Installing FreeScout on POP! OS Latest

In this tutorial, we will walk you through the process of installing FreeScout, an open-source help desk software that allows you to manage your customer support tickets and inquiries.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

• A machine running POP! OS Latest
• A web server installed, such as Nginx or Apache
• PHP and its extensions installed
• Composer installed

Step 1: Install Dependencies

The first step is to install the necessary dependencies. Run the following command in your terminal:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git php7.4 php7.4-fpm php7.4-mbstring php7.4-xml composer

This command will update your package list and install the necessary PHP dependencies, as well as Git and Composer.

Step 2: Clone the FreeScout Repository

Next, we need to clone the FreeScout repository from GitHub. Run the following command in your terminal:

git clone https://github.com/freescout-helpdesk/freescout.git

This will clone the repository to your current directory.

Step 3: Install FreeScout

Navigate to the FreeScout directory and install dependencies using Composer:

cd freescout
composer install

This will install all the necessary dependencies.

Step 4: Configure Nginx

Now we need to create a virtual host for the FreeScout site in Nginx. Create a file called freescout in the /etc/nginx/sites-available directory:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/freescout

Paste the following configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    root /var/www/html/freescout/public;
    index index.php index.html;

    server_name your-domain.com;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
    }
}

Replace your-domain.com with your domain name.

Save the file and exit.

Next, we need to enable the site and restart Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/freescout /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 5: Set Up Database

We're almost there! Now we need to create a new MySQL database and user for FreeScout.

Log in to MySQL using the following command:

mysql -u root -p

Enter your MySQL root password when prompted.

Create a new database and user:

CREATE DATABASE freescout_db;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON freescout_db.* TO 'freescout'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your-password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Replace your-password with your desired strong password.

Exit MySQL using the exit command.

Step 6: Configure .env

Now we need to configure the .env file. Copy the .env.example file to .env:

cp .env.example .env

Open the file in your text editor:

nano .env

Update the following lines with your information:

DB_DATABASE=freescout_db
DB_USERNAME=freescout
DB_PASSWORD=your-password

APP_URL=http://your-domain.com

Save the file and exit.

Step 7: Run the Installer

Finally, we need to run the installer:

php artisan freescout:install

Follow the prompts to complete the installation, including setting up the admin account and default email settings.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured FreeScout on your POP! OS Latest machine. You can now create and manage support tickets for your customers.

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