How to Install Coral on OpenBSD

Coral is an open source commenting platform developed by The Coral Project. Here's how to install Coral on OpenBSD.

Requirements

Before proceeding, make sure you have the following:

• Access to a server running OpenBSD 6.9 or later
• A web server (such as Nginx or Apache)
• A PostgreSQL server installed and configured on your OpenBSD server
• A working domain name pointed to your server's IP address

Installation Steps

1. Connect to your OpenBSD server using SSH.
2. Create a new directory where you want to install Coral:

$ sudo mkdir -p /var/www/coral

3. Clone the Coral repository from GitHub:

$ sudo git clone https://github.com/coralproject/talk.git /var/www/coral

4. Change into the Coral directory and install the dependencies:

$ cd /var/www/coral
$ sudo chmod +x bin/build-attributions
$ sudo bin/build-attributions
$ sudo npm install
$ sudo bin/build-custom

5. Copy the sample configuration file to a new file:

$ sudo cp config.example.json config.json

6. Edit the config.json file with your domain name and PostgreSQL database settings:

{
  "mongodb": {
    "connectionString": "mongodb://localhost/talk",
    "debug": false
  },

  "redis": {
    "host": "localhost",
    "port": 6379,
    "database": 0
  },

  "postgres": {
    "database": "talk",
    "recommended": false,
    "dialect": "postgres",
    "operatorAliases": false,
    "logging": false, 
    "host": "localhost",
    "port": 5432,
    "username": "talk",
    "password": "password",
    "dialectOptions": {
      "ssl": false
    }
  },

  "mail": {
    "fromAddress": "no-reply@your-domain.com",
    "transport": {
      "service": "your-email-service",
      "auth": {
        "user": "your-email-service-username",
        "pass": "your-email-service-password"
      }
    }
  },

  "server": {
    "port": 3000,
    "host": "talk.your-domain.com",
    "protocol": "https",
    "forceServerHttps": true,
    "urlPrefix": "/api/v1"
  }
}

Make the necessary changes to the settings and save the file.

7. Create a new PostgreSQL database and user with the appropriate permissions. You can use the following commands:

$ sudo su - postgres
$ psql
=# CREATE DATABASE talk;
=# CREATE USER talk WITH PASSWORD 'password';
=# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE talk TO talk;

Replace "password" with a strong password of your choice.

8. Create a new systemd service file for Coral:

$ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/coral.service

Add the following to the file:

[Unit]
Description=Coral Commenting System
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=www
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/coral
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node app.js
Restart=on-failure
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
Environment=PGPASSWORD=password

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Replace "password" with the same password you used for the PostgreSQL user.

9. Start the Coral service:

$ sudo systemctl start coral

10. Enable the Coral service to start at boot:

$ sudo systemctl enable coral

11. Configure your web server to reverse proxy requests to Coral.

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

location /coral {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}

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

ProxyPass /coral http://127.0.0.1:3000/
ProxyPassReverse /coral http://127.0.0.1:3000/

Replace "coral" with the URL path you want to use for Coral.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've successfully installed Coral on your OpenBSD server. You can now navigate to your Coral URL and start using your new commenting system.

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!