How to Install OpenOLAT on macOS

OpenOLAT is a web-based learning management system that can be used for teaching, learning, and training. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install OpenOLAT on macOS.

Prerequisites

Before installing OpenOLAT, you will need to have the following software installed on your macOS:

• Java Development Kit (JDK) 11 or higher
• Apache Tomcat 9
• PostgreSQL

Step 1: Download OpenOLAT

1. Go to the OpenOLAT website: https://www.openolat.com/?lang=en
2. Click on the "Download" button.
3. Select the latest version of OpenOLAT.
4. Download the OpenOLAT distribution package.

Step 2: Install Apache Tomcat

1. Download Apache Tomcat 9 from the official website: https://tomcat.apache.org/download-90.cgi
2. Extract the downloaded package to a suitable location, for example, /opt/tomcat.
3. Set the CATALINA_HOME environment variable to the path to your Apache Tomcat installation directory. You can do this by adding the following line to your ~/.bash_profile file: export CATALINA_HOME=/opt/tomcat

Step 3: Install PostgreSQL

1. Download and install PostgreSQL using the graphical installer from the official PostgreSQL website: https://www.postgresql.org/download/macosx/
2. Create a new database user for OpenOLAT with a password and create a new database named "olat".

Step 4: Deploy OpenOLAT to Apache Tomcat

1. Extract the OpenOLAT distribution package to a suitable location, for example, /opt/olat.
2. Copy the contents of the /opt/olat/build/tomcat/ directory to your Apache Tomcat's webapps directory. You can do this by running the following command from the /opt/olat/build/tomcat/ directory: cp -r olat $CATALINA_HOME/webapps/.
3. Open the file /opt/olat/build/tomcat/conf/Catalina/localhost/olat.xml in a text editor and configure the following properties:

<Context docBase="/opt/tomcat/webapps/olat" path="/olat" reloadable="true">
    <!-- PostgreSQL settings -->
    <Environment name="olat/db/url" value="jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/olat" type="java.lang.String" override="false"/>
    <Environment name="olat/db/user" value="olat" type="java.lang.String" override="false"/>
    <Environment name="olat/db/password" value="password" type="java.lang.String" override="false"/>

    <!-- OpenOLAT settings -->
    <Environment name="OLAT_HOME" value="/opt/olat/var" type="java.lang.String" override="false"/>
    <Environment name="OLAT_CONFIG_FILE" value="/opt/olat/conf/olat.properties" type="java.lang.String" override="false"/>
    <Environment name="OLAT_CONFIG_DIR" value="/opt/olat/conf" type="java.lang.String" override="false"/>
</Context>

Replace "password" in the above configuration with the password you created for the "olat" database user.

Step 5: Start Apache Tomcat

1. Start Apache Tomcat by running the following command: $CATALINA_HOME/bin/startup.sh
2. Open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080/olat/
3. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed OpenOLAT on your macOS.

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