Skip to content

Environment Variable Validation for Custom Directories

Date: September 19, 2025 Feature: Custom Data and Theme Directory Support

Overview

NOW-LMS now properly validates and respects the NOW_LMS_DATA_DIR and NOW_LMS_THEMES_DIR environment variables, allowing for custom directory configurations for system data and themes. This feature enhances deployment flexibility and supports containerized environments.

Environment Variables Supported

NOW_LMS_DATA_DIR

  • Purpose: Specifies a custom directory for application data files
  • Default: now_lms/static (relative to application directory)
  • Example: export NOW_LMS_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/now-lms/data

NOW_LMS_THEMES_DIR

  • Purpose: Specifies a custom directory for theme templates
  • Default: now_lms/templates (relative to application directory)
  • Example: export NOW_LMS_THEMES_DIR=/var/lib/now-lms/themes

How It Works

  1. Environment Detection: The system checks for these environment variables at startup
  2. Directory Creation: If custom directories are specified, they are automatically created
  3. Content Population: Default data and themes are copied to custom directories if they don't exist or are empty
  4. Automatic Initialization: The populate functions run at every app startup when environment variables are detected

Implementation Details

Populate Functions

The system includes two key functions that handle directory population:

  • populate_custmon_data_dir(): Copies default static files to custom data directory
  • populate_custom_theme_dir(): Copies default templates to custom theme directory

Integration with App Initialization

The init_app() function now calls these populate functions whenever: - The database is already initialized - Custom environment variables are detected - This ensures custom directories are always properly populated

Testing and Validation

Comprehensive Test Suite

New tests have been added to validate: - Custom data directory creation and population - Custom theme directory creation and population - Integration with the app initialization process - Environment variable cleanup for testing

Test Environment Safety

The test environment properly unsets environment variables to prevent test interference: - dev/test.sh now clears all environment variables before running tests - Individual tests use isolated environments with proper cleanup

Usage Examples

Docker Deployment

ENV NOW_LMS_DATA_DIR=/app/data
ENV NOW_LMS_THEMES_DIR=/app/themes
VOLUME ["/app/data", "/app/themes"]

Systemd Service

[Service]
Environment="NOW_LMS_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/now-lms/data"
Environment="NOW_LMS_THEMES_DIR=/var/lib/now-lms/themes"
ExecStart=/usr/bin/lmsctl serve

Development Setup

export NOW_LMS_DATA_DIR="$HOME/lms-dev/data"
export NOW_LMS_THEMES_DIR="$HOME/lms-dev/themes"
lmsctl serve

Benefits

  1. Deployment Flexibility: Support for containerized and multi-tenant deployments
  2. Data Separation: Clean separation between application code and user data
  3. Theme Customization: Easy theme customization without modifying application files
  4. Backup and Migration: Simplified data backup and migration procedures
  5. Security: Better file system security with dedicated directories

Directory Structure

When custom directories are used, the following structure is created:

$NOW_LMS_DATA_DIR/
├── files/
│   ├── public/
│   └── private/
├── img/
├── icons/
└── examples/

$NOW_LMS_THEMES_DIR/
├── admin/
├── blog/
├── course/
├── evaluation/
└── [other template directories]

Backward Compatibility

This feature maintains full backward compatibility: - Systems without environment variables continue to use default directories - Existing installations are unaffected - No configuration changes required for current deployments

Future Enhancements

Potential future improvements include: - Support for additional directory customizations - Configuration validation and error reporting - Directory migration tools - Performance optimization for large custom directories

This enhancement provides NOW-LMS with enterprise-grade deployment flexibility while maintaining simplicity for development and testing environments.