Tutorial: How to install GoatCounter on OpenBSD

GoatCounter is a simple web analytics tool that helps you track website traffic. In this tutorial, we will guide you through installing GoatCounter on OpenBSD, a free and open-source operating system.

Prerequisites

Before we get started, make sure you have the following:

• OpenBSD installed on your system
• A web server installed and set up (NGINX, Apache, etc.)
• SSH access to your server
• Basic knowledge of the command line

Step 1: Download GoatCounter

To download GoatCounter, run the following command in your terminal:

$ ftp https://dl.goatcounter.com/v1.3.3/goatcounter-v1.3.3-openbsd-amd64.tar.gz

This will download the latest version of GoatCounter for OpenBSD. You can find the latest version on the GoatCounter website.

Step 2: Extract the files

Once the download is complete, extract the files from the compressed archive by running the following command:

$ tar xf goatcounter-v1.3.3-openbsd-amd64.tar.gz

This will create a goatcounter directory in your current directory.

Step 3: Configure GoatCounter

To configure GoatCounter, run the following command:

$ ./goatcounter setup

This will prompt you to enter your website's URL and database credentials. Follow the prompts to complete the configuration process.

Step 4: Start the GoatCounter server

To start the GoatCounter server, run the following command:

$ ./goatcounter serve

This will start the GoatCounter server on port 8080. You can access it by visiting http://localhost:8080 in your web browser.

Step 5: Configure your web server

To use GoatCounter with your web server, you need to configure it to pass traffic to the GoatCounter server. The exact steps depend on your web server software, but here is an example configuration for NGINX:

location /goatcounter {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}

This configuration tells NGINX to proxy all requests to /goatcounter to the GoatCounter server running on localhost:8080.

Conclusion

That's it! You have successfully installed GoatCounter on OpenBSD and configured it to work with your web server. You can now start tracking website traffic using GoatCounter.

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