Tutorial: How to install Collabora Online Development Edition on Arch Linux

Collabora Online Development Edition is an open-source office suite built for online collaboration. This tutorial will guide you on how to install Collabora Online Development Edition on Arch Linux.

Prerequisites

Before installing Collabora Online Development Edition, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

Step 1: Install required dependencies

Before installing Collabora Online Development Edition, you will need to install some dependencies. Run the following command to install these dependencies:

sudo pacman -S npm xmlsec make gcc pkgconf xorg-server-xvfb

Step 2: Install loolwsd

Now, it's time to install Collabora Online Development Edition. First, clone the Collabora Online Development Edition repository using Git:

git clone https://github.com/CollaboraOnline/online.git

Navigate to the clone directory, then compile and install loolwsd with the following command:

cd online && make

Step 3: Configure loolwsd

After installing loolwsd, you'll need to configure it. First, create a configuration file called loolwsd.xml in the following directory:

sudo nano /etc/loolwsd/loolwsd.xml

Then, paste the following code into the file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns="urn:collabora:office:config">
  <logging>
    <level>warning</level>
    <file enable="false">/var/log/loolwsd.log</file>
    <console enable="true">stderr</console>
  </logging>
  <network>
    <ip type="string"></ip>
    <port type="int">9980</port>
    <max_connections type="int">100</max_connections>
    <ws max_frame_size="1048576"/>
  </network>
  <security>
    <cert_file_path type="string"></cert_file_path>
    <key_file_path type="string"></key_file_path>
    <ca_file_path type="string"></ca_file_path>
    <cipher_list></cipher_list>
    <tls_protocols>3.3, 3.2, 3.1, 3.0</tls_protocols>
  </security>  
  <storage>
    <filesystem allow="false">
      <wopi-discovery value="https://localhost/hosting/discovery"/>
      <root dir="/opt/online"/>
    </filesystem>
    <wopi>
      <host wildcard="true"></host>
      <url src="https://localhost/hosting/discovery"/>
    </wopi>
  </storage>
  <loleaflet>
    <server_name type="string"></server_name>
    <favicon></favicon>    
    <welcome></welcome>
  </loleaflet>
</config>

Step 4: Start loolwsd service

After configuring loolwsd, start the Collabora Online Development Edition service using the following command:

sudo systemctl start loolwsd.service

To verify that the service has started successfully, run the command:

sudo systemctl status loolwsd.service

Step 5: Configure reverse proxy

To access Collabora Online Development Edition from a web browser, you need to configure reverse proxy on your web server. Here's an example of how to configure the Apache web server:

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName collabora.example.com

    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /path/to/ssl/certificate
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/ssl/key

    <Location /office>
        ProxyPass http://localhost:9980/
        ProxyPassReverse http://localhost:9980/
        ProxyPreserveHost On
        RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https"
        RequestHeader set Host "collabora.example.com"
    </Location>
</VirtualHost>

Conclusion

Collabora Online Development Edition has been successfully installed on Arch Linux. You can now access your office documents online and collaborate with your colleagues in real-time.

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