PixelFed is a free and open-source social media platform that allows users to share photos and videos. It is similar to Instagram in terms of functionality but is decentralized and owned by the community. Installing PixelFed on Debian Latest is a straightforward process that can be done with ease following this tutorial.
Before installing PixelFed on Debian Latest, make sure you have the following requirements:
Update and upgrade all the packages to their latest version using the apt command.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
Install the necessary software packages required by PixelFed using the apt command.
sudo apt install git nginx php7.4-fpm php7.4-xml php7.4-mbstring php7.4-gd php7.4-zip composer ffmpeg libimage-exiftool-perl exiftool -y
Clone the PixelFed repository from the official website using the Git command.
sudo git clone https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed.git /var/www/pixelfed
Change the ownership of the folder and set the correct permissions on the system files for the web server to access them.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/pixelfed/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/pixelfed/
Create a virtual host configuration file for PixelFed using a text editor of your choice.
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/pixelfed
Paste the following contents in the file and save it:
server {
listen 80;
server_name yourservername.com;
root /var/www/pixelfed/public;
index index.php;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
}
location ~* \.php$ {
include fastcgi.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
fastcgi_param QUERY_STRING $query_string;
}
}
After saving the file, enable the virtual host configuration.
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pixelfed /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
Install a database management system (MySQL or PostgreSQL) and create a new database for PixelFed.
sudo apt install mysql-server
mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE pixelfed_db;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON pixelfed_db.* TO 'pixelfed_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit
Rename the ".env.example" file to ".env"
cp /var/www/pixelfed/.env.example /var/www/pixelfed/.env
Then, open the ".env" file using a text editor of your choice and edit the following fields
APP_NAME=PixelFed
APP_ENV=production
APP_KEY=
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=http://yourservername.com
...
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=pixelfed_db
DB_USERNAME=pixelfed_user
DB_PASSWORD=your_password
Install the dependencies of PixelFed using Composer and run the migrations to create the required database tables.
cd /var/www/pixelfed
sudo composer install --no-dev
sudo php artisan migrate
If you plan on using email features of PixelFed, you'll need to configure SMTP.
MAIL_DRIVER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=your-mail-server.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=your-email-address@gmail.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=your-email-password
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=your-email-address@gmail.com
MAIL_FROM_NAME="Your Name"
Start the NGINX and PHP-FPM services on your system.
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable php7.4-fpm
sudo systemctl start php7.4-fpm
You can now access PixelFed by navigating to "http://yourservername.com" on your web browser.
Congratulations! You have successfully installed PixelFed on Debian Latest. Enjoy exploring its features!
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!
