Tutorial: How to install farmOS on Fedora CoreOS Latest

FarmOS is a web-based farm management platform that makes it easy to manage your farm, keep track of crops, and monitor livestock. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps to install farmOS on Fedora CoreOS latest.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure that you have met the following requirements:

• Access to a terminal window with sudo privileges
• A running Fedora CoreOS Latest instance
• Basic knowledge of Linux command-line interface (CLI)

Step 1: Update the system

To ensure that you have the latest packages installed, update the operating system using the command below:

sudo rpm-ostree update

This command will download and install the latest packages available for Fedora CoreOS Latest on your system.

Step 2: Install requisite packages

To run farmOS on your system, you will need to install the requisite packages. Enter the following command to install the necessary packages:

sudo rpm-ostree install postgresql-server httpd php php-pgsql php-mysqlnd mariadb mariadb-server mariadb-connector-c mariadb-connector-odbc mariadb-backup mariadb-connect-engine

This command installs the PostgreSQL server, Apache web server, PHP, and several MySQL/MariaDB-related packages.

Step 3: Configure PostgreSQL

After installing PostgreSQL, you need to initialize it using the following command:

sudo postgresql-setup initdb

This command initializes the PostgreSQL data directory at /var/lib/pgsql/data.

Step 4: Configure MariaDB

After installing MariaDB, you need to initialize it using the following command:

sudo mysql_install_db

This command initializes the MariaDB data directory at /var/lib/mysql.

Step 5: Create databases

You need to create two databases: one for the farmOS data and another for the feed aggregator (if you intend to use it). Use the following commands:

sudo -u postgres psql -c 'CREATE DATABASE farmos;'
sudo -u postgres psql -c 'CREATE DATABASE aggregator;'

These commands create two PostgreSQL databases named farmos and aggregator.

Step 6: Download and extract farmOS

Enter the following command to download the latest farmOS release:

sudo curl -L https://github.com/farmOS/farmOS/archive/refs/heads/7.x-1.x.zip -o /tmp/farmOS.zip

After the download is complete, extract the farmOS files from the archive:

sudo unzip /tmp/farmOS.zip -d /tmp

This command extracts the farmOS files to the /tmp/farmOS-7.x-1.x directory.

Step 7: Configure farmOS

After downloading and extracting farmOS, you now need to configure it to use the two databases that you created earlier (farmos and aggregator).

First, enter the following command to create a configuration file:

sudo cp /tmp/farmOS-7.x-1.x/sites/default/default.settings.php /tmp/farmOS-7.x-1.x/sites/default/settings.php

Next, open the configuration file using your preferred text editor:

sudo nano /tmp/farmOS-7.x-1.x/sites/default/settings.php

Find the following lines:

$databases = array (
  'default' => 
  array (
    'default' => 
    array (
      'database' => 'farmos',
      'username' => 'USERNAME',
      'password' => 'PASSWORD',
      'host' => 'localhost',
      'port' => '',
      'driver' => 'pgsql',
      'prefix' => '',
    ),
  ),
  'aggregator' => 
  array (
    'default' => 
    array (
      'database' => 'aggregator',
      'username' => 'USERNAME',
      'password' => 'PASSWORD',
      'host' => 'localhost',
      'port' => '',
      'driver' => 'pgsql',
      'prefix' => '',
    ),
  ),
);

Replace the USERNAME and PASSWORD placeholders with the database server credentials. The final configuration should now look like this:

$databases = array(
  'default' => array(
    'default' => array(
      'database' => 'farmos',
      'username' => 'postgres',
      'password' => 'mypassword',
      'host' => 'localhost',
      'port' => '5432',
      'driver' => 'pgsql',
      'prefix' => '',
    ),
  ),
  'aggregator' => array(
    'default' => array(
      'database' => 'aggregator',
      'username' => 'postgres',
      'password' => 'mypassword',
      'host' => 'localhost',
      'port' => '5432',
      'driver' => 'pgsql',
      'prefix' => '',
    ),
  ),
);

Save the file and exit the text editor.

Step 8: Copy farmOS to document root

Copy the farmOS files to the document root of the Apache server using the command below:

sudo cp -r /tmp/farmOS-7.x-1.x/* /var/www/html/

This command copies all the farmOS files from the extracted directory to the Apache document root at /var/www/html/.

Step 9: Configure SELinux

Fedora CoreOS uses SELinux to enforce security and safety policies. By default, SELinux prevents Apache from being allowed to connect to the database. Run these commands to create a policy that allows Apache to connect:

sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect_db 1
sudo setsebool -P httpd_unified 1
sudo systemctl restart httpd

The httpd_can_network_connect_db boolean allows Apache to connect to the database, while the httpd_unified boolean allows HTTP sites to use content labeled with different contexts. Finally, systemctl restart httpd to restart the Apache server to apply the updated policies.

Step 10: Access your farmOS

Now you can access your farmOS using your web browser. Enter the IP address of your Fedora CoreOS instance in the address bar. It should be the same IP address that you use to SSH to your Fedora CoreOS instance.

If you followed this tutorial, the URL for farmOS should be in this format: http://<IP_address>/

Congratulations! You have successfully installed farmOS on Fedora CoreOS Latest. You can now use farmOS to manage your farm, crops, and livestock.

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