Mastodon is an open-source, decentralized social network. It offers similar features to other popular social networks like Twitter and Facebook. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the installation of Mastodon on Elementary OS Latest using the command line.
Before we start with the Mastodon installation, you will need to have the following:
Mastodon requires several dependencies to be installed on your system. Open the terminal window and update the system using the following command:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
Next, install the dependencies using the following command:
sudo apt install imagemagick ffmpeg libpq-dev libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev file nodejs postgresql postgresql-contrib redis-server yarn build-essential git-core pkg-config libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler libssl-dev libyaml-dev libreadline-dev libidn11-dev libicu-dev libjemalloc-dev
Mastodon uses PostgreSQL as its default database management system. You need to create a database and user for Mastodon.
Login to PostgreSQL with the command:
sudo -u postgres psql
Create a new user and database using the following commands:
CREATE USER mastodon CREATEDB;
CREATE DATABASE mastodon_production OWNER mastodon;
Finally, exit the PostgreSQL prompt using the following command:
\q
Next, clone the Mastodon repository using the following command:
git clone https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon.git live
Once the repository is cloned, change the directory to the downloaded "live" directory:
cd live
Configure the Mastodon application by running the following command:
sudo -u mastodon cp .env.production.sample .env.production
Edit the application configuration file using your favorite text editor:
sudo nano .env.production
Set the following variables in the configuration file:
SECRET_KEY_BASE=""
OTP_SECRET=""
VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY=""
VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY=""
LOCAL_DOMAIN=""
Note: Replace the variables with the appropriate value according to your environment. For example, you can generate a secret key using rake secret
Next, install the dependencies:
yarn install
Compile the web assets:
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails assets:precompile
Migrate the database:
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails db:migrate
Seed the database:
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails db:seed
Start the Mastodon application:
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails server
You can now access the Mastodon application by going to the browser and entering http://<your_domain> in the address bar.
In this tutorial, we have shown you how to install Mastodon on Elementary OS Latest. You have learned how to install dependencies, configure PostgreSQL, and set up the Mastodon application. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment below.
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