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Comment by ElongatedTowel | Hacker News Reader

Well, I tried taking a look at it, but the setup is kind of funky.

* [edit] Download link seems to have been fixed.

* Cloned the repo instead and set everything up. Cloning the submodule for the theme didn't work due to some rights issue. Cloned it by hand then.

* Setup was pretty easy otherwise, even though I'm using the development version.

* [edit] Nevermind. You can signup without the mail sender beeing setup, just not recover the password it seems. Notifications per mail are also disabled. Should have read more carefully.

* No direct link to the interface on the blog index (or am I blind?). Have to add /ghost by hand.

* Rest seems pretty nice, though barebone. No comment system, why? The only benefit to static blogs that is left is the online editor.

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If you're developing software that needs to be installed, then please read the parent post. Too many software install guides are pointers (such as install x, or install y), but fail to provide step-by-step instructions. And this results in people finding your install "funky", or whatever. But not easy, painless, simple...

For all of its flaws, documentation is an area that Microsoft does very well. IMO, many companies and projects would be better served by step-by-step guides.

The following are the commands I used to setup Ghost on Ubuntu Linux 13.04 x64. The only assumption below is that you have git setup already.

# switch to root so you don't have to sudo repeatedly

sudo -i

# Install node (user private install).

cd; mkdir packages; cd packages; wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.10.20/node-v0.10.20-linux-x64.tar....; gzip -dc node-v0.10.20-linux-x64.tar.gz | tar xf -

echo 'PATH=~/packages/node-v0.10.20-linux-x64/bin/:$PATH' >> ~/.profile; source ~/.profile

which node

# Install ruby and gems

apt-get install ruby

gem install sass; gem install bourbon

# Install Python

apt-get install python python-virtualenv

easy_install Pygments

# Clone Ghost (assumption: you already have git installed/setup)

git clone git@github.com:TryGhost/Ghost.git

cd Ghost

git submodule update --init

npm install -g grunt-cli

npm install

grunt init

npm start

# Open Ghost

Open a browser to http://localhost:2368/ to view the blog or open http://127.0.0.1:2368/ghost/ to view the admin UI.

Or you can just use my Dockerfile[1]

1: https://github.com/keeb/Ghost/blob/add-dockerfile/Dockerfile

I had a different funky experience. I at first struggled, then paid attention to what I was doing, and then got it set up and running quite smoothly.

Path A: Warts and Brew: * Mac OSX 10.9 * latest homebrew

    1. brew install npm && brew install node.js
    2. gem install bourbon && gem install sass
    3. Then: Do the Installation / Setup instructions here:

https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.m...

... because: you have to install some ruby templates and such .. please note that you should also have done 'gem instal sass' step above, before you do step #3 ..

I found it works quite well if you get through that setup. I'm impressed enough to have been using it as an app for the last day or so .. its got a nice interface. I'd love to have time to hack up more templates.

Plan B: The easy route: vagrant Well, another great use for vagrant. Works very smoothly as well: https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost-Vagrant

Does Homebrew work on 10.9? Have you seen any problems?

Haven't found any issues, this is a brand new MBP though, fresh install as of about two weeks ago, and no hiccups so far..

It uses a similar build process to what you and I are already used to, so in a way it is indeed easy. Despite that the git version is not something the average user should use.

The download link seems to have been fixed so I'll take a look at the packaged version. I reckon it requires nothing more than unpacking and installing the dependencies.

Of course there are installers as well which probably require no user input at all.

I just downloaded the Bitnami stack instead of going through the login process. Bitnami seems to have added some bloat to themselves, however: they used to provide you with a straight VM image; now they have an installer and what seems to be a self-contained VM. The cynical part of me assumes that something in this stack is phoning home and perhaps making me part of some evil botnet, but hopefully not ;).

While signing up is mentioned several times on their page it doesn't seem to be required in any way to run your own version. I hope the broken download is just a bug. Signing up just so you can download the package would be pretty annoying.

Oh, I just figured that sign-up was required from reading the copy:

> Open Signup on Ghost.org The most important piece of news, of course, is that Ghost.org is now open for signups from everybody. Get over there, create your account, grab your username, download Ghost, and check out the forums.

The top comment only confirmed my suspicions.

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