How to Install Dalton Plan on Arch Linux

Dalton Plan is a popular educational tool widely used in many schools worldwide. The tool is designed to ease the process of student-teacher communication and ensure that learning remains interactive and effective. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Dalton Plan on Arch Linux.

Prerequisites

• A running instance of Arch Linux
• A user account with sudo privileges
• Access to a terminal/command prompt

Step 1: Update Your System

Before installing Dalton Plan, it is essential to ensure that your system is up-to-date. Run the following command to update the system:

sudo pacman -Syu

Step 2: Install Dependencies

Dalton plan requires several dependencies to run correctly. You should have them installed on your system before installing Dalton Plan. Run the following command to install the dependencies:

sudo pacman -S git nginx php php-fpm mariadb

Step 3: Install and Configure Nginx

The next step is to install and configure Nginx, which will serve as the webserver for Dalton Plan. Run the following command to install Nginx:

sudo pacman -S nginx

Once installed, start and enable the Nginx service:

sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

Lastly, create a new Nginx configuration file for Dalton Plan by running the following command:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/daltonplan.conf

Add the following contents to the configuration file:

server {
  listen 80;
  listen [::]:80;
  root /var/www/daltonplan/;
  index index.php;
  server_name daltonplan.yourdomain.com;
  error_log /var/log/httpd/daltonplan_error.log;
  access_log /var/log/httpd/daltonplan_access.log;

  location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
  }

  location ~ \.php$ {
    try_files $uri =404;
    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
    include fastcgi_params;
  }
}

Save and exit the file.

Next, create a symbolic link to this file in Nginx's active configuration directory:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/daltonplan.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Finally, test the Nginx configuration and restart the service:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Step 4: Install Dalton Plan

Clone the Dalton Plan repository from Github by running the following command:

git clone https://github.com/DaltonPlan/daltonplan.git /var/www/daltonplan/

Next, create a new MariaDB database and user for Dalton Plan. Log in to MariaDB with the following command:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Create the new database:

CREATE DATABASE daltonplan;

Create a new user and grant him/her all privileges on the database:

GRANT ALL ON daltonplan.* TO 'daltonplanuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Flush the privileges and exit MariaDB:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 5: Configure Dalton Plan

Navigate to the Dalton Plan directory and copy the configuration file template:

cd /var/www/daltonplan/
cp .env.example .env

Edit the copied configuration file with your favorite text editor:

sudo nano .env

Update the following configuration variables in the file:

APP_NAME=
APP_ENV=
APP_KEY=
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=http://daltonplan.yourdomain.com/

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=daltonplan
DB_USERNAME=daltonplanuser
DB_PASSWORD=new_password_here

MAIL_DRIVER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=youremail@gmail.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=yourpassword
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=youremail@gmail.com
MAIL_FROM_NAME="${APP_NAME}"

Save and exit the file.

Generate a new application key:

sudo php artisan key:generate

Migrate the database:

sudo php artisan migrate

Finally, set the correct file permissions:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/daltonplan/
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/daltonplan/storage/
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/daltonplan/bootstrap/cache/

Step 6: Set Up a Cron Job

Dalton plan requires a cron job to run scheduled tasks. Run the following command to add the cron job:

sudo crontab -e -u www-data

Add the following line to the crontab file:

* * * * * php /var/www/daltonplan/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Save and exit the file.

Step 7: Test the Installation

Open your web browser and navigate to http://daltonplan.yourdomain.com/. The Dalton Plan dashboard should appear.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Dalton Plan on Arch Linux.

If you want to self-host in an easy, hands free way, need an external IP address, or simply want your data in your own hands, give IPv6.rs a try!

Alternatively, for the best virtual desktop, try Shells!