Installing and Maintaining Content On UW Home Page Servers

Last updated: June 25, 2019

Preparing to Make Your Pages Available to the Public

Before your pages are made available to the public, you should:

  • Check to make sure all your links work. You may want to use link checking software such as Xenu Link Checker.
  • Have some of your users test your pages to ensure functionality and usability.
  • Gain approval from your department or director.

 

Installing the Pages into the Production or “Public” Directories

To allow public viewing of your pages, they must be installed by using the wwwuinst command. Note that you cannot directly edit any files in the production directories, rather you edit files in wwwudev, then install them into production. This system insures that all documents that are accessible to the public are in fact ready for use. Note also that to use the wwwuinst command you must be on a list of allowed users. When your account is created, and you are given permission to “push”, your account name will be added to this list. You will only be able to install the files in your own directories. For further information about account permissions, send mail to www-mgmt@cac.washington.edu

The wwwuinst command copies your files from the development area into the production area. Below is a description of three ways you can use wwwuinst:

Installing your documents
The simplest way to install your documents is to give the wwwuinst command followed by the location of your group’s directory. A list of all files which are to be installed, updated, or removed will be displayed. The actual installation occurs during the night. Be sure to clean out your directory and remove unwanted files before you install.

Syntax:
wwwuinst directorylocation/groupname
or
wwwuinst directorylocation/groupname/path/filenameExamples:
wwwuinst world/recreation
wwwuinst world/recreation/index.html

Installing your documents immediately (pushing)
If you wish to force changes to appear immediately, use the -push option in the command. WARNING: If you have more than one person working on your documents, coordinate when pushes are done to avoid pushing unfinished documents into production. It is a good practice to designate one person as the “pusher.”

Syntax:
wwwuinst -push directorylocation/groupname or
wwwuinst -push directorylocation/groupname/path/filename

Examples:
wwwuinst -push world/recreation
wwwuinst -push world/recreation/index.html

Showing what files will be installed
You can use the -show option to see what files would be installed, without actually installing them.

Syntax:
wwwuinst -show directorylocation/groupname

Example:
wwwuinst -show world/recreation

 

More Information

More information is available about the wwwinst tools on the Webinfo pages.