How to Install Friendica on OpenBSD

Friendica is a free and open-source decentralized social networking platform that supports multiple social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing Friendica on OpenBSD.

Prerequisites

• OpenBSD installed on your system
• Root access
• Access to the internet

Step 1: Install Apache

Friendica requires a web server to run, and Apache is a popular web server that is compatible with OpenBSD. You can install Apache using the package manager using the following command in the terminal:

$ sudo pkg_add apache-httpd

Step 2: Install MariaDB

Friendica also requires a database to store its data, and MariaDB is a popular and widely-used database management system. You can install MariaDB using the following command in the terminal:

$ sudo pkg_add mariadb-server

Step 3: Create a MariaDB Database and User

Login to the MariaDB server using the following command in the terminal:

$ mysql -u root -p

Create a new database and user for Friendica using the following commands:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE friendica;
mysql> CREATE USER 'friendicauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpassword';
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON friendica.* TO 'friendicauser'@'localhost';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Replace 'yourpassword' with the password you want to set for the 'friendicauser' MySQL user.

Step 4: Install PHP

Friendica is written in PHP, so you need to install PHP to run it. Install PHP and the required dependencies using the following command:

$ sudo pkg_add php php-mysqli php-gd php-curl php-mbstring php-zip

Step 5: Install Git

Git is required to download friendica. Install Git using the following command:

$ sudo pkg_add git

Step 6: Download Friendica

Navigate to the Apache web server directory using the following command:

$ cd /var/www

Clone the Friendica repository using the following command:

$ sudo git clone https://github.com/friendica/friendica.git

Step 7: Configure Apache

Navigate to the Apache configuration directory using the following command:

$ cd /etc/httpd/conf

Open the httpd.conf file using your text editor and modify the following lines:

DirectoryIndex index.php 
DocumentRoot "/var/www/friendica"

Save the changes and exit the text editor.

Step 8: Start the Services

Start the Apache and MySQL services using the following commands:

$ sudo rcctl enable httpd
$ sudo rcctl start httpd

$ sudo rcctl enable mysqld
$ sudo rcctl start mysqld

Step 9: Configure Friendica

Copy the sample configuration file to the appropriate directory using the following command:

$ sudo cp config/local.config.php.sample config/local.config.php

Open the local.config.php file using your text editor and configure the database settings by replacing the relevant lines with the following:

$db_host = 'localhost';
$db_user = 'friendicauser';
$db_pass = 'yourpassword';
$db_data = 'friendica';

Save the changes and exit the text editor.

Step 10: Run the Friendica Setup Wizard

In your web browser, navigate to http://your-server-ip/friendica and the installation wizard should start automatically. Follow the prompts to complete the installation process.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed Friendica on your OpenBSD machine. You can now use Friendica to create your own decentralized social network that supports multiple social networks. If you encountered any errors during the installation process or have any questions, please let us know in the comments section.

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