Hackystat is a client-server system: the "client" side consists of the set of Hackystat sensors installed into a developer's computer, and the "server" side consists of a web application that receives data sent from the sensors and supports various analyses upon it.

The Hackystat User Guide provides detailed instructions on how to install the "client" side of Hackystat. The User Guide presumes that a Hackystat server has already been installed somewhere and can be used for downloading sensors and analyzing the data sent to it by the sensors. In most cases, Hackystat users are responsible for installing and maintaining the client side of Hackystat.

This chapter provides detailed instructions on how to install the "server" side of Hackystat. Hackystat can be installed either via a "binary" distribution, which is smaller in size and simpler to install but involves selecting a pre-configured version of the server, or as a "source" distribution, which is larger in size and more complicated to install but offers significantly more flexibility in terms of configuring the server.

Regardless of the whether you are installing a binary or source distribution, there are quite a few steps in the process for a first time installation. (After completing the initial installation successfully, updating to new releases of either binary or source distributions is quite simple, as discussed in Section 8.9, “Upgrading your installation”)

To facilitate the initial installation process, the next two sections provide checklists for the binary and source installation procedures. Subsequent sections provide detailed instructions for each step in each of these checklists.