Publify is a simple but powerful blogging platform that is designed to be easy to use and maintain. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing Publify on OpenBSD using some simple commands.
Before we begin, make sure you have the following prerequisites:
Before we can install Publify, we need to install some dependencies that it requires. Open a terminal window and log in as the root user:
$ su -
Then, run the following command to install the required dependencies:
# pkg_add ruby ruby-bundler ruby-rack nginx mariadb-server mariadb-client
MariaDB is a powerful and popular relational database management system that is used by many web applications, including Publify. We need to install and configure MariaDB before we can install Publify.
To install MariaDB, run the following command:
# rcctl start mysqld
Then, run the following command to configure it:
# mysql_secure_installation
Follow the instructions to set a root password and secure the installation.
Next, log in to MariaDB as the root user:
# mysql -u root -p
Create a new database for Publify:
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE publify;
Create a new user for the Publify database:
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE USER 'publify'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
Grant the new user privileges to the Publify database:
MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON publify.* TO 'publify'@'localhost';
Flush the privileges and exit the MariaDB console:
MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
MariaDB [(none)]> EXIT;
Now that we have installed the required dependencies and configured MariaDB, we can install and configure Publify.
First, create a new user for Publify:
# adduser publify
Switch to the new user:
# su - publify
Download and extract the latest version of Publify:
$ curl -L https://github.com/publify/publify/archive/main.zip -o publify.zip
$ unzip publify.zip
$ mv publify-main publify
Install the required Ruby gems:
$ cd publify
$ bundle install --path=vendor/bundle
Configure Publify by copying the example configuration file:
$ cp config/database.yml.example config/database.yml
Edit the configuration file and update the database connection information:
production:
adapter: mysql2
database: publify
username: publify
password: password
host: localhost
encoding: utf8mb4
collation: utf8mb4_unicode_ci
Finally, run the following command to start the Publify server:
$ bundle exec rackup -D config.ru
We need to configure Nginx as a reverse proxy to the Publify server so that we can access it using a web browser.
Create a new Nginx configuration file:
# vi /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
Add the following configuration:
http {
server {
listen 80;
server_name yourdomain.com;
location / {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9292;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}
}
}
Replace "yourdomain.com" with your own domain name.
Start the Nginx service:
# rcctl start nginx
Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Publify on OpenBSD. You can now access your Publify blog by visiting your domain name in a web browser.
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!