How to Install Invoice Ninja on FreeBSD

Invoice Ninja is a popular open-source invoicing and billing software that allows you to streamline your invoicing process. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing Invoice Ninja on FreeBSD.

Step 1: Install Required Dependencies

Before you can install Invoice Ninja, you need to make sure that your FreeBSD system has the required dependencies installed. Run the following command to install MySQL, PHP, and Apache:

pkg install mysql57-server php74 php74-mysqli apache24

Step 2: Create a MySQL Database for Invoice Ninja

Log in to your MySQL server and create a new database for Invoice Ninja. You can use the following commands:

mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE invoiceninja;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON invoiceninja.* TO ‘ninjauser’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘password’;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
\q

Step 3: Download and Install Invoice Ninja

Now that you have the required dependencies and a MySQL database set up, you can proceed with downloading and installing Invoice Ninja. Follow the steps below:

1. Download the latest version of Invoice Ninja by running the following command:

   cd /usr/local/www/apache24/data
   curl -s https://invoice-ninja.org/latest.tar.gz | tar xvzf -
   

2. Rename the directory that was extracted from the archive to invoice-ninja:

   mv ninja invoice-ninja
   

3. Change the ownership of the files to the Apache user:

   chown www:www /usr/local/www/apache24/data/invoice-ninja -R
   

4. Change the permissions of the storage directory:

   chmod 775 /usr/local/www/apache24/data/invoice-ninja/storage -R
   

Step 4: Configure Invoice Ninja

1. Open the configuration file /usr/local/www/apache24/data/invoice-ninja/.env:

   cp .env.example .env
   nano .env
   

2. Set the database information:

   DB_DATABASE=invoiceninja
   DB_USERNAME=ninjauser
   DB_PASSWORD=password
   

3. Save and close the file.

Step 5: Configure Apache

1. Open the Apache virtual hosts file:

   nano /usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/invoice-ninja.conf
   

2. Add the following configuration:

   Alias /invoice-ninja "/usr/local/www/apache24/data/invoice-ninja/public"
   
   <Directory "/usr/local/www/apache24/data/invoice-ninja/public">
       AllowOverride All
       Options FollowSymLinks
       Require all granted
   </Directory>
   

3. Save and close the file.

Step 6: Start Apache and MySQL

1. Start Apache:

   service apache24 start
   

2. Start MySQL:

   service mysql-server start
   

Step 7: Access Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja should now be accessible from your web browser at http://<your-server-ip>/invoice-ninja/public/.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to install Invoice Ninja on FreeBSD. Now that you have Invoice Ninja installed and configured, you can start using it to create and manage your invoices.

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