How to Install eLabFTW on POP! OS Latest

eLabFTW is a free and open-source laboratory notebook that enables researchers to manage experiments, store protocols, and collaborate with others. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install eLabFTW on the latest version of POP! OS.

Step 1: Install Apache and PHP

Before we begin, we need to install Apache web server and PHP on our POP! OS. To do this, open the terminal and type the following command:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apache2
sudo apt-get install php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql

This will install Apache web server and PHP on your system.

Step 2: Install MySQL

Next, we will install MySQL, which is required to run eLabFTW. To install MySQL, type the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

During the installation, you will be prompted to set the root password for MySQL. Enter a secure password and remember it.

Step 3: Install eLabFTW

Now that we have installed all the necessary components, we can proceed with the installation of eLabFTW.

1. Download the latest version of eLabFTW from their website.

2. Once downloaded, extract the contents of the zip file into the /var/www/html directory. You can do this by opening the terminal and typing the following command:

sudo unzip elabftw*.zip -d /var/www/html/

This will extract the contents of the zip file into the /var/www/html/elabftw directory.

3. Next, we need to configure the database for eLabFTW. To do this, we need to create a new database and a new user for eLabFTW.

   1. Open the terminal and log in to the MySQL server with the following command:

   sudo mysql -u root -p
   

   2. Enter the root password you set earlier when prompted.

   3. Create a new database for eLabFTW with the following SQL command:

   CREATE DATABASE elabftw;
   

   4. Create a new user for eLabFTW with the following SQL command:

   CREATE USER 'elabftw'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
   

   Replace 'password' with a secure password that you choose.

   5. Grant the user permission to access the database with the following SQL command:

   GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON elabftw.* TO 'elabftw'@'localhost';
   

   6. Exit the MySQL prompt with the following command:

   exit
   

4. We now need to configure eLabFTW to use the database we just created.

   1. Open the config.php file in the /var/www/html/elabftw directory using a text editor.

   sudo nano /var/www/html/elabftw/config.php
   

   2. Find the following lines of code:

   define('ELABFTW_DB_USER', 'root');
   define('ELABFTW_DB_PASS', '');
   define('ELABFTW_DB_NAME', 'elabftw');
   

   3. Update the values of these variables to match the database user and password you created earlier.

   define('ELABFTW_DB_USER', 'elabftw');
   define('ELABFTW_DB_PASS', 'password');
   define('ELABFTW_DB_NAME', 'elabftw');
   

   Save and exit the file.

5. Finally, we need to set the correct permissions on the /var/www/html/elabftw directory.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/elabftw
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/elabftw

This will give the Apache web server permission to write to the necessary directories.

Step 4: Access eLabFTW

With everything installed and configured, we can now access eLabFTW through a web browser.

1. Open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost/elabftw.

2. You should see the eLabFTW login page.

3. Enter the username and password you wish to use for eLabFTW.

4. You can now start using eLabFTW to manage your experiments and collaborate with others.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have shown you how to install eLabFTW on the latest version of POP! OS. With eLabFTW, you can easily manage your experiments, store protocols, and collaborate with others, making your research more efficient and effective.

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