How to Install Cactus Comments on NetBSD

Cactus Comments is a free, flexible, and easy-to-use commenting system for websites. In this tutorial, we will go through the steps to install Cactus Comments on NetBSD.

Prerequisites

• A NetBSD VPS or dedicated server with root access
• A web server (Apache or NGINX)
• PHP installed (version 7.0+)
• A MySQL or MariaDB database

Step 1 - Download and Extract Cactus Comments

Firstly, connect to your NetBSD server via SSH and download the latest version of Cactus Comments using the following command.

$ wget https://cactus.chat/latest.tar.gz

After the download is finished, extract the compressed file using:

$ tar -xvzf latest.tar.gz

Step 2 - Configuring the Web Server

Create a new virtual host configuration file for Cactus Comments. For example, in Apache, you can create the file /etc/httpd/conf.d/cactus-chat.conf.

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    DocumentRoot /usr/local/www/cactus-chat
    <Directory /usr/local/www/cactus-chat>
        AllowOverride All
        Options FollowSymLinks
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
    ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/cactus-chat-error.log
    CustomLog /var/log/httpd/cactus-chat-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Restart the web server for changes to take effect.

$ service httpd restart

Step 3 - Creating a Database

Log in to your MySQL or MariaDB database server using the command below.

$ mysql -u root -p

Create a new database named cactus_chat.

mysql> CREATE DATABASE cactus_chat;

Create a new username and password for Cactus Comments to use when connecting to the database.

mysql> CREATE USER 'cactus_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password_here';

Finally, grant privileges to the new user for the cactus_chat database.

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cactus_chat.* TO 'cactus_user'@'localhost';

Flush the MySQL privileges to reload the user's privileges from the MySQL database.

mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Step 4 - Installing Cactus Comments

Edit the file /usr/local/www/cactus-chat/app/config/database.php and fill in the database details.

<?php 

return [
    'database' => [
        'host'      => '127.0.0.1',
        'database'  => 'cactus_chat',
        'username'  => 'cactus_user',
        'password'  => 'your_password_here',
        'charset'   => 'utf8mb4',
        'collation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
        'prefix'    => '',
    ],
];

Navigate to the Cactus Comments installation directory, and run the following command in your terminal:

$ cd /usr/local/www/cactus-chat && composer install

Generate an application key.

$ php artisan key:generate

Run the migration script.

$ php artisan migrate

Step 5 - Configuring your domain name in Cactus Comments

Open the file /usr/local/www/cactus-chat/.env and fill in the following variables.

APP_URL=http://example.com
APP_DOMAIN=example.com

Step 6 - Testing Your Installation

Visit your website domain to see if Cactus Comments is working fine.

You should be now ready to use Cactus Comments for your website!

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have walked you through the process of installing Cactus Comments on NetBSD step by step. If you come across any issues, please consult their documentation or contact their support team for assistance.

If you want to self-host in an easy, hands free way, need an external IP address, or simply want your data in your own hands, give IPv6.rs a try!

Alternatively, for the best virtual desktop, try Shells!