First you need to enable ssh access to your bluehost account. Sign in to their control panel, enter Security > SSH/Shell Access and click Manage SSH Access button. Select SSH Access enabled and submit. Now connect via ssh to your bluehost account.
Python
Download, extract and install python 2.7 in your home directory:
mkdir python27
wget http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.2/Python-2.7.2.tgz
tar xzvf Python-2.7.2.tgz
cd Python-2.7.2
./configure -prefix=/homeX/your_username/python27 --enable-unicode=ucs4
make
make install
Rename the python binary (to avoid overriding current system python version - if you're not using default bluehost python for anything else you can skip this step):
mv ~/python27/bin/python ~/python27/bin/python27Add new python directory with binaries to your PATH environment variable. To do this edit .bashrc file in your HOME directory, for example with vim:
vim ~/.bashrcand add the line at the end of the .bashrc file:
PATH=/homeX/your_username/python27/bin:$PATHload the new settings:
source .bashrc
and then test it:
python27You should see something similar to:
Python 2.7.2 (default, Apr 11 2012, 01:29:09)
[GCC 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-52)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>
New python is available for you. Remember to use command python27 instead of python from now on.
Pip
We're going to use pip here - easy to use python package manager. It requires setuptools before it can be installed:
wget http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/s/setuptools/setuptools-0.6c11.tar.gz
tar xzvf setuptools-0.6c11.tar.gz
cd setuptools-0.6c11
python27 setup.py install
cd
wget http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/pip/pip-1.1.tar.gz
tar xzvf pip-1.1.tar.gz
cd pip-1.1
python27 setup.py install
Now thanks to our earlier PATH settings pip is available from command line.
Django installation
With pip you can install latest stable Django (in my case 1.4) simply by entering:
pip install Django
Wait for download and installation process to complete. After that django is installed and command django-admin.py available. You will also probably need python driver for mysql database. Install it with pip:
If you're going to use PosgreSQL install psycopg2 library:
pip install psycopg2
pip install MySQL-pythonIf you're going to use PosgreSQL install psycopg2 library:
pip install psycopg2
Django configuration
Create django project:
django-admin.py startproject myprojectDecide what url should be used to access your django app. In my case it will be subdirectory:
http://somedomain.com/myproject
Prepare directory in bluehost public_html:
mkdir public_html/myprojectcd public_html/myproject
In this directory create fastcgi file (for example: mysite.fcgi) with content:
#!/homeX/your_username/python27/bin/python27
import sys, os
# Add a custom Python path.
sys.path.insert(0, "/homeX/your_username/python27")
sys.path.insert(13, "/homeX/your_username/myproject")
os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'myproject.settings'from django.core.servers.fastcgi import runfastcgirunfastcgi(method="threaded", daemonize="false")Remember to change /homeX/your_username to your home directory path on bluehost. Change myproject.settings to correct project name. The first line contains path to your custom python binary.
Django fastcgi requires flup so install it with pip:
pip install flupAlso change file permissions to mysite.fcgi:
chmod 0755 mysite.fcgiNow create .htaccess file in the public_html/myproject directory with content:
AddHandler fcgid-script .fcgi
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ mysite.fcgi/$1 [QSA,L]
That's all. You should see your django start page on: http://somedomain.com/myproject. You can start coding some real stuff in django now. Remember to install every python and django packages using pip - that way they will be available to your django app. Also keep in mind that every django commands like syncdb, collectstatic etc. should be run using python27 for example:
python27 manage.py syncdb
***
Helpful materials, that I consulted during this installation and writing of this post:
Install Python 2.7 on BlueHost | Simply Me
2011 Installation Instructions for Django on Bluehost »
