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tutor/docs/dev.rst
Régis Behmo 61e3064c12 Improve theme development docs
This addresses part of issue #121.
2019-01-19 15:17:55 +01:00

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.. _development:
Using Tutor for Open edX development
====================================
In addition to running Open edX in production, you can use the docker containers for local development. This means you can hack on Open edX without setting up a Virtual Machine. Essentially, this replaces the devstack provided by edX.
To begin with, define development settings::
export EDX_PLATFORM_SETTINGS=tutor.development
These settings are necessary to run a local platform in debug mode.
Run a local webserver
---------------------
::
make lms-runserver
make cms-runserver
Open a bash shell
-----------------
::
make lms
make cms
Debug edx-platform
------------------
If you have one, you can point to a local version of `edx-platform <https://github.com/edx/edx-platform/>`_ on your host machine::
export EDX_PLATFORM_PATH=/path/to/your/edx-platform
Note that you should use an absolute path here, not a relative path (e.g: ``/path/to/edx-platform`` and not ``../edx-platform``).
All development commands will then automatically mount your local repo. For instance, you can add a ``import pdb; pdb.set_trace()`` breakpoint anywhere in your code and run::
make lms-runserver
With a customised edx-platform repo, you must be careful to have settings that are compatible with the docker environment. You are encouraged to copy the ``tutor.development`` settings files to our own repo::
cp -r config/openedx/tutor/lms/ /path/to/edx-platform/lms/envs/tutor
cp -r config/openedx/tutor/cms/ /path/to/edx-platform/cms/envs/tutor
You can then run your platform with the ``tutor.development`` settings.
**Note**: containers are built on the Hawthorn release. If you are working on a different version of Open edX, you will have to rebuild the images with the right ``EDX_PLATFORM_VERSION`` argument. You may also want to change the ``EDX_PLATFORM_REPOSITORY`` argument to point to your own fork of edx-platform.
Customised themes
-----------------
With Tutor, it's pretty easy to develop your own themes. Start by placing your files inside the ``build/openedx/themes`` directory. For instance, you could start from the ``edx.org`` theme present inside the ``edx-platform`` repository::
cp -r /path/to/edx-platform/themes/edx.org /path/to/tutor/build/openedx/themes/
Don't forget to set the ``EDX_PLATFORM_SETTINGS`` environment variable, as explained above. Then, run a local webserver inside the ``deploy/local`` folder::
make lms-runserver
The LMS can then be accessed at http://localhost:8000.
You should follow the `Open edX documentation to enable your themes <https://edx.readthedocs.io/projects/edx-installing-configuring-and-running/en/latest/configuration/changing_appearance/theming/enable_themes.html#apply-a-theme-to-a-site>`_. In a nutshell, you should create a site theme that corresponds to the ``localhost:8000`` site in the site admin: http://localhost:8000/admin/theming/sitetheme/.
Watch the themes folders for changes (in a different terminal)::
make watch-themes
Make changes to some of the files inside your theme directory: the theme assets should be automatically recompiled and visible at http://localhost:8000.
Assets management
-----------------
Assets building and collecting is made more difficult by the fact that development settings are `incorrectly loaded in Hawthorn <https://github.com/edx/edx-platform/pull/18430/files>`_. This should be fixed in the next Open edX release. Meanwhile, do not run ``paver update_assets`` while in development mode. When working locally on a theme, build assets by running in the container::
openedx-assets build
This command will take quite some time to run. You can speed up this process by running only part of the full build. Run ``openedx-assets -h`` for more information.
Running python commands
-----------------------
These commands will open a python shell in the lms or the cms::
make lms-python
make cms-python
You can then import edx-platform and django modules and execute python code.