How to install GoToSocial on Void Linux

GoToSocial is a self-hosted social media platform written in Go. In this tutorial, we will cover the steps for installing and configuring GoToSocial on Void Linux.

Prerequisites

Before we start, please make sure that you have the following prerequisites:

• A working installation of Void Linux.
• Basic knowledge of the command line interface.

Step 1: Install dependencies

To build and run GoToSocial, we need to install some dependencies. Open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo xbps-install -S go postgresql acme-client

This installs the following packages:

• go: The Go programming language.
• postgresql: A relational database management system.
• acme-client: A Let's Encrypt client to obtain SSL certificates.

Step 2: Clone GoToSocial repository

Next, we need to clone the GoToSocial repository. To do that, run the following command:

git clone https://github.com/superseriousbusiness/gotosocial.git

This will download the GoToSocial source code to your current directory.

Step 3: Configure PostgreSQL

In this step, we will create a PostgreSQL user and database for GoToSocial. Run the following commands to do that:

sudo -u _postgresql initdb --pgdata=/var/postgresql/data
sudo ln -s /etc/sv/postgresql /var/service
sudo sv start postgresql
sudo su - postgres
createuser -P gotosocial
createdb -O gotosocial gotosocial
exit

This will create a new PostgreSQL user called gotosocial with a password prompt, create a new database called gotosocial, and switch back to the root user.

Step 4: Build and configure GoToSocial

In this step, we will build and configure GoToSocial. Run the following commands to do that:

cd gotosocial
sudo make build
cp example/config.yml config.yml

This will build a binary called gotosocial and copy the example configuration file to config.yml. Edit the config.yml file and replace the example values with your own.

database:
  driver: postgres
  url: postgres://gotosocial:[password]@localhost:5432/gotosocial
  log: true
ssl:
  host: example.com
  email: user@example.com
  production: true
  dir: /etc/acme

Replace [password] with the password you set earlier during the PostgreSQL user creation. Also, replace example.com and user@example.com with your domain name and email address.

Step 5: Start GoToSocial

In this final step, we will start the GoToSocial server. Run the following command:

sudo ACME_DIR=/etc/acme bin/gotosocial

This starts the GoToSocial server using the configuration in config.yml.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed and configured GoToSocial on Void Linux. You can now access the GoToSocial web interface by visiting https://[your_domain_name].

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