Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/kohler/hotcrp

HotCRP conference review software
https://github.com/kohler/hotcrp

Last synced: 1 day ago
JSON representation

HotCRP conference review software

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
HotCRP Conference Review Software [![Build Status](https://github.com/kohler/hotcrp/actions/workflows/tests.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/kohler/hotcrp/actions/workflows/tests.yml)

=================================



HotCRP is awesome software for managing review processes, especially for

academic conferences. It supports paper submission, review and comment

management, rebuttals, and the PC meeting. Its main strengths are flexibility

and ease of use in the review process, especially through smart paper search

and tagging. It has been widely used in computer science conferences and for

internal review processes at several large companies.



HotCRP is the open-source version of the software running on

[hotcrp.com](https://hotcrp.com). If you want to run HotCRP without setting

up your own server, use hotcrp.com.



Getting help

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



Extensive online help has more on configuring and using HotCRP. See also:



* [The HotCRP development manual](./devel/manual/index.md) to learn about

  advanced configuration, software internals, and developing extensions.

* [The OpenAPI specification](./devel/openapi.json) for API information.



Prerequisites

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



HotCRP runs on Unix, including Mac OS X. It requires the following

software:



* Nginx, https://nginx.org/ \

  (Or [Apache](https://httpd.apache.org), or another web server that works with PHP)

* PHP version 7.2 or higher, http://php.net/

  - Including MySQL support, php-fpm, and php-intl

* MariaDB, https://mariadb.org/

* Poppler’s version of pdftohtml, https://poppler.freedesktop.org/ (only

  required for format checking)



You may need to install additional packages, such as php73, php73-fpm,

php73-intl, php73-mysqlnd, zip, poppler-utils, and sendmail or postfix.



Installation

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



1. Run `lib/createdb.sh` to create the database. Use `lib/createdb.sh OPTIONS`

   to pass options to MariaDB, such as `--user` and `--password`. Many MariaDB

   installations require privilege to create tables, so you may need `sudo

   lib/createdb.sh OPTIONS`. Run `lib/createdb.sh --help` for more

   information. You will need to decide on a name for your database (no spaces

   allowed).



   The username and password information for the conference database is stored

   in `conf/options.php`. You must ensure that your PHP can read this file; it

   is marked as world-unreadable by default.



   If you don’t want to run `lib/createdb.sh`, you will have to create your

   own database and user, initialize the database with the contents of

   `src/schema.sql`, and create `conf/options.php` (using

   `etc/distoptions.php` as a guide).



2. Edit `conf/options.php`, which is annotated to guide you.



3. Configure your web server so that all accesses to the HotCRP site are

   handled by HotCRP’s `index.php` script. The right way to do this depends on

   your choice of server. We recommend using `php-fpm` with Nginx, but Apache

   also works. In the following examples, `SITE/testconf` is configured for a

   HotCRP installation in `/home/kohler/hotcrp`.



   **Nginx**: Configure Nginx to redirect accesses to `php-fpm` and the HotCRP

   `index.php` script. This example code would go in a `server` block, and

   assumes that `php-fpm` is listening on port 9000:



   ```

   location /testconf/ {

       fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;

       fastcgi_split_path_info ^(/testconf)(/[\s\S]*)$;

       fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /home/kohler/hotcrp/index.php;

       include fastcgi_params;

   }

   ```



   **Apache with mod_proxy and `php-fpm`**: Add a `ProxyPass`.



   ```

   ProxyPass "/testconf" "fcgi://localhost:9000/home/kohler/hotcrp/index.php"

   ```



   (If your site path is `"/"`, you will need something like `ProxyPass "/"

   "fcgi://localhost:9000/home/kohler/hotcrp/index.php/"`—note the trailing

   slash.)



   **Apache with mod_php _(not recommended)_**: Add a `ScriptAlias` for the

   HotCRP `index.php` script and a `` for the installation.



   ```

   ScriptAlias "/testconf" "/home/kohler/hotcrp/index.php"

   

     Options None

     AllowOverride none

     Require all denied

     

       Require all granted

     

   

   ```



   **General notes**: Everything under the site path (here, `/testconf`)

   should be served by HotCRP. This normally happens automatically, but if the

   site path is `/`, you may need to turn off your server’s default handlers

   for subdirectories such as `/doc`.



   The `images`, `scripts`, and `stylesheets` subdirectories contain static

   files that any user may access. It is safe to configure your server to

   serve those directories directly, without involving PHP.



4. Update PHP settings.



    The first three settings, `upload_max_filesize`, `post_max_size`, and

`max_input_vars`, may be changed system-wide or in HotCRP’s `.htaccess` and

`.user.ini` files.



  * `upload_max_filesize`: Set to the largest file upload HotCRP should accept.

    `15M` is a good default.



  * `post_max_size`: Set to the largest total upload HotCRP should accept. Must

    be at least as big as `upload_max_filesize`. `20M` is a good default.



  * `max_input_vars`: Set to the largest number of distinct input variables

    HotCRP should accept. `4096` is a good default.



    The last setting, `session.gc_maxlifetime`, must be changed globally. This

provides an upper bound on HotCRP session lifetimes (the amount of idle time

before a user is logged out automatically). On Unix machines, systemwide PHP

settings are often stored in `/etc/php.ini`. The suggested value for this

setting is 86400, e.g., 24 hours:



        session.gc_maxlifetime = 86400



    If you want sessions to expire sooner, we recommend you set

`session.gc_maxlifetime` to 86400 anyway, then edit `conf/options.php`

to set `$Opt["sessionLifetime"]` to the correct session timeout.



5. Edit MariaDB’s my.cnf (typical locations: `/etc/mariadb/my.cnf` or

`/etc/mariadb/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf`) to ensure that MySQL can handle

paper-sized objects.  It should contain something like this:



        [mysqld]

        max_allowed_packet=32M



    max_allowed_packet must be at least as large as the largest paper you are

willing to accept. It defaults to 1M on some systems, which is not nearly

large enough. HotCRP will warn you if it is too small. Some MariaDB or MySQL

setups, such as on Mac OS X, may not have a my.cnf by default; just create

one. If you edit my.cnf, also restart the database server.



6. Enable a mail transport agent, such as Postfix or Sendmail. You may need

help from an administrator to ensure HotCRP can send mail.



7. Sign in to the site to create an account. The first account created

automatically receives system administrator privilege.



You can set up everything else through the web site itself.



* Configuration notes



  - Uploaded papers and reviews are limited in size by several PHP

    configuration variables, set by default to 15 megabytes in the HotCRP

    directory’s `.user.ini` (or `.htaccess` if using Apache).



  - HotCRP PHP scripts can take a lot of memory. By default HotCRP sets the

    PHP memory limit to 128MB.



  - Most HotCRP settings are assigned in the conference database’s

    Settings table. The Settings table can also override values in

    `conf/options.php`: a Settings record with name `opt.XXX` takes

    precedence over option `$Opt["XXX"]`.



Database access

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



Run `php batch/backupdb.php` at the shell prompt to back up the database.

This will write the database’s current structure and comments to the

standard output. As typically configured, HotCRP stores all paper

submissions in the database, so the backup file may be quite large.



Run `php batch/backupdb.php -r BACKUPFILE` at the shell prompt to restore the

database from a backup stored in `BACKUPFILE`.



Run `lib/runsql.sh` at the shell prompt to get a SQL command prompt for the

conference database.



Updates

-------



HotCRP code can be updated at any time without bringing down the site.

If you obtained the code from git, use `git pull`. if you obtained

the code from a tarball, copy the new version over your old code,

preserving `conf/options.php`. For instance, using GNU tar:



    % cd HOTCRPINSTALLATION

    % tar --strip=1 -xf ~/hotcrp-NEWVERSION.tar.gz



License

-------



HotCRP is available under the Click license, a BSD-like license. See the

LICENSE file for full license terms.



Authors

-------



Eddie Kohler, Harvard



* HotCRP is based on CRP, which was written by Dirk Grunwald,

  University of Colorado

* HotCRP’s banal is substantially modified from the original

  [banal by Geoff Voelker, UCSD](http://www.sysnet.ucsd.edu/sigops/banal/)