How to Install PixelFed on nixOS Latest

PixelFed is a free and open-source federated image sharing platform that is very similar to Instagram. It is built on ActivityPub, which is a decentralized social networking protocol. In this tutorial, we will explain how you can install PixelFed on nixOS latest.

Prerequisites

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

• A running nixOS instance
• A non-root user with sudo privileges
• Git installed on your system
• A domain name

Please note that you will need a domain name in order to install PixelFed. If you do not have one already, you can purchase one from a domain registrar.

Step 1 - Clone the PixelFed Repository

The first step is to clone the PixelFed repository from the project's GitHub repository. Open a terminal and run the following command:

$ git clone https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed.git

This will clone the Pixelfed repository to your current directory.

Step 2 - Install Dependencies

Before we can run PixelFed, we need to install some dependencies. We will use Nix to manage our dependencies.

Run the following command to install the necessary dependencies:

$ nix-shell --run "composer install"

This will install all the necessary dependencies.

Step 3 - Setup the Environment Variables

We need to set up the environment variables that PixelFed requires. To do this, copy the .env.example file to .env:

$ cp .env.example .env

Open the .env file with a text editor and fill in the appropriate values. You will need to set the APP_URL variable to your domain name.

Step 4 - Create the Database and Run Migrations

The next step is to create the database and run the migrations.

Run the following command to create the database:

$ php artisan db:create

After the database is created, run the following command to run the migrations:

$ php artisan migrate

This will create the necessary tables in the database.

Step 5 - Setup the Web Server

Finally, we need to set up the web server. We will use Apache for this tutorial.

Create a new file in the Apache configuration directory:

$ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/pixelfed.conf

Add the following configuration to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName your.domain.com

    DocumentRoot /path/to/pixelfed/public
    DirectoryIndex index.php

    <Directory /path/to/pixelfed/public>
        AllowOverride All
        Options -Indexes -MultiViews
        Require all granted

        <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
            RewriteEngine On

            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
            RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
        </IfModule>
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Make sure to replace your.domain.com with your domain name, and /path/to/pixelfed with the path to your PixelFed installation.

Enable the new configuration:

$ sudo ln -s /etc/apache2/sites-available/pixelfed.conf /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/pixelfed.conf

Restart Apache for the changes to take effect:

$ sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 6 - Setup the Cron Job

PixelFed requires a cron job to be set up in order to run some of its background tasks.

Add the following line to your crontab file:

* * * * * php /path/to/pixelfed/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Make sure to replace /path/to/pixelfed with the path to your PixelFed installation.

Step 7 - Accessing the Web Interface

After completing the steps above, PixelFed should be installed and running on your system. Visit http://your.domain.com in your web browser to access the web interface.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have shown you how to install PixelFed on nixOS latest. By following the steps above, you should be able to set up your own federated image sharing platform.

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