How to Install LimeSurvey on OpenBSD

LimeSurvey is a powerful and flexible open-source survey tool that can be used for conducting online surveys. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the step-by-step process of installing LimeSurvey on OpenBSD.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure that you have the following:

• A server running OpenBSD.
• Access to the root user account or an account with sudo privileges.
• A web server (we will be using Apache).

Step 1: Install Apache

If you don't already have Apache installed on your server, you can install it using the following command:

$ sudo pkg_add apache

Step 2: Install PHP

LimeSurvey requires PHP, so you will need to install it using the following command:

$ sudo pkg_add php

After installing PHP, you will also need to install the following PHP modules:

$ sudo pkg_add php-pgsql php-mbstring php-tokenizer

Step 3: Install PostgreSQL

LimeSurvey requires a database, and we will be using PostgreSQL. You can install it using the following command:

$ sudo pkg_add postgresql-server postgresql-client

After installing PostgreSQL, you will need to initialize the database with the following command:

$ sudo /usr/local/bin/initdb -D /var/postgresql/data

You will also need to start the PostgreSQL server using the following command:

$ sudo /usr/local/etc/rc.d/postgresql start

Step 4: Create a Database and User

Next, you will need to create a database and user for LimeSurvey to use. You can do this using the following commands:

$ sudo su - postgres
$ psql
# CREATE DATABASE limesurvey;
# CREATE USER limesurvey WITH PASSWORD 'PASSWORD';
# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE limesurvey TO limesurvey;
# \q

Replace 'PASSWORD' with a secure password for the user.

Step 5: Download and Extract LimeSurvey

You can download LimeSurvey from the official website at https://www.limesurvey.org. Download the latest stable release and extract it to the Apache document root directory:

$ cd /var/www/htdocs/
$ sudo wget https://download.limesurvey.org/latest-stable-release/limesurveyxx-latest.zip
$ sudo unzip limesurveyxx-latest.zip
$ sudo mv limesurveyxx /var/www/htdocs/limesurvey

Step 6: Set File Permissions

Set the appropriate file permissions for LimeSurvey:

$ sudo chown -R _www:_www /var/www/htdocs/limesurvey
$ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/htdocs/limesurvey

Step 7: Configure Apache

Next, you will need to edit the Apache configuration file to add a virtual host for LimeSurvey:

$ sudo vi /etc/httpd.conf

Add the following code to the end of the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName survey.example.com
        ServerAlias www.survey.example.com
        DocumentRoot /var/www/htdocs/limesurvey
        <Directory /var/www/htdocs/limesurvey>
                Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
                AllowOverride All
                Order allow,deny
                allow from all
        </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Replace 'survey.example.com' with your domain name.

Save and close the file, then restart Apache using the following command:

$ sudo /etc/rc.d/httpd restart

Step 8: Run LimeSurvey Installation

Finally, open your web browser and navigate to the LimeSurvey installation page by entering the following address:

http://survey.example.com/index.php/admin

Replace 'survey.example.com' with your domain name.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the LimeSurvey installation. When you get to the database configuration page, enter the following details:

Database type: PostgreSQL Database server: localhost User name: limesurvey Password: (enter the password you set earlier) Database name: limesurvey

Once the installation is complete, you should be able to access LimeSurvey from your web browser.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have shown you how to install LimeSurvey on OpenBSD. LimeSurvey is a powerful tool that can be used for conducting online surveys, and we hope that this guide has helped you to get started with it. If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment below.

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