This is the a very basic buildout template

Make a symlink to the file you want to use (e.g. development.cfg) and start the buildout:

$ ln -s profiles/development.cfg buildout.cfg
$ python2.7 bootstrap.py
$ ./bin/buildout

Probably you may want to set up your system and configure some parameters! Don't forget to read the full documentation.

You may want to install this to get this buildout working:

# python stuff
$ apt-get install python-dev python-virtualenv
# version control stuff
$ apt-get install git subversion
# other stuff
$ apt-get install libjpeg8-dev poppler-utils  wv libgeos-c1

In the file config/plone.cfg you may can control the plone version by changing the extends and find-links variables:

extends = 
    http://dist.plone.org/release/4.2.5/versions.cfg
    ...

find-links =
    http://dist.plone.org/release/4.2.5
    ...

Using a virtualenv is a good idea:

# NOTE: --no-site-packages is the default behaviour of the newer virtualenv
#       you might remove this parameter if you get an error
$ virtualenv --no-site-packages -p /usr/bin/python2.7 .
$ ./bin/activate

Customize the eggs and the zcml variable in the [plone] section (a good place is config/base.cfg), e.g:

[plone]
eggs+=
    my.egg
zcml+=
    my.egg

Customize the [sources] section (a good place is profiles/development.cfg) adding your checkouts, e.g:

[sources]
collective.developermanual = git git://github.com/collective/collective.developermanual.git

In the directory ./profiles you will find configs that can be symlinked in the root of the buildout.

You shouldn't use directly configuration files that are stored in config folder.

Beneath is the list of available configurations:

This is what the developer wants! Gives you a standalone Plone instance (no ZEO). As usual you can launch it with:

$ ./bin/instance fg
2013-03-22 13:58:39 INFO ZServer HTTP server started at Fri Mar 22 13:58:39 2013
Hostname: 0.0.0.0
Port: 8080
2013-03-22 13:58:44 INFO Zope Ready to handle requests

Adds to the buildout development scripts (test, i18ndude) and to plone some products (plone.reload and stxnext.pdb). Some other are suggested (commented) In the config/development.cfg file. Ask for new stuff if you want (sauna.reload, plone.app.debugtoolbar, ...).

A ZEO cluster ready for production Will install:

• zeoserver
• instance1
• debuginstance
• zeopack
• repozo

The buildout prints unpinned versions at the end of the build. You may want to add them to some cfg file.