How to Install Simple-URL-Shortener on OpenBSD

In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps to install the Simple-URL-Shortener on your OpenBSD system. Simple-URL-Shortener is an open source URL shortener project that can be used to create shortened URLs that redirect to a specified destination URL.

Prerequisites

Before we start installing the Simple-URL-Shortener, ensure that you have the following:

• A running instance of OpenBSD
• Basic knowledge of the command line interface

Step 1: Install Dependencies

Simple-URL-Shortener requires the following dependencies to be installed on your system:

• Apache2
• PHP7.3 or higher
• Git

To install these packages, run the following command on your OpenBSD terminal:

$ doas pkg_add apache php git

Step 2: Clone Simple-URL-Shortener

Next, you need to clone the Simple-URL-Shortener source code from Github repository. You can do this by running the following command on your OpenBSD terminal:

$ git clone https://github.com/azlux/Simple-URL-Shortener.git

This will create a Simple-URL-Shortener directory in your current working directory.

Step 3: Configure Apache

Now that you have the source code, you need to configure Apache web server to serve the Simple-URL-Shortener. You can do this by creating a virtual host file.

First, create a new virtual host file called simple-urls.conf within the /etc/httpd/conf/vhosts/ directory:

$ doas vi /etc/httpd/conf/vhosts/simple-urls.conf

Add the following configuration to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
         ServerName shortener.example.com
         ServerAlias www.shortener.example.com
         DocumentRoot /path/to/Simple-URL-Shortener
         <Directory /path/to/Simple-URL-Shortener>
                 Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
                 AllowOverride All
                 Require all granted
         </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Make sure to replace shortener.example.com with your own domain name, and /path/to/Simple-URL-Shortener with the actual path to the Simple-URL-Shortener directory.

Step 4: Start Apache and Test

Once the virtual host file is configured, save and close the file. Then, start the Apache web server by running the following command:

$ doas rcctl start httpd

Now, you can test if Simple-URL-Shortener is working by navigating to http://shortener.example.com in your web browser. If everything is correctly configured, you should see the Simple-URL-Shortener homepage.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Simple-URL-Shortener on your OpenBSD system. You can now start using it to create and manage your own URL shortening service for your website.

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!

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