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https://github.com/dsnopek/anki-sync-server

A personal Anki sync server (so you can sync against your own server rather than AnkiWeb)
https://github.com/dsnopek/anki-sync-server

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A personal Anki sync server (so you can sync against your own server rather than AnkiWeb)

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README 

        
Anki Server

===========



**NOTE: Maintenance of this project has moved to a** `new GitHub project `_.



`Anki `_ is a powerful Open Source flashcard

application, which helps you quickly and easily memorize facts over

the long term utilizing a spaced repetition algorithm.



Anki's main form is a desktop application (for Windows, Linux and

MacOS) which can sync to a web version (AnkiWeb) and mobile versions

for Android and iOS.



This is a personal Anki Server, which you can sync against instead of

AnkiWeb.



It also includes a RESTful API, so that you could implement your

own AnkiWeb-like site if you wanted.



It was originally developed to support the flashcard functionality on

`Bibliobird `_, a web application for

language learning.



Installing the easy way!

------------------------



If you have ``easy_install`` or ``pip`` on your system, you can

simply run::



   $ easy_install AnkiServer



Or using ``pip``::



   $ pip install AnkiServer



This will give you the latest released version!



However, if you want to try the latest bleeding edge version OR you

want to help with development, you'll need to install from source.

In that case, follow the instructions in the next two sections.



Setting up a virtualenv

-----------------------



If you want to install your Anki Server in an isolated Python

environment using

`virtualenv `_, please

follow these instructions before going on to the next section. If

not, just skip to the "Installing" section below.



There are many reasons for installing into a virtualenv, rather

than globally on your system:



-  You can keep the Anki Server's dependencies seperate from other

   Python applications.



-  You don't have permission to install globally on your system

   (like on a shared host).



Here are step-by-step instruction for setting up your virtualenv:



1. First, you need to install "virtualenv". If your system has

   ``easy_install`` or ``pip``, this is just a matter of::



     $ easy_install virtualenv



   Or using pip::



     $ pip install virtualenv



   Or you can use your the package manager provided by your OS.



2. Next, create your a Python environment for running AnkiServer::



     $ virtualenv AnkiServer.env



3. (Optional) Enter the virtualenv to save you on typing::



     $ . AnkiServer.env/bin/activate



If you skip step 3, you'll have to type

``AnkiServer.env/bin/python`` instead of ``python`` and

``AnkiServer.env/bin/paster`` instead of ``paster`` in the following

sections.



Also, remember that the environment change in step 3 only lasts as

long as your current terminal session. You'll have to re-enter the

environment if you enter that terminal and come back later.



Installing your Anki Server from source

---------------------------------------



1. Install all the dependencies we need using ``easy_install`` or

   ``pip``::



     $ easy_install webob PasteDeploy PasteScript sqlalchemy simplejson



   Or using pip::



     $ pip install webob PasteDeploy PasteScript sqlalchemy simplejson



   Or you can use your the package manager provided by your OS.



2. Download and install libanki. You can find the latest release of

   Anki here:



   http://code.google.com/p/anki/downloads/list



   Look for a \*.tgz file with a Summary of "Anki Source". At the time

   of this writing that is anki-2.0.11.tgz.



   Download this file and extract.



   Then either:



   a. Run the 'make install', or



   b. Copy the entire directory to /usr/share/anki



3. Make the egg info files (so paster can see our app)::



     $ python setup.py egg_info



Configuring and running your Anki Server

----------------------------------------



1. Copy the example.ini to production.ini in your current directory

   and edit for your needs.



   a. If you installed from source, it'll be at the top-level.



   b. If you installed via 'easy_install' or 'pip', you'll find all

      the example configuration at

      ``python_prefix/lib/python2.X/site-packages/AnkiServer-2.X.X-py2.X.egg/examples``

      (replacing ``python_prefix`` with the root of your Python and

      all the ``X`` with the correct versions). For example, it could

      be::



        /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/AnkiServer-2.0.0a6-py2.7.egg/examples/example.ini



3. Create user::



   $ ./ankiserverctl.py adduser 



4. Test the server by starting it debug mode::



   $ ./ankiserverctl.py debug

   

   If the output looks good, you can stop the server by pressing Ctrl-C and start it again in normal mode::



   $ ./ankiserverctl.py start



   To stop AnkiServer, run::



   $ ./ankiserverctl.py stop



Point the Anki desktop program at it

------------------------------------



Unfortunately, there isn't currently any user interface in the Anki

destop program to point it at your personal sync server instead of

AnkiWeb, so you'll have to write a short "addon".



Create a file like this in your Anki/addons folder called

"mysyncserver.py"::



  import anki.sync

  anki.sync.SYNC_BASE = 'http://127.0.0.1:27701/'

  anki.sync.SYNC_MEDIA_BASE = 'http://127.0.0.1:27701/msync/'



Be sure to change the SYNC_URL to point at your sync server. The

address ``127.0.0.1`` refers to the local computer.



If you are using TLS, add these lines to the configuration to verify

the certificate against a custom certificate chain::



  # Path to the certificate chain file, relative to the Anki/addons directory

  CERTPATH = 'server.pem'

  

  # Override TLS certificate path

  httpCon_anki = anki.sync.httpCon

  def httpCon_patch():

      import os.path

      conn = httpCon_anki()

  	conn.ca_certs = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), CERTPATH)

  	return conn

  anki.sync.httpCon = httpCon_patch



The certificate chain must include all intermediate certificates and the

root certificate. For the popular free

`Let's encrypt `_ CA, a sample certificate chain

can be found

`here `_.



Unfortunately ``python-httplib2`` (used by Anki's sync client for issuing HTTP

requests) does not support `SNI `_

for telling the web server during the TLS handshake which certificate to use.

This will result in certificate validation errors if your Anki Server instance

runs behind a web server that serves multiple domains using different

certificates. This has `been fixed `_

in the ``python-httplib2`` source code and will be part of the upcoming

``0.9.3`` release. In the likely event that you are not using the latest version

yet you will have to install the latest release from source using::



  sudo pip install -e git+https://github.com/httplib2/httplib2.git#egg=httplib2



Alternatively you can try adding these lines, to disable certificate validation

entirely::



  # Override TLS certificate path

  httpCon_anki = anki.sync.httpCon

  def httpCon_patch():

  	conn = httpCon_anki()

  	conn.disable_ssl_certificate_validation = True

  	return conn

  anki.sync.httpCon = httpCon_patch



Restart Anki for your plugin to take effect. Now, everytime you sync,

it will be to your personal sync server rather than AnkiWeb.



However, if you just want to switch temporarily, rather than creating

an addon, you can set the ``SYNC_URL`` environment variable when

running from the command-line (on Linux)::



  export SYNC_URL=http://127.0.0.1:27701/sync/

  ./runanki &



Point the mobile apps at it

---------------------------



As of AnkiDroid 2.6 the sync server can be changed in the settings:



1. Open the *Settings* screen from the menu

2. In the *Advanced* section, tap on *Custom sync server*

3. Check the *Use custom sync server* box

4. Change the *Sync URL* and *Media sync URL* to the values described above

5. The next sync should use the new sync server (if your previous username

   or password does not match AnkiDroid will ask you to log in again)



At the moment, there isn't any way to get the Anki iOS app to point at

your personal sync server. 😕



Running with Supervisor

-----------------------



If you want to run your Anki server persistantly on a Linux (or

other UNIX-y) server, `Supervisor `_ is a

great tool to monitor and manage it. It will allow you to start it

when your server boots, restart it if it crashes and easily access

it's logs.



1. Install Supervisor on your system. If it's Debian or Ubuntu this

   will work::



     $ sudo apt-get install supervisor



   If you're using a different OS, please try

   `these instructions `_.



2. Copy ``supervisor-anki-server.conf`` to ``/etc/supervisor/conf.d/anki-server.conf``::



     $ sudo cp supervisor-anki-server.conf /etc/supervisor/conf.d/anki-server.conf



3. Modify ``/etc/supervisor/conf.d/anki-server.conf`` to match your

   system and how you setup your Anki Server in the section above.



4. Reload Supervisor's configuration::



     $ sudo supervisorctl reload



5. Check the logs from the Anki Server to make sure everything is

   fine::



     $ sudo supervisorctl tail anki-server



   If it's empty - then everything's fine! Otherwise, you'll see an

   error message.



Later if you manually want to stop, start or restart it, you can

use::



   $ sudo supervisorctl stop anki-server



   $ sudo supervisorctl start anki-server



   $ sudo supervisorctl restart anki-server



See the `Supervisor documentation `_ for

more info!



Using with Apache

-----------------



If you're already serving your website via Apache (on port 80) and

want to also allow users to sync against a URL on port 80, you can

forward requests from Apache to the Anki server.



On Bibliobird.com, I have a special anki.bibliobird.com virtual host

which users can synch against. Here is an excerpt from my Apache

conf::



    

        ServerAdmin [email protected]

        ServerName anki.bibliobird.com



        # The Anki server handles gzip itself!

        SetEnv no-gzip 1



        

            ProxyPass http://localhost:27701/

            ProxyPassReverse http://localhost:27701/

        

    



It may also be possible to use `mod_wsgi

`_, however, I have no experience

with that.



Using with nginx

----------------



If you happen to use nginx, you can use the following configuration to

proxy requests from nginx to your Anki Server::



    server {

        # Allow access via HTTP

        listen 80;

        listen [::]:80;

        

        # Allow access via HTTPS

        listen 443 ssl spdy;

        listen [::]:443 ssl spdy;

        

        # Set server names for access

        server_name anki.server.name;

        

        # Set TLS certificates to use for HTTPS access

        ssl_certificate     /path/to/fullchain.pem;

        ssl_certificate_key /path/to/privkey.pem;

        

        location / {

            # Prevent nginx from rejecting larger media files

            client_max_body_size 0;

            

            proxy_pass http://anki:27701;

            include proxy_params;

        }

    }



AnkiDroid will not verify the TLS certificate, Anki Desktop will by

default reject all but AnkiWeb's certificate, see the

`Anki addon section <#point-the-anki-desktop-program-at-it>`_ for

how to change this.



How to get help

---------------



If you're having any problems installing or using Anki Server, please

create an issue on GitHub (or find an existing issue about your problem):



https://github.com/dsnopek/anki-sync-server/issues



Be sure to let us know which operating system and version you're using

and how you intend to use the Anki Server!