How to Install GoToSocial on Manjaro

GoToSocial is an open-source social network platform developed by Super Serious Business. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing GoToSocial on Manjaro.

Prerequisites

• A Manjaro installation
• A working web server (e.g. Apache or Nginx)
• PHP version 7.2 or later
• Composer installed on your system

Installation Steps

Step 1: Clone the Repository

The first step in installing GoToSocial is to clone the project repository from GitHub. Open a terminal window and run the following command:

git clone https://github.com/superseriousbusiness/gotosocial.git

This will download the GoToSocial source code to your current directory.

Step 2: Install Dependencies

To install GoToSocial's dependencies, navigate to the project directory and run the following command:

composer install

Step 3: Configure Environment Variables

GoToSocial uses environment variables to store sensitive information such as database credentials and API keys. Create a .env file in the project directory and set the appropriate values for your environment:

APP_ENV=local
APP_DEBUG=true
APP_URL=http://localhost:8080

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=gotosocial
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com
ADMIN_PASSWORD=secret

Be sure to fill in the correct values for your database and admin account.

Step 4: Generate an Application Key

GoToSocial requires an application key to encrypt and decrypt data. Generate a key by running the following command:

php artisan key:generate

Step 5: Run Migrations

GoToSocial uses a MySQL database to store data. You will need to run the database migrations to create the required tables. Run the following command to run the migrations:

php artisan migrate

Step 6: Install Frontend Dependencies

GoToSocial uses npm to manage client-side dependencies. Install them by navigating to the project directory and running the following command:

npm install

Step 7: Compile Assets

Once the frontend dependencies are installed, you can compile the assets by running:

npm run dev

Step 8: Configure Your Web Server

GoToSocial requires a web server to serve the application. You will need to configure your server to point to the public directory of the GoToSocial installation.

For Apache, add the following VirtualHost block to your configuration file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    DocumentRoot /path/to/gotosocial/public
    <Directory /path/to/gotosocial/public>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

For Nginx, add the following server block to your configuration file:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    root /path/to/gotosocial/public;

    index index.php index.html index.htm;
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php$is_args$args;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root/$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Be sure to replace example.com and /path/to/gotosocial with the correct values for your server.

Step 9: Start the Application

With your web server configured, you can start the application by running the following command:

php artisan serve

This will start a development server at http://localhost:8000. Navigate to this URL in your web browser to access GoToSocial.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we walked you through the process of installing GoToSocial on Manjaro. By following these steps, you should now have a working instance of GoToSocial up and running.

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