2014-10-21-how-to-install-the-codebox-ide.md

layout	title	categories	author	lang
post	How to install the Codebox IDE on Ubuntu 14.04	Instances	DrOfAwesomeness	en

The Codebox IDE is the open-source component of the Codebox Cloud IDE service. It provides developers with a cloud-based development code editor, terminal, and file manager. This tutorial will show you how to set up the Codebox IDE on Ubuntu 14.04.

##1. Set up Node.js The Codebox IDE is written in Node.js, so we'll need to install the Node.js runtime. The version of Node.js in the Ubuntu repositories is outdated, so we'll be using the Nodesource repository to install Node.js. Note that we're also installing the build-essential and git packages, as they are Codebox IDE dependencies.

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup | sudo bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs build-essential git

2. Install and run the Codebox IDE

Now that we have Node.js, it's time to install and run the Codebox IDE. First, we need to install the codebox package with npm:

sudo npm install -g codebox

Next, since it's not a good idea to run the IDE as the admin or root user (IDE users have terminal access), we'll add a user for it:

sudo adduser --disabled-password --gecos "Codebox IDE" codebox

Finally, we'll set up our workspace and run the Codebox IDE:

sudo -u codebox -i
mkdir -p Workspace/your_project_name # or git clone <url> Workspace/your_project_name
git init Workspace/your_project_name # skip this if you cloned from a git repository in the last command
codebox run Workspace/your_project_name

Your IDE is now available at http://your-instance-ip:8000. If you are using the default RunAbove firewall settings, you'll need to allow traffic on port 8000.

From OpenStack Horizon, click on "Access & Security", and add a rule to the default security group allowing ingress traffic to port 8000. Note that your instance is currently open to the public. If you want to password-protect your IDE, you can specify usernames and passwords as shown below.

# Run this as the codebox user
codebox run Workspace/your_project_name -u user1:passwd1,user2:passwd2

SECURITY NOTE: The Codebox IDE currently does not provide a way to hash passwords or hide them from the output of ps ux. Because of this, you should use a unique, secure password to access the IDE. Additionally, if you are using the Codebox IDE in a multi-user environment, you may want to avoid the internal user system altogether and set up an authenticating reverse proxy.

If you don't want to leave your SSH window open the whole time the Codebox IDE is running, you can run it in the background using nohup:

# Run this as the codebox user
nohup codebox run Workspace/your_project_name -u user1:passwd1,user2:passwd2 &

Congratulations! You have now installed and configured the Codebox IDE. If you want to learn more about configuring and using the Codebox IDE, be sure to check out the articles under the "Codebox IDE" section of the Codebox Help Site.