Kolab Server 2.1

[process91]

I've been struggling with installing Kolab Server 2.1 for several days now, and I've finally hit a breakthrough. After several unexplained errors I believe that I'm getting close to having Kolab 2.1 completely operational which means a completely free licensed Exchange server! (Minus the $15 for outlook connection managers) After I complete it I will compile all the steps into a howto for Kolab on Kubuntu, but I'll start with what I have done so far - If anyone has any suggestions I'd really appreciate them!

It's really simple! According to Kolab, all I have to do is
1 - Download the sources
2 - Use OpenPKG by running ./obmtool kolab
And it will install to /kolab!

Additionally I have so far done the following
1 - Downloaded the sources
2 - Changed obmtool to executable (chmod +x obmtool or Properties - Permissions - Make executable)
3 - ./obmtool kolab
4 - After obmtool runs for an extended amount of time it begins to return permission errors and file not found errors - CONTINUE TO LET IT RUN ALL THE WAY THROUGH - it's copying files but it doesn't know it
5 - Open the directory /kolab/RPM/PKG/ and make every rpm package (with the exception of the openpkg rpm package) chmod 777 (or use Properties - Permissions to Can Read & Write for every user)
6 - Run ./obmtool kolab again

This is taking a long time and I'm going to go to bed and see what messages await me in the morning.
If you can offer any help or tell me I'm doing something terribly wrong please let me know, I'd be happy to be wrong as long as someone out there is right. I've read things that said that permissions errors were caused by problems with gcc and cc permissions, and could be solved by chmod 666 /usr/bin/gcc but I tried this (and cc) and that did not work.

Also, the Kolab source comes in a series of RPM packages which then get installed with openpkg. Would I also be able to just install these RPM packages using alien to make them into deb compatible packages or does openpkg need to do all the work?

[process91]

Re: Kolab Server 2.1

So far no good -

After waking up and finding that Kolab did not install several packages (specifically those packages that were listed as "trigger" instead of "install" in obmtool.conf) I tried several other things -

- Ignored it - just continued with the process by typing /kolab/etc/kolab/kolab_bootstrap -b which did run and actually allowed me to configure the kolab server
- Typed in the final command to start the kolab server /etc/init.d/kolab start but the apache server was never installed and so it did not start
- Tried to access it from the web but it did not respond (as I figured)
- Downloaded the original obmtool.conf file (thus making the install back into trigger)
- Ran ./obmtool kolab with the same result as before, several packages which ran the trigger protocol were not installed
- Deleted all the RPM sources in /kolab/RPM/PKG
- Downloaded the debian RPM files as suggested by the how to on this page - http://aseigo.blogspot.com/2005/06/f...n-kubuntu.html
- Ran chmod +x obmtool and ./obmtool kolab
- Even though I had deleted the old source packages, this process had the same result as the original. Several packages did not get installed including apache.

I also tried using alien to convert the RPM files into debian packages, but that did not work either.

At this point I am stuck, and I look forward to hearing from anyone with any tips on how to install Kolab (www.kolab.org). Until then I'm going to try and install eGroupware (www.egroupware.org).

[process91]

Re: Kolab Server 2.1

Yes, it's sad that I keep updating my own post but hopefully this information will benefit someone out there looking to install Kolab as an Exchange Server replacement.

I've had a breakthrough! From what I can tell the problems I was having were related to a broken echo response which causes the Apache RPM to compile incorrectly and all the dependant sources also failed. This problem arises because "/bin/sh is linked to dash" and is solved by linking /bin/sh to /bin/bash instead. This is all very well explained in this document (http://wiki.kolab.org/index.php/Ubuntu_6.10) which I could have sworn that I read at least once before trying the install but for whatever reason I didn't use this help file.

The file explains that the OpenPKG utility does not work with GCC 4 which ships with kubuntu 6.10 (and 6.06). First you downgrade this utility and then you modify the links. After that you fix the dash/bash problem as listed above and then you should have no problem installing just as the readme file explains.

To install Kolab on Kubuntu follow these instructions specifically - http://wiki.kolab.org/index.php/Ubuntu_6.10

Compiling hasn't completed but it looks promising - no errors so far!

[process91]

Re: Kolab Server 2.1

OK, so I feel bad that I'm the only one who responded to my own thread but also accomplished for working out all the problems on my own.

By following the tutorials and suggestions on many sites and staying up late and getting up early I finally managed to install and configure a Kolab server and setup several clients.

For anyone else who needs help installing Kolab especially Kolab on Kubuntu I set up an easy to follow and thorough howto at http://starstreak.com/howto/KolabOnKubuntu.htm. Please visit and link it and let me know if you would like to know anything more specifically.