Monica is a free and open-source Personal Relationship Management (PRM) tool that allows you to keep track of your contacts and communication with them. In this tutorial, we'll show you how to install Monica on the latest version of Pop!_OS.
Before you start installing Monica, make sure you have the following prerequisites:
Monica requires Apache and PHP installed on your system. You can install Apache and PHP by running the following command:
sudo apt-get install apache2 php libapache2-mod-php
Once Apache and PHP are installed, you can start the Apache service by running the following command:
sudo systemctl start apache2
To check whether Apache is running, open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost/. You should see the Apache default page.
Monica requires a MySQL or MariaDB database to store its data. In this tutorial, we'll install MariaDB. You can install MariaDB by running the following command:
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
Once MariaDB is installed, you can start the service by running the following command:
sudo systemctl start mariadb
Then, run the following command to secure your MariaDB installation:
sudo mysql_secure_installation
Follow the on-screen instructions to secure your MariaDB installation.
Once you've installed MariaDB, you need to create a database for Monica. You can do this by logging into the MariaDB shell:
sudo mysql -u root -p
Enter your MariaDB root password when prompted.
Then, run the following commands to create a new database for Monica:
CREATE DATABASE monica_db;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON monica_db.* TO 'monica_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'monica_password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;
Replace monica_db with your desired database name, monica_user with your desired username, and monica_password with your desired password.
Now that you have Apache, PHP, and MariaDB installed and configured, you can install Monica. You can do this by following these steps:
Download the latest stable release of Monica from the official website: https://monicahq.com/download.
Extract the downloaded archive to the Apache root directory (/var/www/html/):
sudo unzip monica-latest.zip -d /var/www/html/
Navigate to the monica directory:
cd /var/www/html/monica
Copy the .env.example file to .env:
cp .env.example .env
Edit the .env file and set the following database configuration options:
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=monica_db
DB_USERNAME=monica_user
DB_PASSWORD=monica_password
Replace monica_db, monica_user, and monica_password with the values you specified in Step 3.
Run the following commands to install dependencies:
composer install
npm install
Run the following command to generate the application key:
php artisan key:generate
Finally, run the following command to migrate the database:
php artisan migrate
Congratulations! You have successfully installed Monica on Pop!_OS. You can now access Monica by opening your web browser and navigating to http://localhost/monica.
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!
