How to Install Collective Access - Providence on NetBSD

Collective Access - Providence is a web-based software application that helps manage and document archives, museum collections, and other digital assets. It requires a web server and a database management system.

In this tutorial, we will go through the steps to install Collective Access - Providence on NetBSD.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure that you have the following:

• A working installation of NetBSD, version 7.0 or above
• Root access to the system
• A web server installation (such as httpd or nginx)
• A database management system installation (such as MySQL or PostgreSQL)

Step 1: Download and Extract the Software

Visit the Collective Access - Providence website at https://collectiveaccess.org/ and download the latest version of the software. You can also use the following command from the terminal:

$ cd /usr/local/src
$ fetch https://github.com/collectiveaccess/providence/archive/1.7.9.tar.gz
$ tar -xzvf 1.7.9.tar.gz

Step 2: Install Required Packages

To ensure that Providence runs smoothly on NetBSD, install the necessary PHP extensions and dependencies:

$ pkgin install php74-ctype php74-curl php74-dom php74-fileinfo php74-filter php74-gd php74-iconv php74-intl php74-json php74-mbstring php74-mysqli php74-opcache php74-pdo php74-pdo_mysql php74-pdo_pgsql php74-session php74-tokenizer php74-xml php74-zip
$ pkgin install graphics/ImageMagick

Additionally, you may need to install additional packages for your particular web server and database management system.

Step 3: Configure the System

• Create a new vhost configuration file in your web server configuration directory:

  $ cd /usr/local/etc/httpd/vhosts
  $ touch providence.conf
  

  Add the following content to the file:

  <Directory /var/www/providence>
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    AllowOverride All
    Order allow,deny
    allow from all
  </Directory>
  
  <VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin admin@example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/providence
    ServerName providence.example.com
    ErrorLog /var/log/providence.error.log
    CustomLog /var/log/providence.access.log combined
  </VirtualHost>
  

• Create a new database user and database for Providence:

  $ su - postgres
  $ createuser -P providence # enter a secure password when prompted
  $ createdb -O providence providence
  $ exit
  

• Edit the configuration file for Providence:

  $ cd /usr/local/src/providence-1.7.9/app/conf/
  $ cp ca_objects.conf.dist ca_objects.conf
  $ vi ca_objects.conf
  

  • Set the install_type to new.
  • Set the db_host, db_port, db_user, db_pass, and db_name parameters to match your database configuration.

• Copy the entire providence directory to the web server directory:

  $ cd /usr/local/src
  $ mv providence-1.7.9 /var/www/providence
  

• Set the correct permissions for the directories:

  $ cd /var/www
  $ chown -R www:www providence/
  $ chmod -R 755 providence/
  

Step 4: Complete the Installation

• Open a web browser and navigate to http://providence.example.com (replace providence.example.com with the domain or IP address of your server)

• Follow the prompts and fill out the necessary information to complete the installation process.

• Once the installation is complete, remove the app/install directory:

  $ cd /var/www/providence
  $ rm -rf app/install
  

Conclusion

You have successfully installed Collective Access - Providence on NetBSD. You can now use the web-based interface to manage and document your archives, museum collections, and other digital assets.

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