docs: started refactoring of the deployment docs. several updates to make the configuration steps more explicit.

docs/source/siteadmin/deploying.rst

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 .. MediaGoblin Documentation
 
-   Written in 2011, 2012 by MediaGoblin contributors
+   Written in 2011, 2012, 2013 by MediaGoblin contributors
 
    To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all
    copyright and related and neighboring rights to this software to
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ Configure PostgreSQL
 
    If you don't want/need postgres, skip this section.
 
-These are the packages needed for Debian Wheezy (testing)::
+These are the packages needed for Debian Wheezy (stable)::
 
     sudo apt-get install postgresql postgresql-client python-psycopg2
 
@@ -121,25 +121,62 @@ where the first ``mediagoblin`` is the database owner and the second
 Drop Privileges for MediaGoblin
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-As MediaGoblin does not require special permissions or elevated
+MediaGoblin does not require special permissions or elevated
-access, you should run MediaGoblin under an existing non-root user or
+access to run. As such, the prefered way to run MediaGoblin is to 
-preferably create a dedicated user for the purpose of running
+create a dedicated, unpriviledged system user for sole the purpose of running
-MediaGoblin. Consult your distribution's documentation on how to
+MediaGoblin. Running MediaGoblin processes under an unpriviledged system user
-create "system account" or dedicated service user. Ensure that it is
+helps to keep it more secure. 
-not possible to log in to your system with as this user.
+
+The following command (entered as root or with sudo) will create a
+system account with a username of ``mediagoblin``. You may choose a different
+username if you wish.::
+
+  ``# adduser --system mediagoblin``
+
+No password will be assigned to this account, and you will not be able
+to log in as this user. To switch to this account, enter either::
+
+  ``sudo su - mediagoblin`` (if you have sudo permissions)
+
+or
+
+  ``su - mediagoblin`` (if you have to use root permissions)
+
+You may get a warning similar to this when entering these commands::
+
+  ``warning: cannot change directory to /home/mediagoblin: No such file or directory``
+
+You can disregard this warning. To return to your regular user account after
+using the system account, just enter ``exit``.
+
+.. note::
+
+    Unless otherwise noted, the remainder of this document assumes that all
+    operations are performed using this unpriviledged account.
+
+.. _create-mediagoblin-directory:
+
+Create a MediaGoblin Directory
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 You should create a working directory for MediaGoblin. This document
 assumes your local git repository will be located at 
-``/srv/mediagoblin.example.org/mediagoblin/`` for this documentation.
+``/srv/mediagoblin.example.org/mediagoblin/``.
-Substitute your prefer ed local deployment path as needed.
+Substitute your prefered local deployment path as needed.
 
-This document assumes that all operations are performed as this
+Setting up the working directory requires that we first create the directory
-user. To drop privileges to this user, run the following command::
+with elevated priviledges, and then assign ownership of the directory
+to the unpriviledged system account.
 
-      su - [mediagoblin]
+To do this, enter either of the following commands, changing the defaults
+to suit your particular requirements::
+
+  ``sudo mkdir -p /srv/mediagoblin.example.org && sudo chown -hR mediagoblin:mediagoblin /srv/mediagobin.example.org``
+
+or (as the root user)
+
+  ``# mkdir -p /srv/mediagoblin.example.org && chown -hR mediagoblin:mediagoblin /srv/mediagobin.example.org``
 
-Where, "``[mediagoblin]``" is the username of the system user that will
-run MediaGoblin.
 
 Install MediaGoblin and Virtualenv
 ----------------------------------
@@ -151,17 +188,20 @@ Install MediaGoblin and Virtualenv
    branch of the git repository. Eventually production deployments will
    want to transition to running from more consistent releases.
 
-Issue the following commands, to create and change the working
+We will now clone the MediaGoblin source code repository and setup and
-directory. Modify these commands to reflect your own environment::
+configure the necessary services. Modify these commands to
+suit your own environment. As a reminder, you should enter these
+commands using your unpriviledged system account.
 
-    mkdir -p /srv/mediagoblin.example.org/
+Change to the MediaGoblin directory that you just created::
-    cd /srv/mediagoblin.example.org/
+
+    cd /srv/mediagoblin.example.org
 
 Clone the MediaGoblin repository::
 
     git clone git://gitorious.org/mediagoblin/mediagoblin.git
 
-And set up the in-package virtualenv::
+Set up the in-package virtualenv::
 
     cd mediagoblin
     (virtualenv --system-site-packages . || virtualenv .) && ./bin/python setup.py develop
@@ -358,4 +398,5 @@ Security Considerations
    for session security. Make sure not to leak its contents anywhere.
    If the contents gets leaked nevertheless, delete your file
    and restart the server, so that it creates a new secret key.
-   All previous sessions will be invalifated then.
+   All previous sessions will be invalidated.
+