Damselyf is an open source messaging and collaboration platform that lets you communicate securely with your team. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing Damselfly on Ubuntu Server.
Before installing Damselfly, you need to make sure that you have the following prerequisites:
Before installing any software, it's always good to update the system to the latest version.
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
Damselfly requires a web server to function. We will use Nginx, a popular open-source web server, in this tutorial.
sudo apt install nginx -y
After installation, start Nginx:
sudo systemctl start nginx
Damselfly uses PostgreSQL as its database. Install PostgreSQL and its command-line interface:
sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib -y
Enable and start the PostgreSQL service:
sudo systemctl enable postgresql
sudo systemctl start postgresql
Create a new PostgreSQL user and database for Damselfly.
sudo su - postgres
createdb damselfly
createuser --interactive
When prompted, enter the username and password for the new user.
Finally, grant the user access to the database:
psql
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE damselfly TO [username];
exit;
Download the latest version of Damselfly from the official website:
wget https://get.damselfly.info/damselfly_latest.tar.gz -P /tmp
Extract the downloaded file:
sudo tar -xzf /tmp/damselfly_latest.tar.gz -C /var/www/
Then, rename the extracted directory:
sudo mv /var/www/damselfly-* /var/www/damselfly
Install the dependencies required by Damselfly:
sudo apt install python3-pip python3-venv -y
Create a new virtual environment for Damselfly:
cd /var/www/damselfly
python3 -m venv env
source env/bin/activate
Install the required Python packages for Damselfly:
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
Copy the settings_template.py file to settings.py:
cp damselfly/settings_template.py damselfly/settings.py
Then, edit the settings.py file using your preferred text editor:
nano damselfly/settings.py
Update the following settings:
SECRET_KEY = 'your-secret-key'
SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO', 'https')
DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
'NAME': 'damselfly',
'USER': 'postgres',
'PASSWORD': 'yourpassword',
'HOST': 'localhost',
'PORT': '',
}
}
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['yourdomain.com']
DEBUG = False
Save and close the file.
Create the Damselfly database tables:
python3 manage.py migrate
Create a Damselfly superuser:
python3 manage.py createsuperuser
Provide the required information when prompted.
Collect the static files required by Damselfly:
python3 manage.py collectstatic --noinput
Create a new Systemd service file for Damselfly:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/damselfly.service
Add the following lines to the file:
[Unit]
Description=Damselfly
After=network.target
[Service]
User=www-data
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/damselfly
ExecStart=/var/www/damselfly/env/bin/python3 /var/www/damselfly/manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Save and close the file.
Enable the Damselfly service and start it:
sudo systemctl enable damselfly
sudo systemctl start damselfly
Create a new server block for Damselfly:
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/damselfly
Add the following lines to the file:
server {
listen 80;
server_name yourdomain.com;
return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}
server {
listen 443 ssl http2;
server_name yourdomain.com;
ssl_certificate /path/to/ssl/certificate;
ssl_certificate_key /path/to/ssl/certificate/key;
location / {
include proxy_params;
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
}
}
Save and close the file.
Then, enable the server block:
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/damselfly /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
Test the Nginx configuration:
sudo nginx -t
Reload Nginx to apply the changes:
sudo systemctl reload nginx
Visit your domain name in a web browser to access Damselfly. If everything has been configured correctly, you should see the Damselfly login screen.
In this tutorial, we have shown you how to install Damselfly on Ubuntu Server. You can now collaborate securely with your team using this open source messaging and collaboration platform.
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!
