IPv6rs

How to Install Lychee on OpenBSD

Lychee is an open-source, self-hosted photo-management tool. In this tutorial, we will learn how to install Lychee on OpenBSD.

Prerequisites

• OpenBSD installation
• Installed Apache server
• Installed PHP version 5.5 or higher with required PHP modules such as php-bcmath, php-mbstring, php-gd, and php-pdo_mysql
• A MySQL or MariaDB database installation
• Basic knowledge of the OpenBSD command line

Step 1: Downloading and Extracting Lychee

First, we need to download Lychee from the official website or GitHub repository.

$ su
$ cd /var/www/
$ ftp https://github.com/LycheeOrg/Lychee/archive/master.zip
$ unzip master.zip
$ mv Lychee-master/ lychee/

Once the Lychee file has been extracted into the lychee/ directory, you can set the correct file permissions to ensure proper functionality.

$ chown -R www:www /var/www/lychee
$ chmod -R 755 /var/www/lychee

Step 2: Configuring Apache Host

Next, we need to create an Apache virtual host for Lychee. You can do this by creating a new file named lychee.conf in the /etc/httpd/conf/ directory.

$ vi /etc/httpd/conf/lychee.conf

Add the following code to the lychee.conf file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/lychee
    ServerName lychee.example.com
    ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/lychee.error.log
    CustomLog /var/log/httpd/lychee.access.log combined
    <Directory "/var/www/lychee">
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file.

Step 3: Configuring Lychee

Lychee uses PHP for its configuration, and to do this, we need to update the config.php file. You can do this by copying the provided config_default.php file to config.php.

$ cd /var/www/lychee
$ cp data/config_default.php data/config.php

Next, open the config.php file and update the following settings:

// Your MySQL/MariaDB username and password
$dbUserName = 'username';
$dbPassword = 'password';

// Your MySQL/MariaDB database name
$dbName = 'lychee';

// Your Lychee installation URL
$protocol = (!empty($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['HTTPS'] !== 'off' || $_SERVER['SERVER_PORT'] == 443) ? "https://" : "http://";
define('LYCHEE_URL', $protocol . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . '/');

// Define your Lychee table prefix
$tablePrefix = '';

Save and close the file.

Step 4: Initializing the Database

Before we can initialize the Lychee database, we need to create the database and a user with the required privileges.

$ mysql -u root -p
mysql> CREATE DATABASE lychee;
mysql> CREATE USER 'username'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON lychee.* TO 'username'@'localhost';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> EXIT;

Next, we can navigate to http://lychee.example.com/setup/ and continue with the database initialization process.

Step 5: Final Steps

After completing the setup process, we should remove the setup directory to ensure proper security.

$ cd /var/www/lychee
$ rm -rf setup

Finally, we need to restart the Apache server to ensure that all configurations are applied.

$ rcctl restart httpd

Conclusion

We have successfully installed Lychee on OpenBSD using Apache and PHP. Now, you can upload your images and enjoy your new photo management tool.

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!