How to Install Vanilla Forums on OpenBSD

Requirement: OpenBSD installation

Villa Forums is an open-source, flexible, and powerful community forum software. It is written in PHP language and uses MySQL or SQLite as a database. In this tutorial, we will explain how to install Vanilla Forums on OpenBSD.

Step 1: Install Dependencies

Before installing Vanilla Forums, you need to install some necessary packages.

# pkg_add php php-mysqli php-gd php-curl

Step 2: Download Vanilla Forums

Download the Vanilla Forums archive from the official website at https://open.vanillaforums.com/get/vanilla-core.zip.

# cd /var/www/htdocs
# fetch https://open.vanillaforums.com/get/vanilla-core.zip

Now, unzip the downloaded archive.

# unzip vanilla-core.zip

Step 3: Create a MySQL Database

Create a MySQL database and user for Vanilla Forums.

# mysql -u root -p

mysql> CREATE DATABASE vanilla_db;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON vanilla_db.* TO 'vanilla_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> EXIT;

Replace vanilla_db, vanilla_user, and password with your desired database name, username, and password.

Step 4: Configure Vanilla Forums

Copy the config file and set the appropriate values for your installation.

# cd /var/www/htdocs/conf
# cp conf-sample.php conf.php
# vi conf.php

Update the following settings in conf.php file:

$Configuration['Database']['Name'] = 'vanilla_db';
$Configuration['Database']['User'] = 'vanilla_user';
$Configuration['Database']['Password'] = 'password';
$Configuration['Database']['Host'] = 'localhost';

Step 5: Set File Permissions

Set the appropriate file permissions for the Vanilla forums directory.

# chown -R www:www /var/www/htdocs/

Step 6: Access Vanilla Forums

Now, you can access Vanilla Forums from the web browser by visiting http://server-ip-address/vanilla/.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Vanilla Forums on OpenBSD.

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!