How to Install Access to Memory (AtoM) on Alpine Linux Latest?

This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing Access to Memory (AtoM) on Alpine Linux Latest. AtoM is an open-source web application for archival description and access.

Prerequisites

  • A running Alpine Linux Latest instance.
  • SSH access to the server with a superuser account.

Step 1 - Install Required Packages

Before installing AtoM, you need to install the required packages. Open the terminal and run the following command:

apk add curl git apache2 php7 php7-apache2 php7-mysqli php7-mbstring php7-gd php7-xml php7-xsl php7-json

This command will install the following packages:

  • curl - to download files from the internet.
  • git - to clone the AtoM repository.
  • apache2 - to serve the AtoM application.
  • php7 - to interpret PHP code.
  • php7-apache2 - to integrate PHP with Apache.
  • php7-mysqli - to connect PHP to MySQL.
  • php7-mbstring - to handle non-ASCII characters.
  • php7-gd - to manipulate images.
  • php7-xml - to handle XML files.
  • php7-xsl - to perform XSL transformations.
  • php7-json - to handle JSON files.

Step 2 - Download and Install AtoM

Now that you have installed the required packages, you can download and install AtoM. Run the following commands:

cd /var/www/localhost/htdocs/
git clone https://github.com/artefactual/atom.git
cd atom
git checkout qa/2.6.x
cp .env.template .env

This will download the latest version of AtoM, switch to the qa/2.6.x branch (recommended stable version as of October 2021), and copy the default configuration file.

Step 3 - Configure AtoM

Next, you need to configure AtoM. Open the .env file and modify the following lines:

APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=http://localhost/
...
DB_HOST=your_mysql_server_hostname_or_ip
DB_PORT=your_mysql_server_port
DB_DATABASE=your_mysql_database_name
DB_USERNAME=your_mysql_username
DB_PASSWORD=your_mysql_password
...
QUEUE_CONNECTION=sync

Replace your_mysql_server_hostname_or_ip, your_mysql_server_port, your_mysql_database_name, your_mysql_username, and your_mysql_password with your MySQL server details. If you're running MySQL on the same machine as AtoM, you can leave the default values.

Step 4 - Set Permissions

To run AtoM, you need to set the correct permissions on the directories. Run the following commands:

chown -R apache:apache /var/www/localhost/htdocs/atom
chmod -R 777 /var/www/localhost/htdocs/atom/cache
chmod -R 777 /var/www/localhost/htdocs/atom/log
chmod -R 777 /var/www/localhost/htdocs/atom/plugins
chmod -R 777 /var/www/localhost/htdocs/atom/theme

This will set the ownership to the Apache user and allow read/write/execute permissions to the cache, log, plugins, and theme directories.

Step 5 - Configure Apache

You need to configure Apache to serve the AtoM application. Run the following command to create a new virtual host configuration:

nano /etc/apache2/conf.d/atom.conf

Add the following content to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/localhost/htdocs/atom
    <Directory /var/www/localhost/htdocs/atom>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Then save and close the file.

Step 6 - Restart Apache

Finally, restart Apache to apply the changes:

rc-service apache2 restart

Step 7 - Access AtoM

Open a web browser and enter the following URL:

http://localhost/

You will see the AtoM homepage. Congratulations, you have successfully installed AtoM on Alpine Linux Latest!

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to install Access to Memory (AtoM) on Alpine Linux Latest. AtoM is a powerful open-source web application for archival description and access, and it is used by archives, libraries, and other institutions around the world.