How to Install Dotclear on OpenBSD

In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing Dotclear, which is a free and open-source blog publishing application, on OpenBSD. We will be using OpenBSD 6.9 as our example operating system.

Prerequisites

Before starting, you will need:

• A functioning OpenBSD 6.9 system
• Root access or superuser privileges

Step 1 - Install Required Packages

Our first step is to install the necessary dependencies for Dotclear to function correctly:

$ doas pkg_add php php-json php-gd php-dom php-iconv php-mbstring php-pdo php-pdo_pgsql postgresql-server postgresql-client

Step 2 - Set up PostgreSQL Database Server

We will now set up the PostgreSQL database server by initializing the database cluster and creating a new database user:

$ doas rcctl start postgresql
$ doas su - _postgresql
$ initdb -D /var/postgresql/data
$ exit
$ doas rcctl restart postgresql
$ createuser -P dotclearuser
$ createdb -O dotclearuser dotcleardb

Step 3 - Download and Install Dotclear

Next, download the latest version of Dotclear from the official website:

$ doas ftp https://download.dotclear.org/latest.tar.gz
$ tar xzf latest.tar.gz -C /var/www/
$ mv /var/www/dotclear-* /var/www/dotclear

Change ownership of the directory to the web server user:

$ doas chown -R _www:_www /var/www/dotclear

Step 4 - Configure Nginx for Dotclear

Create a new Nginx site configuration file for Dotclear:

$ doas vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/dotclear.conf

Paste the following configuration into the file:

server {
    listen       80;
    server_name  domain_name_or_IP_address;
    root         /var/www/dotclear;
    index        index.php;
    access_log   /var/log/nginx/dotclear-access.log;
    error_log    /var/log/nginx/dotclear-error.log;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri =404;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Replace domain_name_or_IP_address with your server domain name or IP address.

Enable the site configuration and restart nginx:

$ doas ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/dotclear.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
$ doas rcctl restart nginx

Step 5 - Complete the Installation

Visit your Dotclear site by navigating to your server's domain name or IP address in a browser. You should see the installation wizard prompting you to enter your database information.

• For the database type, select PostgreSQL.
• For the database name, enter dotcleardb.
• For the database user, enter dotclearuser.
• For the password, enter the password you set for dotclearuser in step 2.

Complete the installation wizard by following the prompts.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you have successfully installed Dotclear on OpenBSD. You can now log in to your Dotclear site and start writing and publishing content.

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