This is Sage Cell - a Sage computation web service.

Please note that installation instructions below may be outdated. The most reliable source of build instructions at the moment is in contib/vm scripts.

If you are going to run a world accessible Sage Cell server, you must understand security implications and should be able to implement reasonable precautions.

The worker account (which is your own one by default) will be able to execute arbitrary code, which may be malicious. Make sure that you are securing the account properly. Working with a professional IT person is a very good idea here. Since the untrusted accounts can be on any computer, one way to isolate these accounts is to host them in a virtual machine that can be reset if the machine is compromised.

We assume that you have access to the Internet and can install any needed dependencies (e.g. git). If you need to know more precisely what tools are needed, please consult the scripts for building virtual machine images in contib/vm scripts.

1. Make sure you have a recent enough version of git: 1.8.5 is good enough, while 1.7.9 isn't.

2. Install required npm packages:

   sudo apt-get install npm
   # On Debian based systems we need to make an alias
   sudo ln -s /usr/bin/nodejs /usr/bin/node
   sudo npm install -g inherits requirejs coffee-script

3. Download repositories from GitHub:

   # Create a directory for building images and go there.
   mkdir sc_build
   cd sc_build
   # Get clone_repositories, make it executable, and run it.
   wget https://github.com/sagemath/sagecell/raw/master/contrib/vm/clone_repositories
   chmod u+x clone_repositories
   ./clone_repositories

   Note: these are the largest downloads that happen during installation, but not the only ones - you have to have Internet access during the following steps as well.

4. Build Sage (export MAKE="make -j8" or something similar can speed things up):

   mv github/sage .
   cd sage
   make start

   Note that we are building a special branch of Sage for the Cell server, do NOT use your regular Sage installation!

5. Prepare Sage for Sage Cell:

   ./sage -sh -c "easy_install pip"
   ./sage -i zeromq
   ./sage -i pyzmq
   # We need IPython stuff not present in spkg.
   pushd local/lib/python/site-packages
   rm -rf IPython*
   rm -rf ipython*
   popd
   mv ../github/ipython .
   pushd ipython
   ../sage setup.py develop
   popd
   # we need a cutting-edge matplotlib as well for the new interactive features
   mv ../github/matplotlib .
   pushd matplotlib
   ../sage setup.py install
   popd
   ./sage -sh -c "easy_install ecdsa"
   ./sage -sh -c "easy_install paramiko"
   ./sage -sh -c "easy_install sockjs-tornado"
   ./sage -sh -c "easy_install lockfile"

6. Build Sage Cell:

   mv ../github/sagecell .
   cd sagecell
   ../sage -sh -c "make -B"

1. Go into the sage/sagecell directory (you are there in the end of the above instructions).

2. Copy config_default.py to config.py.

3. Edit config.py according to your needs. Of particular interest are host and username entries of the _default_config dictionary: you should be able to SSH to username@host without typing in a password. For example, by default, it assumes you can do ssh localhost without typing in a password. Unless you are running a private and firewalled server for youself, you’ll want to change this to a more restrictive account; otherwise anyone will be able to execute any code under your username. You can set up a passwordless account using SSH: type “ssh passwordless login” into Google to find lots of guides for doing this, like http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/152. You may also wish to adjust db_config["uri"] (make the database files readable only by the trusted account).

4. Start the server via

   ../sage web_server.py [-p <PORT_NUMBER>]

   where the default <PORT_NUMBER> is 8888 and go to http://localhost:<PORT_NUMBER> to use the Sage Cell server.

   When you want to shut down the server, press Ctrl-C in the same terminal.

See the LICENSE.txt file for terms and conditions for usage and a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.

The Sage Cell Server is designed to be compatible with recent versions of:

• Chrome
• Firefox
• Internet Explorer
• Opera
• Safari

If you notice issues with any of these browsers, please let us know.