Hacker news

The flask application was configured using nginx and gunicorn and uses an SQLite database. The hackerNews application aims at delivering the latest hackernews on an hourly basis. The home route "/" displays a paginated view in descending order (by time) of these news items, which can be liked and disliked by users that are logged in. The login "/login", logout "/logout", and callback "/callback" routes are handled by auth0 to allow users to create and access their accounts (linked to Google). The admin "/admin" route allows non-admin users and add and delete admins. The profile "/account" route allows users to view their profile information. The newsfeed "/newsfeed" route displays the latest news items in descending order (by time).

Please visit https://www.aplacetostorehackernews.online/ for a running instance of the webiste.

(stored at https://gitlab.com/cop45216045641/hackerNews)

Table of Contents:

1. project description
2. demonstration video
3. file structure
4. installation and configuration
5. testing (pylint and pytest/coverage)
6. closing notes

Demonstration Video:

File Structure:

hackerNews/
│
├── __pycache__/
│ └── ...
├── hackernews/
│ ├── __pycache__/
│ │ └── ...
│ ├── static/
│ │ ├── cat.gif
│ │ ├── clock.gif
│ │ ├── logo.png
│ │ ├── main.css
│ │ ├── red_thumbs_down.png
│ │ ├── red_thumbs_up.png
│ │ ├── thumbs_down.png
│ │ └── thumbs_up.png
│ ├── templates/
│ │ ├── account.html
│ │ ├── admin.html
│ │ ├── home.html
│ │ ├── layout.html
│ │ ├── newsfeed.html
│ │ └── ...
│ ├── __init__.py
│ ├── models.py
│ ├── routes.py
│ ├── test_models.py
│ ├── test_routes.py
│ └── ...
├── instance/
│ └── ...
├── venv/
│ ├── bin
│ │ ├── activate
│ │ └── ...
│ └── ...
├── README.md
├── report.txt
├── run.py
├── unit_test_pipeline.sh
└── ...

Installation and Configurations:

NOTE: for Mac or Windows, please use 
the equivalent commands for your system
Cloning the Repository:
-----------------------
make sure you are up to date:
sudo apt update -y
install git:
------------
    sudo apt-add-repository ppa:git-core/ppa
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install git
configure git:
--------------
    git config --global user.email "your_email_address@example.com"
    git config --global user.name "your_username"
clone the repository:
---------------------
    git clone https://gitlab.com/cop45216045641/hackerNews.git
change directories:
-------------------
    cd hackerNews
install the latest python3 version:
-----------------------------------
    sudo apt install python3
install nginx and gunicorn dependencies:
----------------------------------------
    sudo apt install python3-pip 
    sudo apt install python3-dev 
    sudo apt install build-essential 
    sudo apt install libssl-dev 
    sudo apt install libffi-dev 
    sudo apt install python3-setuptools
make a virtual environment:
---------------------------
    sudo apt install python3-venv
    python3 -m venv venv
activate the virtual environment:
---------------------------------
    source venv/bin/activate
install project dependencies:
-----------------------------
    pip install -r requirements.txt

    OR

    pip install attrs==23.1.0
    pip install Authlib==1.2.1
    pip install blinker==1.6.3
    pip install certifi==2023.7.22
    pip install cffi==1.16.0
    pip install charset-normalizer==3.3.0
    pip install click==8.1.7
    pip install coverage==7.3.2
    pip install cryptography==41.0.4
    pip install dill==0.3.7
    pip install exceptiongroup==1.1.3
    pip install Flask==3.0.0
    pip install Flask-SQLAlchemy==3.1.1
    pip install greenlet==3.0.0
    pip install gunicorn==21.2.0
    pip install idna==3.4
    pip install importlib-metadata==6.8.0
    pip install iniconfig==2.0.0
    pip install isort==5.12.0
    pip install itsdangerous==2.1.2
    pip install jaraco.classes==3.3.0
    pip install jeepney==0.8.0
    pip install Jinja2==3.1.2
    pip install jsonschema==4.19.1
    pip install jsonschema-specifications==2023.7.1
    pip install keyring==24.2.0
    pip install MarkupSafe==2.1.3
    pip install mccabe==0.7.0
    pip install more-itertools==10.1.0
    pip install numpy==1.26.1
    pip install packaging==23.2
    pip install platformdirs==3.11.0
    pip install pluggy==1.3.0
    pip install pycparser==2.21
    pip install pylint==3.0.2
    pip install pytest==7.4.3
    pip install python-dotenv==1.0.0
    pip install pytz==2023.3.post1
    pip install referencing==0.30.2
    pip install requests==2.31.0
    pip install rpds-py==0.10.6
    pip install SecretStorage==3.3.3
    pip install SQLAlchemy==2.0.22
    pip install tomli==2.0.1
    pip install tomlkit==0.12.1
    pip install typing_extensions==4.8.0
    pip install urllib3==2.0.6
    pip install Werkzeug==3.0.0
    pip install zipp==3.17.0
install virtual environment gunicorn and nginx dependencies:
------------------------------------------------------------
    pip install wheel
    pip install gunicorn flask
deactivate your virtual environment:
------------------------------------
    deactivate  
allow ports for HTTPS/Nginx:
----------------------------
    sudo ufw allow 'Nginx HTTPS'
create a server for the application:
------------------------------------
    sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/hackerNews.service
    add the following lines (remplace user_name with your user name):
        [Unit]
        Description=Gunicorn instance to serve hackerNews
        After=network.target

        [Service]
        User=user_name
        Group=www-data
        WorkingDirectory=/home/user_name/hackerNews
        Environment="PATH=/home/user_name/hackerNews/venv/bin"
        ExecStart=/home/user_name/hackerNews/venv/bin/gunicorn --workers 3 --bind unix:hackerNews.sock -m 007 wsgi:app

        [Install]
        WantedBy=multi-user.target
start the service and test that it is running:
----------------------------------------------
    sudo systemctl start hackerNews
    sudo systemctl enable hackerNews
    sudo systemctl status hackerNews
generate SSL certificate using certbot(replace domain_name with your 
domain name and domain_prefix with your domain prefix, exclude https://):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
    sudo apt install python3-certbot-nginx
    sudo certbot --nginx -d domain_name -d domain_prefix.domain_name
configure nginx:
----------------
    sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/hackerNews
    add the following lines (replace domain_name with your domain name 
    and domain_prefix with your domain prefix, exclude https://):
    -------------------------------------------------------------
    NOTE: lines 198-202, 246-253 should be generated by certbot
        server {
            server_name domain_prefix.domain_name;
            
            listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
            ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain_prefix.domain_name/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
            ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain_prefix.domain_name/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
            include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
            ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot

            add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubdomains; preload" always;
            add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
            add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
            add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";

                location / {
                        include proxy_params;
                        proxy_pass http://unix:/home/lauraallobe/hackerNews/hackerNews.sock;
                }

                location /newsfeed {
                        include proxy_params;
                        proxy_pass http://unix:/home/lauraallobe/hackerNews/hackerNews.sock;
                }

                location /execute_fetch {
                        include proxy_params;
                        proxy_pass http://unix:/home/lauraallobe/hackerNews/hackerNews.sock;
                }

                location /account {
                        include proxy_params;
                        proxy_pass http://unix:/home/lauraallobe/hackerNews/hackerNews.sock;
                }

            location /admin {
                include proxy_params;
                        proxy_pass http://unix:/home/lauraallobe/hackerNews/hackerNews.sock;
            }

            location /admin/delete {
                include proxy_params;
                        proxy_pass http://unix:/home/lauraallobe/hackerNews/hackerNews.sock;
            }

            location /admin/add {
                include proxy_params;
                        proxy_pass http://unix:/home/lauraallobe/hackerNews/hackerNews.sock;
            }

        }
        server {
            if ($host = domain_prefix.domain_name) {
                return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
            } # managed by Certbot


            listen 80;
            server_name domain_prefix.domain_name;
            return 404; # managed by Certbot


        }
link the file and test for syntax errors:
-----------------------------------------
    sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/hackerNews /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
    sudo nginx -t
    sudo systemctl restart nginx
allow permissions for nginx(remplace user_name with your user name):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
    sudo chmod 755 /home/user_name
run your server(replace domain_name with your domain name):
-----------------------------------------------------------
    https://domain_name

Testing:

change to project directory:
----------------------------
    cd hackerNews
run pylint:
-----------
    pylint run.py hackernews/models.py hackernews/routes.py hackernews/__init__.py hackernews/test_models.py hackernews/test_routes.py
run pytest using coverage:
--------------------------
    coverage run --source=. -m pytest test_models.py test_routes.py
    coverage report

Closing Notes:

after changing nginx, run the following:
---------------------------------------
    sudo systemctl restart nginx
after changing the hackerNews application, run the following:
------------------------------------------------------------
    sudo systemctl restart hackerNews