export PGUSER=postgres

  • export DJANGO_RAGAMUFFIN_DB=rsaasdfsdsf39

Start the webserver

  • cd ; cd openta/openta/django/backend

  • export DJANGO_RAGAMUFFIN_DB=rsaasdfsdsf39

  • sudo -u postgres createdb opentadefault1

  • python manage.py migrate

  • python manage.py createcachetable

  • mkdir static

  • get frontend workingtwo alternatives

    • ./frontend-update or

    • STATIC_URL='https://storage.googleapis.com/opentaproject-cdn-bucket/latest/deploystatic/'

  • python manage.py runserver 127.0.0.1:8000

  • if you are installing on another machine try ssh tunnel
    • ssh -L 8000:localhost:8000 remote-user@remote-host

      • You may have to place course. remote-host in /etc/hosts

  • Then got to http://course.localhost:8000

Note

You can adjust the placeholders above using the “Session Variables” panel in the left sidebar. Set Remote user (remote-user) and Remote host (remote-host) for your environment. These values persist in your browser only. PDF outputs use the defaults.

Test the webserver

  • make sure chromedriver is installed

  • make sure chromium-browswer is installed or

  • either X11 has to be installed or xvfb

  • either the commant pytest or the command xvfb-run -a pytest