Installing yarn.social on NixOS Latest

In this tutorial, we will go through the process of installing yarn.social on NixOS Latest. Yarn.social is a decentralized social network that allows users to connect and share content securely without the involvement of centralized corporations.

Prerequisites

Before we start, you need to have the following things ready:

• A running NixOS Latest installation
• Basic knowledge of using the Nix package manager and NixOS configuration files
• Access to a terminal window

Step 1: Install the required dependencies

To install yarn.social, we need to have some dependencies pre-installed. Open up a terminal window and type the following command:

$ sudo nix-env -iA nixos.nodejs-10_x

This command installs node.js version 10.x, which is required for yarn.social to function.

Step 2: Download the yarn.social package

Download the yarn.social package from https://yarn.social. Unzip the package and move it to your preferred location. We will move it to /var/www.

$ sudo mkdir /var/www
$ sudo unzip yarn-social-release.zip -d /var/www/

Step 3: Configure the NixOS web server

We need to configure the NixOS web server to serve the yarn.social application. Open up the NixOS configuration file located at /etc/nixos/configuration.nix.

$ sudo nano /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

In the server section, add a new virtual host configuration for yarn.social like this:

services.httpd.virtualHosts."yarn.social" = {
  enableACME = true; // Use ACME for SSL/TLS encryption
  forceSSL = true; // Redirect HTTP requests to HTTPS
  enableHTTPS = true;
  hostName = "yarn.social"; // Domain name for the website
  root = "/var/www/yarn-social-0.1.0"; // Root directory of the application
  locations = {
    "/api" = {
      proxyPass = "http://localhost:4000"; // Proxy all API requests to port 4000
      proxyWebsockets = true; // Enable websockets for real-time communication
    };
    "/" = {
      tryFiles = [ "/index.html" "/index.htm" "/default.html" "/default.htm" ]; // Serve static files from the root directory
    };
  };
}

Save and close the file.

Step 4: Start the web server

Restart the NixOS web server to apply the changes we made.

$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch
$ sudo systemctl restart httpd

Step 5: Access the yarn.social application

Now that the web server is running, you can access the yarn.social application by visiting https://yarn.social in your web browser.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed yarn.social on NixOS Latest.

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!