How to Install Zulip on NetBSD

Zulip is an open-source team chat software that offers threaded conversations, image and file sharing, and more. In this tutorial, we will go through the steps to install Zulip on NetBSD.

Prerequisites

Before we start, ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

• NetBSD version 7.0 or later
• Root access
• A web server (we will use Nginx in this tutorial)

Step 1: Install required packages

We need to install the required packages on the NetBSD server before we can install Zulip. We can do this using the following command:

# pkgin update
# pkgin install nginx python38 py38-pillow py38-psycopg2 py38-ldap3 py38-django-secure py38-Pillow

This command will update the package repository and install the required packages.

Step 2: Install Zulip

Next, we will download and install Zulip. Follow the steps below:

1. Download the latest version of Zulip from the official website using the following command:

# curl -L https://github.com/zulip/zulip/archive/master.tar.gz | tar xz

2. Move the extracted Zulip directory to a suitable location, for example /opt:

# mv zulip-master /opt/zulip

3. Change the ownership of the /opt/zulip directory to the www user and group:

# chown -R www:www /opt/zulip

Step 3: Configure Nginx

We need to configure Nginx as a reverse proxy to forward requests to the Zulip server. Follow the steps below:

1. Create a new Nginx server configuration file using the following command:

# nano /usr/pkg/etc/nginx/sites-available/zulip.conf

2. Add the following configuration to the file:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your.domain.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name your.domain.com;

    ssl_certificate /path/to/your/cert.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/your/key.pem;

    ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;

    # Uncomment the following line if you want to enable HTTP/2
    # http2_push_preload on;

    client_max_body_size 10M;

    # Redirect non-HTTPS traffic to HTTPS
    if ($scheme != "https") {
        return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
    }

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9991/;

        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }

    location /websocket {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9993/;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    }
}

Note: Replace your.domain.com with your domain name, and replace /path/to/your/cert.pem and /path/to/your/key.pem with the paths to your SSL certificate and key.

3. Save the file and exit the text editor.

4. Create a symbolic link to the sites-enabled directory:

# ln -s /usr/pkg/etc/nginx/sites-available/zulip.conf /usr/pkg/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

5. Restart Nginx to apply the changes:

# service nginx restart

Step 4: Start Zulip services

We need to start the Zulip services to launch the server. Follow the steps below:

1. Change to the /opt/zulip directory:

# cd /opt/zulip

2. Activate the Python virtual environment:

# su - www
$ source /opt/zulip-venv/bin/activate

3. Start the Zulip server by running the following command:

$ ./scripts/run-dev.py

4. Open https://your.domain.com in your web browser to access Zulip.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Zulip on NetBSD. You can now start using Zulip to communicate with your team members. Remember, this tutorial is for testing and development purposes only. You should use a production-ready web server for a live deployment.

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