Tutorial: Installing Roundcube on Arch Linux

Introduction

This tutorial will take you through the process of installing Roundcube on Arch Linux. Roundcube is a webmail client that you can use to access your emails.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

• A running installation of Arch Linux
• A user account with sudo privileges
• An internet connection

Step 1: Install Apache Web Server

Roundcube needs a web server to run. We will use Apache for this purpose. Install Apache by running the following command:

sudo pacman -S apache

Step 2: Install PHP

Roundcube is a PHP application, so we need to install PHP as well. Install PHP by running the following command:

sudo pacman -S php php-apache

Step 3: Install MariaDB

Roundcube needs a database to store data. We will use MariaDB for this purpose. Install MariaDB by running the following command:

sudo pacman -S mariadb

Step 4: Create a Database and User for Roundcube

After installing MariaDB, we need to create a database and user for Roundcube. Follow these steps:

1. Log in to MariaDB by running the following command:

   sudo mysql -u root
   

2. Create a database for Roundcube:

   CREATE DATABASE roundcubedb;
   

3. Create a user for Roundcube:

   CREATE USER 'roundcubeuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
   

   Replace "password" with a secure password that you choose.

4. Grant privileges to the user for the Roundcube database:

   GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON roundcubedb.* TO 'roundcubeuser'@'localhost';
   

5. Exit MariaDB:

   EXIT;
   

Step 5: Download and Install Roundcube

Now we can download and install Roundcube.

1. Go to https://roundcube.net/download/ and download the latest stable release of Roundcube.

2. Extract the downloaded archive into the Apache web root directory:

   sudo tar xf roundcubemail-x.y.z.tar.gz -C /srv/http/
   

   Replace "x.y.z" with the version number of the downloaded release.

3. Rename the extracted directory to "roundcube":

   sudo mv /srv/http/roundcubemail-x.y.z /srv/http/roundcube
   

4. Change the ownership of the "roundcube" directory to the Apache user:

   sudo chown -R http:http /srv/http/roundcube
   

Step 6: Configure Roundcube

We need to configure Roundcube to use the MariaDB database that we created in Step 4.

1. Open the Roundcube configuration file in a text editor:

   sudo nano /srv/http/roundcube/config/config.inc.php
   

2. Find the following lines in the file:

   $config['db_dsnw'] = 'sqlite:////var/local/roundcube/db/roundcube.db';
   

3. Replace the lines with the following:

   $config['db_dsnw'] = 'mysql://roundcubeuser:password@localhost/roundcubedb';
   

   Replace "password" with the password that you chose in Step 4.

4. Save the file and exit the text editor.

Step 7: Enable and Start Services

Now we need to enable and start Apache and MariaDB services so that they automatically start at boot time:

sudo systemctl enable httpd mariadb
sudo systemctl start httpd mariadb

Step 8: Access Roundcube

Open a web browser and go to http://localhost/roundcube/. You should see the Roundcube login screen.

Enter your email address and password to log in to Roundcube.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed Roundcube on Arch Linux! You can now use Roundcube to access your email through a web interface.

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