How to Install FreeScout on Debian Latest

FreeScout is a free open-source helpdesk and email management software. If you want to install it on your Debian-based operating system, this step-by-step tutorial will guide you through the process.

Prerequisites

Before you start the installation, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

• A Debian-based operating system (e.g. Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint)
• A non-root user with sudo privileges
• Apache web server
• MySQL or MariaDB database server
• PHP 7.3 or later with required extensions (php7.3-common, php7.3-cli, php7.3-mbstring, php7.3-xml, php7.3-curl, php7.3-mysql, php7.3-gd)

Step 1: Update System Packages

At first, open your Terminal and update the system packages by running the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Install Required Dependencies

Once the system packages are up-to-date, install the required dependencies for FreeScout. Run the following command to install all the required dependencies:

sudo apt install apache2 mariadb-server php7.3-common php7.3-cli php7.3-mbstring php7.3-xml php7.3-curl php7.3-mysql php7.3-gd

Step 3: Install Git

Next, you need to install Git on your system to clone the FreeScout source code from the Github repository. You can install Git by running the following command:

sudo apt install git

Step 4: Clone FreeScout Repository

After installing Git, use it to clone the FreeScout repository by running the following command:

sudo git clone https://github.com/freescout-helpdesk/freescout.git /var/www/html/freescout

This command will clone the FreeScout source code into the /var/www/html/freescout directory.

Step 5: Configure Apache

After cloning the FreeScout repository, you need to configure Apache to serve the FreeScout application. You can create a new Apache virtual host file for FreeScout by running the following command:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/freescout.conf

Then, paste the following code into the file and save it.

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName yourdomain.com
    ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/freescout/public

    <Directory /var/www/html/freescout/public>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/freescout-error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/freescout-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Note: Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain name.

Once done, enable the new virtual host by running the following command:

sudo a2ensite freescout.conf

Then, reload the Apache webserver by running the following command:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 6: Create a Database

You need to create a database for FreeScout. Login to MySQL/MariaDB by running the following command:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, create a new database with the following command:

CREATE DATABASE freescout;

Note: Replace freescout with your preferred database name.

Next, create a new MySQL/MariaDB user with the command below:

CREATE USER 'freescoutuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpassword';

Note: Replace yourpassword with a strong password.

Finally, grant all privileges on the freescout database to the newly created user with the following command:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `freescout` . * TO 'freescoutuser'@'localhost';

Flush the privileges and exit the MySQL/MariaDB console by running the following command:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;

Step 7: Configure FreeScout

After creating the database, you need to configure FreeScout by creating a .env file. Copy the .env.example file with the following command:

cd /var/www/html/freescout
sudo cp .env.example .env

Then, edit the .env file with the following command:

sudo nano .env

Update the following lines to match your database and email settings:

APP_URL=http://yourdomain.com

DB_DATABASE=freescout
DB_USERNAME=freescoutuser
DB_PASSWORD=yourpassword

MAIL_DRIVER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=yourmailhost.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=youremail@example.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=yourpassword
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls

Save the file and exit the editor.

Step 8: Install FreeScout

After configuring FreeScout, you can install it by running the following command:

cd /var/www/html/freescout
sudo php artisan freescout:install

This command will install FreeScout and migrate the database tables.

Step 9: Configure Cron Jobs

Finally, to enable scheduled tasks in FreeScout, add the following cron job to your system:

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

You can add this cron job by running the following command:

sudo crontab -u www-data -e

Then, paste the above-mentioned cron job line at the end of the file.

Conclusion

That's it! You have successfully installed and configured FreeScout on your Debian-based system. Now, you can access the FreeScout helpdesk by navigating to http://yourdomain.com in your web browser.

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