BookStack is an open-source and self-hosted platform that allows you to create and manage documentation for your company, team, or personal use. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install BookStack on Elementary OS Latest.
Before starting the installation process, make sure your system meets the following requirements:
Before installing any new software on your system, it is recommended to update your system packages to their latest version. Run the following command to update your system:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
BookStack requires Apache2 and PHP to run. Run the following command to install Apache2 and PHP on your system:
sudo apt install apache2 php libapache2-mod-php php-cli php-mbstring php-gd php-json php-mysql php-curl php-zip unzip
BookStack requires a database to store its data. MariaDB is a popular database management system that can be used with BookStack. Run the following command to install MariaDB:
sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After the installation is complete, run the following command to secure the MariaDB installation:
sudo mysql_secure_installation
Log in to MariaDB using the following command:
sudo mariadb -u root -p
After logging in, create a new database and user for BookStack using the following commands:
CREATE DATABASE bookstackdb;
CREATE USER 'bookstackuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON bookstackdb.* TO 'bookstackuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;
Remember to replace bookstackuser and password with your own values.
Run the following commands to download and install BookStack on your system:
sudo mkdir /var/www/bookstack
cd /var/www/bookstack
sudo wget https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/archive/master.zip
sudo unzip master.zip && sudo mv BookStack-master/* ./
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/bookstack/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/bookstack/
Create a virtual host configuration file for BookStack using the following command:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/bookstack.conf
Add the following content to the file:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName yourdomain.com
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
DocumentRoot /var/www/bookstack/public
<Directory /var/www/bookstack/public>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Remember to replace yourdomain.com with your domain name or IP address.
After adding the content to the file, save and exit the editor.
Enable the virtual host configuration by running the following command:
sudo a2ensite bookstack.conf
Reload the Apache2 service to apply the changes:
sudo systemctl reload apache2
Rename the .env.example file to .env using the following command:
sudo mv .env.example .env
Edit the .env file using your favorite editor:
sudo nano .env
Set the following parameters based on your server configuration and BookStack preferences:
APP_URL=http://yourdomain.com/
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_KEY=
APP_LOCALE=en
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=bookstackdb
DB_USERNAME=bookstackuser
DB_PASSWORD=password
Remember to replace the APP_URL, DB_DATABASE, DB_USERNAME, and DB_PASSWORD with your own values.
Generate the application key using the following command:
sudo php artisan key:generate --no-interaction
You should see a message similar to this:
Application key set successfully.
Run the following command to create the necessary tables:
sudo php artisan migrate --no-interaction
You should see a message similar to this:
Migration table created successfully.
Migrating: 2014_10_12_100000_create_password_resets_table
Migrated: 2014_10_12_100000_create_password_resets_table
Migrating: 2019_08_02_000000_create_bookstack_tables
Migrated: 2019_08_02_000000_create_bookstack_tables
Open a web browser and enter the following URL to access BookStack:
http://yourdomain.com/
You should see the BookStack login page.
In this tutorial, you learned how to install BookStack on Elementary OS Latest. BookStack is a powerful platform that can be used to create and manage documentation for your company, team, or personal use. Feel free to explore and customize BookStack to your needs!
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