Tracks

Installation on Ubuntu v8.10 - html issue

2008-11-20T01:09:34+00:00

I’m very excited to work with this application. I’ve been looking for a good GTD app fro a long time. Anyway, got it running in the following environment:

1. Ubuntu 8.10 x64
2. Mysql
3. Apache2 with Passenger, running under virtual host
4. Ruby 1.8.6 from source (wouldn’t run under 1.8.7)
5. Rubygems 1.2.0

Got it running but there is an HTML problem and I haven’t a clue how to proceed in resolving it. I’ve attached a screenshot of the main page after login.

Any ideas? I’d really appreciate any direction at this point - I’m stumped.

Thanks.

Jim

“&” in URLs in Notes fields of actions get changed into “&”

2008-11-08T16:04:56+00:00

Hi all,

I am trying to convert my todo system from todoist.com to a tracks installation. Due to problems with 1.6 (smooth ajax contexts not expanding enough to contain all actions; context sorting not being persistent; context expands/folds on home page not being consistent) I’ve installed a git tarball from yesterday (2008-11-07) behind apache2+fastcgi on Ubuntu 7.10.

When making a next action, I would often like to add urls to the relevant gmail mails in the notes field. With simple URLs without “&” characters this works fine: “URL”:http://my.url.com/

However, if the URL has &s;in (which it often has), these are all changed to “&”. When I open the edit box, they’re fine, but as soon as I save the next action and mouse over the URL, it’s useless.

What am I doing wrong? Any other advice on how to get around this?

Thanks for a great piece of software,
Charl Botha
http://cpbotha.net/

Git updating problem

2008-11-13T07:08:57+00:00

Okay, so this is strictly speaking not a Tracks questions, except that I cannot get git to update my Tracks installation. This is what I get when I try to update:

claus@wotan:/home/www/tracks$ sudo git pull
remote: Counting objects: 839, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (560/560), done.
Indexing 722 objects...
remote: Total 722 (delta 555), reused 223 (delta 158)
 100% (722/722) done
Resolving 555 deltas...
 100% (555/555) done
76 objects were added to complete this thin pack.
* refs/remotes/origin/master: fast forward to branch 'master' of git://github.com/bsag/tracks
  old..new: 6e8ea41..33eba10
Updating 6e8ea41..33eba10
public/.htaccess: needs update
fatal: Entry 'public/.htaccess' not uptodate. Cannot merge.

If I remember correctly I actually did change .htaccess to use AddHandler fcgid-script .fcgi
instead of fastcgi and changed the rewrite rules. So, my question is: How can I pull the newest development version?

Claus

HOWTO: Install Tracks on a CentOS 5 Server using Apache (proxy) and SSL

2008-11-10T21:53:54+00:00

Hi all,

I’ve spent some time researching GTD apps and am still searching for the one that suits me best. My boss introduced me to Tracks and I have to say I’m impressed so far. To give it a fair go I installed in on my VPS (CentOS 5 x86_64) with SSL so that I can access it from anywhere securely. It took me a while to come up with all the bits - the information below is an amalgamation of lots of bits on the web so I hope someone will find it useful as it show’s a pretty complete install onto CentOS 5. Comments or thoughts welcome

This was performed in a CentOS 5.2 server (fully updated) and assumes that MySQL and Apache (the standard CentOS packages) are installed and working. It also requires mysql-devel to build the Ruby gem for MySQL.

1. Make sure the Ruby RPM’s are installed - the CentOS ones are 1.8.5 but these are known to work so we won’t do a recompile here.


# yum install ruby ruby-devel ruby-libs ruby-irb ruby-rdoc

2. Install Ruby Gems.

# cd /usr/local/src
# mkdir -p rubygems/1.3.1
# cd rubygems/1.3.1
# wget http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/45905/rubygems-1.3.1.tgz
# tar -xzf rubygems-1.3.1.tgz
# cd rubygems-1.3.1
# ruby ./setup.rb

3. Install Rails


# gem install rails

4. Install the MySQL gem


# gem install mysql -- --with-mysql-config=/usr/bin/mysql_config

(without these switches the install fails - it seems it can’t find the right MySQL files)

5. Set up the MySQL DB

# mysql -uroot -p
mysql> CREATE DATABASE tracks;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON tracks.* TO 'tracksuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password-goes-here';

6. Unpack Tracks

# cd /var/www
# wget http://www.rousette.org.uk/projects/files/tracks-current.zip
# unzip tracks-current.zip
# ln -s tracks-1.6/ tracks
# rm -f tracks-current.zip

7. Create a user for tracks and update file ownership:

# useradd -d /var/www/tracks tracks
# chown -R tracks:tracks /var/www/tracks-1.6

8. Put this file into /etc/init.d so that tracks can be run at startup:

# cat /etc/init.d/tracks

#!/bin/bash
#
# tracks      This shell script takes care of starting and stopping
#             the standalonetracks web server.
#
# chkconfig: 345 60 50
# description: Tracks is a web-based application to help you implement David Allen's
#              Getting Things Done. methodology. It was built using Ruby on Rails,
#              and comes with a built-in webserver (WEBrick) which this script controls
# processname: ruby /var/www/tracks/script/server --daemon --environment=production
# config: /var/www/tracks/config/*.rb

# Source function library.
. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions

PROC=/var/www/tracks/script/server
USER=tracks
PIDFILE=/var/run/tracks.pid

PATH="/sbin:/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin"
export PATH
LOCK=/var/lock/subsys/tracks
RETVAL=0

[ -x $PROC ] || exit 0

start() {
       # Check if it is already running
       if [ ! -f $LOCK ]; then
           echo -n $"Starting Tracks: "
           daemon --user=$USER $PROC --daemon --environment=production
           RETVAL=$?
           if [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ]; then
               touch $LOCK
               pgrep -f -u $USER $"ruby $PROC --daemon --environment=production" > $PIDFILE
           fi
           echo
       fi
       return $RETVAL
}

stop() {
       echo -n $"Stopping Tracks: "
       killproc -p $PIDFILE tracks
       RETVAL=$?
       [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && rm -f $LOCK
       echo
       return $RETVAL
}

restart() {
       stop
       start
}

case "$1" in
start)
       start
       ;;
stop)
       stop
       ;;
reload)
       reload
       ;;
restart)
       restart
       ;;
condrestart)
       if [ -f $LOCK ]; then
           restart
       fi
       ;;
status)
       status -p $PIDFILE tracks
       ;;
*)
       echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|restart|condrestart}"
       exit 1
esac

exit $RETVAL

9. Configure tracks to run on startup

# chkconfig --add tracks
# chkconfig --list tracks

10. Set up the config files:


# cd /var/www/tracks/config

As per the Tracks web site:

• If you downloaded Tracks 1.6 via Subversion, you need to duplicate the files database.yml.tmpl and environment.yml.tmpl and remove the *.tmpl extension from the duplicates. Similarly, duplicate /log.tmpl and remove the *.tmpl extension, then edit the files as described in steps 2 and 3.
• Open the file /config/database.yml and edit the production: section with the details of your database. If you are using MySQL the adapter: line should read adapter: mysql, host: localhost (in the majority of cases), and your username and password should match those you assigned when you created the database. If you are using SQLite3, you should have only two lines under the production section: adapter: sqlite3 and database: db/tracks-15-blank.db. If you downloaded the zipped file, the database.yml file is already configured to use the provided SQLite3 file.
• Open the file /config/environment.rb, and read through the settings to make sure that they suit your setup. In most cases, all you need to change is the SALT = “change-me” line (change the string “change-me” to some other string of your choice), and the time zone setting.

11. Add the following to the end of config/environment.rb - this will enable us to run Tracks as http://www.example.com/tracks rather than as http://www.example.com/ as the Rails environment expects.


ActionController::AbstractRequest.relative_url_root = "/tracks"

12. Set up the DB schema


# rake db:migrate RAILS_ENV=production

an excessive usage story and some feature ideas

2008-11-10T12:02:47+00:00

Hi!

First of all I have a confession to make. after a half year of using tracks, i thought it’s time for a change. so i reviewed about 15 GTD applications in the last days. in the end it turned out, that no other solution covers that much of my needs (and i’m quite greedy, when it comes to that ^^).
So I decided to stay loyal and ask you (forum readers and especially the development team), what you think about my way of handling Tracks.

Here is how I use Tracks in everyday life:
When I start a new project, i first collect all actions that may occur even if some of them are intersecting some others. e.g. When planning a Halloween party, i add “find dj”, “get drinks”, get band”, ...
Later it turns out, that all good bands are already booked up for that date.

And here comes a little dilemma. I don’t want to delete the action “get band”, because, if I plan a hw-party next year, i will review that project and i really don’t want to forget about a band.
On the other hand I don’t want to mark it as “done”, since this distorts my statistics
Currently I add a tag “dropped” to that action and check it as complete.
Therefore: What do you think about a native “dropped” state for actions? Maybe with an own section similar to the “Completed Actions” and related statistics.

Back to my usage story:
I’m really looking forward to the gCal integration in the upcoming version. Currently I have to add an appointment manually for each action with a due date. This easily gets inconsistent, as you can guess.
Am I right, that using this feed will add actions with a due date as an “all day” event to the calendar?
Or (may I dream) will it also be possible to set a due time and duration in the “New Action” form?

After a hard week of GTDing I review my achievements in several ways. I write a blog which documents my personal impressions and I also collect some sort of “checklists” in a wiki. So I know what is necessary and what is a waste of time, when doing a similar project.
Up to now it’s mainly copy&paste;of the completed actions. It would be great to automate this via a feed. I’ve already found some helpful parameters in the feed links, but none to show only “done” actions.
Also I didn’t find a way to build a feed for a specific tag.
Since there will be a “starred actions” feed in the upcoming version, will there also be a way to build your own feed url for a given task?

I hope you don’t get me wrong. I’m not asking you to implement these ideas. I’m mainly interested in your opinion about them.

best regards,
Amarillo

NoMethodError in Todos#index

2008-09-22T18:05:54+00:00

Hello,

I was running Tracks 1.5 happily when I made the stupid mistake of updating my Debian installation to its latest release. Then I got Ruby 1.8.7 (package ruby1.8, version 1.8.7.22-3) and I could not log in anymore due to errors. So I decided to update my Tracks to 1.6 and now I can loging, but then I got the messages on the web page that I include below (but no logs). Curiously for me, a longer version gets copied using Windows copy/paste, which I have attached.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Rafael

NoMethodError in Todos#index

Showing todos/_toggle_notes.rhtml where line #3 raised:

undefined method `[]' for #<Enumerable::Enumerator:0xb6fabe94>

Extracted source (around line #3):

1: <%= link_to(image_tag( 'blank.png', :width=>'16', :height=>'16', :border=>'0' ), "#", {:class => 'show_notes', :title => 'Show notes'}) %>
2: <% apply_behavior 'a.show_notes:click', :prevent_default => true do |page, element|
3:      element.next('.todo_notes').toggle
4:    end
5: -%>
6:       <div class="todo_notes" id="<%= dom_id(item, 'notes') %>" style="display:none">

Trace of template inclusion: /todos/_todo.html.erb, /contexts/_context.rhtml, /todos/index.html.erb

RAILS_ROOT: /opt/tracks-1.6
Application Trace | Framework Trace | Full Trace

vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string/access.rb:43:in `first'
vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector.rb:151:in `camelize'
vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string/inflections.rb:49:in `camelize'
vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/prototype_helper.rb:1079:in `method_missing'
vendor/plugins/unobtrusive_javascript/lib/ujs/javascript_proxies.rb:43:in `__send__'
vendor/plugins/unobtrusive_javascript/lib/ujs/javascript_proxies.rb:43:in `method_missing'
app/views/todos/_toggle_notes.rhtml:3:in `_run_erb_47app47views47todos47_toggle_notes46rhtml'
app/views/todos/_toggle_notes.rhtml:2:in `_run_erb_47app47views47todos47_toggle_notes46rhtml'
app/views/todos/_todo.html.erb:19:in `_run_erb_47app47views47todos47_todo46html46erb'
app/views/contexts/_context.rhtml:34:in `_run_erb_47app47views47contexts47_context46rhtml'
app/views/todos/index.html.erb:4:in `_run_erb_47app47views47todos47index46html46erb'
app/controllers/todos_controller.rb:568:in `render_todos_html'
app/controllers/todos_controller.rb:18:in `index'

Request

Parameters:

None

Show session dump

--- 
:js_behaviours: 
  :rules: []

  :options: 
    :reapply_after_ajax: true
    :cache: 
return-to: 
user_id: 2
flash: !map:ActionController::Flash::FlashHash 
  :notice: "Login successful: session will not expire."
noexpiry: "on"

Response

Headers:

{"Content-Type"=>"text/html",
 "cookie"=>[],
 "Cache-Control"=>"no-cache"}

Idea for UI for dependencies and subprojects

2008-10-28T23:04:44+00:00

Sometimes it becomes clear that a Next Action is premature. In Tracks I’ve been dealing with this by sending them into the future, to be handled in the same context but in the tickler. That’s not quite right, and it doesn’t capture the dependency that makes them premature.

Ticket #373 suggests promoting actions to subprojects. Viewing a project and its subprojects makes sense in a top-down way. From a project’s page, Deferred Actions could list what an action depends on instead of the time-to-defer. And the Active Projects list on the right-hand side could have subprojects listed in an indented tree.

But I do my work from the main page / contexts lists, and subprojects (as described) don’t fit in to contexts.

The most common answer for this is to hide the dependencies in the Tickler, as with the date-deferred actions. I have an additional idea I think might be useful.

“Context” means a state in which you can address particular Todos. For canonical GTD, the list of items in a context should all be next actions. I’m opposed to the idea of displaying nested tasks in the context interface- followup actions aren’t valid in the current context.

What’s the proper context for the followup action? I think it has two required contexts: the standard context, and also the action that must be completed first. Each of these provide valuable perspectives on my work. Imagine treating actions as contexts- starting from the question “Once I’ve completed this action, what is possible?” This gets at an additional layer of the project that is otherwise only implicitly addressed in GTD.

David Allen describes making “vertical sweeps” over a project, and “horizontal sweeps” over contexts. Project-specific contexts seem to get at the innards of a project in a different sort of horizontal sweep.

In the same vein, subprojects seem valid candidates for contexts. “Once the project is at this stage, what is possible?”

Tying these together: I think there doesn’t have to be a difference between a subproject and an action depending on a prior action. One is explicitly created from the Project View, and the other is implicitly promoted from a Next Action. Both can be completed, both add structure to the project, and both expose a new context for future actions.

User Interface:

The “Show from” field becomes “Starting:” and is allowed to contain either a date or a precondition Next Action. Typing in the field will auto-fill with the names of current actions in the project.

The list of projects on the right-hand side will have nested subprojects (either always visible, or only for the currently active project; possibly the current project would be listed in a “Current Project” section above “Active Projects"). Viewing a subproject brings up a context list page, displaying the next actions in the subproject. Because subprojects can be completed, they have a checkbox next to their title at the top. The master list of projects on the right-hand side could change the colour of the subproject depending on whether it is complete.

The subproject appears in the Project Page and its Context with an icon to show the count of dependent items (possibly like the red count of actions on the upper-left corner of any page).

When a subproject is incomplete, its Next Actions are listed on the project page as Deferred with their precondition instead of the days-to-defer.

Completing a subproject exposes all of its Next Actions in the appropriate context and on the Project’s list of actions. The subproject moves to the Completed Actions. It is still listed in the subprojects list on the right-hand side, and it can still be linked as a context.

Sharing projects between users?

2006-07-20T15:48:03+00:00

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this - I couldn’t find a “feature request” forum.

I’m mainly interested in Tracks because of its multi-user features, but reading the documentation it seems as if each user install is completely separate from the other. What I would like to see, however, is the ability to share individual projects between users. So, for instance, if I create a new project which involves a group, each person I invite would see that project in their list as well. Anyone invited to the project could make any changes they want to that project.

The only problem I see with this is that each person might have different “contexts” set up. So here’s my suggestion - don’t share the contexts. The contexts for a shared project show up by default as a context called “shared” for all users, but they have the option to assign contexts that are meaningful to them if they like. Presumably, people would only need to do this for next actions which they are responsible for. So, if there is a project to “make a movie” and I am the producer - than I could add the “call Hollywood studio” next action to my “phone calls” context - but leave the “Hire Actors” and “find Location” actions under the “Shared” context.

It would also be nice to see options to invite new members if they are not already signed up.

Tracks looks great - I even installed Ruby on my iBook just to give it a try. Now I’m going to look into running it on my host.

Thank you for Tracks

2008-05-17T16:56:00+00:00

Just a quick word to BSAG and all of the contributes to say Thank You for the awesome app that is Tracks. I’ve searched high and low for a simple todo list app and, other than OmniFocus which is too expensive for me, none of them are half as good as Tracks, plus Tracks has the added benefit of being multi-user so I might be able to get my wife to start using too I’m hoping I’ll be able to contribute a little bit too, if there are enough hours in the day. Thanks again.

HOWTO: Install Tracks on Ubuntu or Debian

2006-12-29T14:34:11+00:00

I’ve written a HOWTO on this topic on my blog, I think some of you may find it useful and even would like to add it to the wiki.

The url to this howto is: http://www.cooldown.com.ar/2006/12/16/install-tracks-on-ubuntu-or-debian/

any comments please leave it there or here. I prefer there though.

Best Regards,
c00i90wn