From 8f7a86066344f51670a5f0bb849f0e998c576f15 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: aravindhbalaji04 <aravindhb999@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2026 01:00:19 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] Install WebAdmin dependencies in a dedicated venv.

Avoid global root-level pip installs and remove dependence on break-system-packages by creating a project venv, wiring mod_wsgi to python-home, and updating installer docs accordingly.

Made-with: Cursor
---
 INSTALL-Installer.md          |  8 ++++++--
 installer/install_webadmin.sh | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 webadmin/README.md            |  7 ++++---
 3 files changed, 36 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/INSTALL-Installer.md b/INSTALL-Installer.md
index 85f4b685b..2c9895c8d 100644
--- a/INSTALL-Installer.md
+++ b/INSTALL-Installer.md
@@ -108,7 +108,9 @@ npm -v
 
 ### Install Python packages
 ```bash
-python3 -m pip install --break-system-packages --ignore-installed urllib3==1.26.15 mysqlclient
+python3 -m venv /opt/fitcrack-webadmin-venv
+/opt/fitcrack-webadmin-venv/bin/python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
+/opt/fitcrack-webadmin-venv/bin/python3 -m pip install --ignore-installed urllib3==1.26.15 mysqlclient
 ```
 
 ### Setup the MariaDB server
@@ -190,7 +192,9 @@ dnf install -y \
 
 ### Install Python packages for Fitcrack
 ```bash
-python3 -m pip install --ignore-installed mysqlclient urllib3==1.26.15
+python3 -m venv /opt/fitcrack-webadmin-venv
+/opt/fitcrack-webadmin-venv/bin/python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
+/opt/fitcrack-webadmin-venv/bin/python3 -m pip install --ignore-installed mysqlclient urllib3==1.26.15
 ```
 
 ### Install Node 16.15
diff --git a/installer/install_webadmin.sh b/installer/install_webadmin.sh
index 303043f6d..f29dd750c 100644
--- a/installer/install_webadmin.sh
+++ b/installer/install_webadmin.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@
 ##################################
 
 echo "Installing back-end requirements..."
-python3 -m pip install --break-system-packages --ignore-installed -r webadmin/fitcrackAPI/src/requirements.txt
+WEBADMIN_VENV_PATH="$APACHE_DOCUMENT_ROOT/fitcrackAPI/.venv"
+echo "Back-end dependencies will be installed into a dedicated virtualenv: $WEBADMIN_VENV_PATH"
 echo "Done."
 
 ####################################
@@ -191,7 +192,7 @@ else
   fi
 
   echo "<VirtualHost *:$BACKEND_PORT>" >> $BE_CONFIG_FILE
-  echo "  WSGIDaemonProcess fitcrack user=$APACHE_USER group=$APACHE_USER threads=5" >> $BE_CONFIG_FILE
+  echo "  WSGIDaemonProcess fitcrack user=$APACHE_USER group=$APACHE_USER threads=5 python-home=$WEBADMIN_VENV_PATH" >> $BE_CONFIG_FILE
   echo "  WSGIScriptAlias / $APACHE_DOCUMENT_ROOT/fitcrackAPI/src/wsgi.py" >> $BE_CONFIG_FILE
   echo "  WSGIPassAuthorization On" >> $BE_CONFIG_FILE
   echo "  <Directory $APACHE_DOCUMENT_ROOT/fitcrackAPI/src/>" >> $BE_CONFIG_FILE
@@ -295,6 +296,29 @@ if [ $INSTALL_BACKEND = "y" ]; then
   echo "Installed to $APACHE_DOCUMENT_ROOT/fitcrackAPI."
 fi
 
+if [ -d "$APACHE_DOCUMENT_ROOT/fitcrackAPI/src" ]; then
+  echo "Installing Python dependencies into WebAdmin virtualenv..."
+
+  if ! command -v python3 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "Python3 is not available. Install python3 and python3-venv first."
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
+  python3 -m venv "$WEBADMIN_VENV_PATH"
+  if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+    echo "Failed to create virtualenv at $WEBADMIN_VENV_PATH."
+    echo "Make sure python3-venv (or equivalent) is installed."
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
+  "$WEBADMIN_VENV_PATH/bin/python3" -m pip install --upgrade pip
+  "$WEBADMIN_VENV_PATH/bin/python3" -m pip install --ignore-installed -r "$APACHE_DOCUMENT_ROOT/fitcrackAPI/src/requirements.txt"
+
+  chmod -R 775 "$WEBADMIN_VENV_PATH"
+  chown -R $APACHE_USER:$APACHE_GROUP "$WEBADMIN_VENV_PATH"
+  echo "Back-end Python dependencies installed in virtualenv."
+fi
+
 sed -i "s|http://localhost:5000|$BACKEND_URI:$BACKEND_PORT|g" $BOINC_PROJECT_DIR/bin/measureUsage.py
 
 #######################
diff --git a/webadmin/README.md b/webadmin/README.md
index 1a28a32ea..ab4010d52 100644
--- a/webadmin/README.md
+++ b/webadmin/README.md
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ systemctl restart apache2
 On Centos/RHEL:
 ```
 yum install -y python3-devel python3 python3-pip python3-mod_wsgi
-pip3 install mysqlclient
 ```
 
 
@@ -22,7 +21,9 @@ pip3 install mysqlclient
 Install backend dependencies
 ```  
 cd /var/www/fitcrackAPI/src
-sudo pip3 install -r requirements.txt
+python3 -m venv /var/www/fitcrackAPI/.venv
+/var/www/fitcrackAPI/.venv/bin/python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
+/var/www/fitcrackAPI/.venv/bin/python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
 ```
 
 
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ Change `/etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf` to:
 Listen 5000
 <VirtualHost *:5000>
 
-	 WSGIDaemonProcess fitcrack user=boincadm group=boincadm threads=5
+	 WSGIDaemonProcess fitcrack user=boincadm group=boincadm threads=5 python-home=/var/www/fitcrackAPI/.venv
 	 WSGIScriptAlias / /var/www/fitcrackAPI/src/wsgi.py
 
 	<Directory /var/www/fitcrackAPI/src/>