Command Line Interface¶
Most common CKAN administration tasks can be carried out from the command line on the server that CKAN is installed on, using the paster command.
If you have trouble running paster commands, see Troubleshooting Paster Commands below.
Note
Before running a CKAN paster command, you have to activate your CKAN virtualenv and change to the ckan directory, for example:
. /usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/activate cd /usr/lib/ckan/default/src/ckan
To run a paster command without activating the virtualenv first, you have to give the full path the paster script within the virtualenv, for example:
/usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/paster --plugin=ckan user list -c /etc/ckan/default/development.ini
To run a paster command without changing to the ckan directory first, add the --plugin=ckan option to the command. For example:
paster --plugin=ckan user list -c /etc/ckan/default/development.ini
In the example commands below, we assume you’re running the commands with your virtualenv activated and from your ckan directory.
The general form of a CKAN paster command is:
paster command --config=/etc/ckan/default/development.ini
The --config option tells CKAN where to find your config file, which it reads for example to know which database it should use. As you’ll see in the examples below, this option can be given as -c for short.
command should be replaced with the name of the CKAN command that you wish to execute. Most commands have their own subcommands and options. For example, to print out a list of all of your CKAN site’s users do:
Note
You may also specify the location of your config file using the CKAN_INI environment variable. You will no longer need to use –config= or -c= to tell paster where the config file is:
export CKAN_INI=/etc/ckan/default/development.ini
paster user list -c /etc/ckan/default/development.ini
(Here user is the name of the CKAN command you’re running, and list is a subcommand of user.)
For a list of all available commands, simply run paster on its own with no command, or see Paster Commands Reference. In this case we don’t need the -c option, since we’re only asking CKAN to print out information about commands, not to actually do anything with our CKAN site:
paster
Each command has its own help text, which tells you what subcommands and options it has (if any). To print out a command’s help text, run the command with the --help option:
paster user --help
Troubleshooting Paster Commands¶
Permission Error¶
If you receive ‘Permission Denied’ error, try running paster with sudo.
sudo /usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/paster db clean -c /etc/ckan/default/production.ini
Virtualenv not activated, or not in ckan dir¶
Most errors with paster commands can be solved by remembering to activate your virtual environment and change to the ckan directory before running the command:
. /usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/activate cd /usr/lib/ckan/default/src/ckan
Error messages such as the following are usually caused by forgetting to do this:
- Command ‘foo’ not known (where foo is the name of the command you tried to run)
- The program ‘paster’ is currently not installed
- Command not found: paster
- ImportError: No module named fanstatic (or other ImportErrors)
Running paster commands provided by extensions¶
If you’re trying to run a CKAN command provided by an extension that you’ve installed and you’re getting an error like Command ‘foo’ not known even though you’ve activated your virtualenv and changed to the ckan directory, this is because you need to run the extension’s paster commands from the extension’s source directory not CKAN’s source directory. For example:
. /usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/activate cd /usr/lib/ckan/default/src/ckanext-spatial paster foo -c /etc/ckan/default/development.ini
This should not be necessary when using the pre-installed extensions that come with CKAN.
Alternatively, you can give the extension’s name using the --plugin option, for example
paster --plugin=ckanext-foo foo -c /etc/ckan/default/development.ini
Todo
Running a paster shell with paster --plugin=pylons shell -c .... Useful for development?
Wrong config file path¶
- AssertionError: Config filename development.ini does not exist
- This means you forgot to give the --config or -c option to tell CKAN where to find your config file. (CKAN looks for a config file named development.ini in your current working directory by default.)
- ConfigParser.MissingSectionHeaderError: File contains no section headers
- This happens if the config file that you gave with the -c or --config option is badly formatted, or if you gave the wrong filename.
- IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: ‘...’
- This means you gave the wrong path to the --config or -c option (you gave a path to a file that doesn’t exist).
Paster Commands Reference¶
The following paster commands are supported by CKAN:
| check-po-files | Check po files for common mistakes |
| color | Create or remove a color scheme. |
| create-test-data | Create test data in the database. |
| dataset | Manage datasets. |
| datastore | Perform commands to set up the datastore. |
| db | Perform various tasks on the database. |
| front-end-build | Creates and minifies css and JavaScript files |
| jobs | Manage background jobs |
| less | Compile all root less documents into their CSS counterparts |
| minify | Create minified versions of the given Javascript and CSS files. |
| notify | Send out modification notifications. |
| plugin-info | Provide info on installed plugins. |
| profile | Code speed profiler |
| ratings | Manage the ratings stored in the db |
| rdf-export | Export active datasets as RDF. |
| search-index | Creates a search index for all datasets |
| sysadmin | Gives sysadmin rights to a named user. |
| tracking | Update tracking statistics. |
| trans | Translation helper functions |
| user | Manage users. |
color: Create or remove a color scheme¶
After running this command, you’ll need to regenerate the css files. See less: Compile all root less documents into their CSS counterparts for details.
Usage:
color - creates a random color scheme
color clear - clears any color scheme
color <'HEX'> - uses as base color eg '#ff00ff' must be quoted.
color <VALUE> - a float between 0.0 and 1.0 used as base hue
color <COLOR_NAME> - html color name used for base color eg lightblue
create-test-data: Create test data¶
As the name suggests, this command lets you load test data when first setting up CKAN. See Creating test data for details.
dataset: Manage datasets¶
Usage:
dataset DATASET_NAME|ID - shows dataset properties
dataset show DATASET_NAME|ID - shows dataset properties
dataset list - lists datasets
dataset delete [DATASET_NAME|ID] - changes dataset state to 'deleted'
dataset purge [DATASET_NAME|ID] - removes dataset from db entirely
datastore: Perform commands to set up the datastore¶
Make sure that the datastore URLs are set properly before you run these commands.
Usage:
datastore set-permissions - shows a SQL script to execute
db: Manage databases¶
See Database Management.
jobs: Manage background jobs¶
The jobs command can be used to manage Background jobs.
New in version 2.7.
Run a background job worker¶
paster jobs worker [--burst] [QUEUES]
Starts a worker that fetches job from the job queues and executes them. If no queue names are given then it listens to the default queue. This is equivalent to
paster jobs worker default
If queue names are given then the worker listens to those queues and only those:
paster jobs worker my-custom-queue another-special-queue
Hence, if you want the worker to listen to the default queue and some others then you must list the default queue explicitly:
paster jobs worker default my-custom-queue
If the --burst option is given then the worker will exit as soon as all its queues are empty. Otherwise it will wait indefinitely until a new job is enqueued (this is the default).
Note
In a production setting you should use a more robust way of running background workers.
List enqueued jobs¶
paster jobs list [QUEUES]
Lists the currently enqueued jobs from the given job queues. If no queue names are given then the jobs from all queues are listed.
Show details about a job¶
paster jobs show ID
Shows details about the enqueued job with the given ID.
Cancel a job¶
paster jobs cancel ID
Cancels the enqueued job with the given ID. Jobs can only be canceled while they are enqueued. Once a worker has started executing a job it cannot be aborted anymore.
Clear job queues¶
paster jobs clear [QUEUES]
Cancels all jobs on the given job queues. If no queues are given then all queues are cleared.
Enqueue a test job¶
paster jobs test [QUEUES]
Enqueues a test job. If no job queues are given then the job is added to the default queue. If queue names are given then a separate test job is added to each of the queues.
minify: Create minified versions of the given Javascript and CSS files¶
Usage:
paster minify [--clean] PATH
For example:
paster minify ckan/public/base
paster minify ckan/public/base/css/*.css
paster minify ckan/public/base/css/red.css
If the –clean option is provided any minified files will be removed.
notify: Send out modification notifications¶
Usage:
notify replay - send out modification signals. In "replay" mode,
an update signal is sent for each dataset in the database.
plugin-info: Provide info on installed plugins¶
As the name suggests, this commands shows you the installed plugins, their description, and which interfaces they implement
profile: Code speed profiler¶
Provide a ckan url and it will make the request and record how long each function call took in a file that can be read by runsnakerun.
Usage:
profile URL
The result is saved in profile.data.search. To view the profile in runsnakerun:
runsnakerun ckan.data.search.profile
You may need to install the cProfile python module.
ratings: Manage dataset ratings¶
Manages the ratings stored in the database, and can be used to count ratings, remove all ratings, or remove only anonymous ratings.
For example, to remove anonymous ratings from the database:
paster --plugin=ckan ratings clean-anonymous --config=/etc/ckan/std/std.ini
rdf-export: Export datasets as RDF¶
This command dumps out all currently active datasets as RDF into the specified folder:
paster rdf-export /path/to/store/output
search-index: Rebuild search index¶
Rebuilds the search index. This is useful to prevent search indexes from getting out of sync with the main database.
For example:
paster --plugin=ckan search-index rebuild --config=/etc/ckan/std/std.ini
This default behaviour will clear the index and rebuild it with all datasets. If you want to rebuild it for only one dataset, you can provide a dataset name:
paster --plugin=ckan search-index rebuild test-dataset-name --config=/etc/ckan/std/std.ini
Alternatively, you can use the -o or –only-missing option to only reindex datasets which are not already indexed:
paster --plugin=ckan search-index rebuild -o --config=/etc/ckan/std/std.ini
If you don’t want to rebuild the whole index, but just refresh it, use the -r or –refresh option. This won’t clear the index before starting rebuilding it:
paster --plugin=ckan search-index rebuild -r --config=/etc/ckan/std/std.ini
There is also an option available which works like the refresh option but tries to use all processes on the computer to reindex faster:
paster --plugin=ckan search-index rebuild_fast --config=/etc/ckan/std/std.ini
There are other search related commands, mostly useful for debugging purposes:
search-index check - checks for datasets not indexed
search-index show DATASET_NAME - shows index of a dataset
search-index clear [DATASET_NAME] - clears the search index for the provided dataset or for the whole ckan instance
sysadmin: Give sysadmin rights¶
Gives sysadmin rights to a named user. This means the user can perform any action on any object.
For example, to make a user called ‘admin’ into a sysadmin:
paster --plugin=ckan sysadmin add admin --config=/etc/ckan/std/std.ini
tracking: Update tracking statistics¶
Usage:
tracking update [start_date] - update tracking stats
tracking export FILE [start_date] - export tracking stats to a csv file
trans: Translation helper functions¶
Usage:
trans js - generate the JavaScript translations
trans mangle - mangle the zh_TW translations for testing
Note
Since version 2.7 the JavaScript translation files are automatically regenerated if necessary when CKAN is started. Hence you usually do not need to run paster trans js manually.
user: Create and manage users¶
Lets you create, remove, list and manage users.
For example, to create a new user called ‘admin’:
paster --plugin=ckan user add admin --config=/etc/ckan/std/std.ini
To delete the ‘admin’ user:
paster --plugin=ckan user remove admin --config=/etc/ckan/std/std.ini