How to Install Homer on Arch Linux

In this tutorial, we will walk through the steps to install Homer on Arch Linux from the official GitHub repository.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, make sure you have the following:

• An Arch Linux operating system.
• A terminal window with sudo access.

Step 1: Install Required Dependencies

The first step to install Homer is to install the required dependencies. Some of the dependencies you need to install are PHP, PHP Extensions, Composer, NPM, and others.

You can install these dependencies by running the following command:

sudo pacman -S php php-fpm php-gd php-intl php-pgsql php-mbstring php-imagick composer npm nodejs postgresql nginx

Step 2: Install Homer from GitHub

To install Homer on Arch Linux, we need to clone the project repository from GitHub. You can do this by executing the following command:

git clone https://github.com/bastienwirtz/homer.git

Step 3: Configure Database

After cloning the project, we need to create a PostgreSQL database and user for Homer. To create a new database, use the following commands:

sudo -u postgres createdb homer -O homer
sudo -u postgres psql postgres

This will create a new database called homer and assign homer as the owner of the database.

Step 4: Configure Environment Variables

To configure environment variables, navigate to the cloned homer directory and create a .env file using the command:

cp .env.example .env

Next, open the .env file and fill in the PostgreSQL credentials (database name, username, and password). Update the values of the following variables accordingly:

DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=5432
DB_DATABASE=homer
DB_USERNAME=homer
DB_PASSWORD=<Your_password>

Step 5: Install Dependencies

Homer requires some additional libraries to function properly. You can install the required dependencies by running the following commands:

composer install --no-dev --prefer-dist
npm install
npm run build

The above commands will install all the required libraries and build the front-end of Homer.

Step 6: Configure Nginx

To configure Nginx, create a new configuration for Homer by running the following command:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/homer.conf

Add the following Nginx configuration to the file:

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name homer.example.com;

  root /path/to/homer/public;

  index index.php;
  charset utf-8;

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

  location ~ \.php$ {
    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    include fastcgi_params;
  }
}

Make sure to replace /path/to/homer/public with the absolute path to the public directory of the cloned homer repository.

Step 7: Start Nginx and PHP-FPM Services

After configuring Nginx, start the Nginx and PHP-FPM services by running the following commands:

sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl start php-fpm

Step 8: Run Homer

To run Homer, visit the configured domain (in our case, http://homer.example.com/) in your web browser, and you should see the Homer login screen.

Conclusion

That's it! You can now use Homer on Arch Linux. As Homer is a complex application with many features, we recommend exploring and trying different configurations to get the most out of it.

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!