Re: [graphviz-interest] Graphviz/Webdot hosting / installation on a shared server

Hi Aldo

On 25/02/13 23:17, Aldo de Moor wrote:
> Thanks for your moral support, Ron. I am a lay person as far as compiling

Oh!

> etc goes. How do I check what kind of environment my provider's
> installation as (unix/linux version, libraries etc(. Are the system

I suggest ask the tech support if they will install it for you. That 
would be by far the best option.

> libraries necessary _after_ compile or only as an input in the compiling

Both, probably. During compilation the compiler will use libraries, and 
(simplifying wildly) there are 2 types of compiler output:

o An entirely self-contained program (no libs required at run-time [i.e. 
included in the compiled code as far as possible], and perhaps how many 
people view programs), but very unlikely, and

o A program which uses 'shared libraries', meaning those libs are 
supplied by the OS at run-time, and are shared by any program which 
wants them.

> process? In the latter case, could I for instance install them on my
> Windows machine, then compile to the linux version of my provider? Or would

No. Forget cross-compilation, please!

> I need to "go native" when compiling and compile from the same operating
> system, then ftp?

Yep, native it is. And that's why asking the provider for tech support 
is really the only practical way. I wouldn't try compiling myself at home.

My host allows shell access, meaning I can log in at my hosted site's 
command line, allowing me to download and compile stuff and thus 
manually install it myself.

Given your 'lay' bkg, even that seems an unlikely course for you.

Lastly, the other way is to visit a few hosting companies web site and 
see if any offer the kind of tech support you need. Some are clearly 
helpful of course. Then you choose by price, which is simple - Hahahaha 
- the cheaper the worse.

My host is quadrahosting.com.au, a branch of an American co, and very 
helpful. There are vast numbers of cheaper hosts (warning: this is a 
massive topic), but they normally over-subscribe their hardware, meaning 
too many customers on each virtual machine, to lower the cost, or offer 
you vaguely reasonable hardware specs, but you have to administer the 
virtual machine yourself. Often both these apply.

Alternately (half-joking) you could write a CGI script which proxies 
requests to your home machine, run Graphviz there, and send the results 
back to the CGI script which in turn sends them to the client. You'd 
need to invent a little protocol for that of course. Again, 
contra-indicated :-)).

> Cheers,
>
> Aldo
>
> On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 11:50 PM, Ron Savage<[email protected]>  wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> On 23/02/13 05:27, Aldo de Moor wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Almost three years ago, I asked the below question on GraphViz/Webdot
>>> hosting. I got a few tentative replies, but nobody had a satisfactory
>>> solution. In the meantime, Google Charts GraphViz came along, which works
>>> okay for small, middle-of-the-road graphs, but lacks many features,
>>> including being able to embed images, use the latest features, generate
>>> seriously-sized maps, etc.
>>>
>>> Let me try again. Is there anybody out there who could provide such a
>>> service? Or, less ambitious: is there anybody who knows how to get
>>> standard
>>> GraphViz to work on a shared server? Most providers (including mine,
>>> HostGator) do not allow source code to be compiled. Is there perhaps a way
>>> to have the source code listed on
>>>
>>> http://graphviz.org/Download..**php<http://graphviz.org/Download..php>
>>>
>>> compilied outside of my jailed shell-account and ftp the binaries there,
>>> so
>>> that I finally, finally, finally would get GraphViz to actually work? It's
>>> such a great tool, and I am so frustrated I can't actually really use it
>>> in
>>> my R&D!
>>>
>>
>> I appreciate the frustration.
>>
>> As for compiling it, many people could do it on their own machines, but
>> our machines are many and varied.
>>
>> And perhaps we have system libraries your host/VM does not have.
>>
>> I use Debian 6.0.6, 64-bit.
>>
>> The real question is: What exactly do you need?
>>
>>
>>   Cheers,
>>>
>>> Aldo
>>>
>>> On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 7:16 PM, Aldo de Moor<[email protected]**
>>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>   Hello,
>>>>
>>>> For many years, I have been impressed by the power and flexibility of
>>>> Graphviz. I see many applications, most of them still unfulfilled.
>>>>
>>>> I am working on an application for socio-technical systems modeling. The
>>>> idea is to use Graphviz to generate visual system maps. My php code
>>>> generates the dot-files without  problem from the underlying database.
>>>> However, I get all kinds of failed dependencies when trying to install
>>>> the
>>>> Graphviz rpm. As I am not well-versed in linux etc., and my hosting
>>>> provider imposes limitations on installing customized software, getting
>>>> this to work seems hopeless. I have spent days on this, and have given
>>>> up.
>>>>
>>>> There must be many potential users of Graphviz like me, who do see
>>>> powerful applications, but don't have the background to get every
>>>> technical
>>>> installation problem resolved. This is really a pity, as it prevents the
>>>> next order of magnitude in growth of applications and users.
>>>>
>>>> Searching your mailing list archives, I saw that the topic of having a
>>>> hosted Graphviz service has come up quite a few times, but nobody seems
>>>> to
>>>> have acted on it. Let me try again:
>>>>
>>>> Would somebody be able to set up a Graphviz server with the following
>>>> features:
>>>>
>>>> - Users save a dot-file in the public_html part of their own server:
>>>>
>>>> http://myserver.org/****application/very_interesting_****<http://myserver.org/**application/very_interesting_**>
>>>> data_needing_to_be_visualized.****dot<http://myserver.org/**
>>>> application/very_interesting_**data_needing_to_be_visualized.**dot<http://myserver.org/application/very_interesting_data_needing_to_be_visualized.dot>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - From their code they call the Graphviz server including their dot-file
>>>> as parameter:
>>>>
>>>> http://graphvizserver.org?src=****myserver.org/application/**very_**<http://graphvizserver.org?src=**myserver.org/application/very_**>
>>>> interesting_data_needing_to_****be_visualized.dot<http://**
>>>> graphvizserver.org?src=**myserver.org/application/very_**
>>>> interesting_data_needing_to_**be_visualized.dot<http://graphvizserver.org?src=myserver.org/application/very_interesting_data_needing_to_be_visualized.dot>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - The Graphviz server creates, say, a png file from the dot-file and
>>>> saves
>>>> it on its server:
>>>>
>>>> http://graphvizserver.org/****very_interesting_data_needing_****<http://graphvizserver.org/**very_interesting_data_needing_**>
>>>> to_be_visualized.png<http://**graphvizserver.org/very_**
>>>> interesting_data_needing_to_**be_visualized.png<http://graphvizserver.org/very_interesting_data_needing_to_be_visualized.png>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - The user can link to that file, embed it in her web page etc.
>>>>
>>>> It should not be much work to set this up for somebody with the right
>>>> setup and expertise. However, it would be SO useful and could really help
>>>> many, many, fascinated-but-oh-so-****frustrated potential users.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks a lot for your help,
>>>>
>>>> Aldo
>>>>
>>>> ==============================****============================**==**
>>>> ==============
>>>> Aldo de Moor, PhD
>>>> CommunitySense - community informatics research in practice
>>>> Cavaleriestraat 2, 5017 ET Tilburg, the Netherlands
>>>> e-mail: [email protected]
>>>> mob: +31-6-47011400, tel/fax: +31-13-4564126
>>>> site: www.communitysense.nl             KvK: 18088302
>>>> blog: communitysense.wordpress.com   ___twitter: ademoor___
>>>> ==============================****============================**==**
>>>> ==============
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>> graphviz-interest@lists.**research.att.com<[email protected]>
>>> http://lists.research.att.com/**mailman/listinfo/graphviz-**interest<http://lists.research.att.com/mailman/listinfo/graphviz-interest>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Ron Savage
>> http://savage.net.au/
>> Ph: 0421 920 622
>>
>
>
>

-- 
Ron Savage
http://savage.net.au/
Ph: 0421 920 622
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