How to Install ShortURL on Alpine Linux Latest

In this tutorial, we will go through the process of installing ShortURL on Alpine Linux Latest. ShortURL is a simple URL shortener that you can self-host on your own server.

Prerequisites

Before getting started, you should ensure that you have the following:

  • A server running Alpine Linux Latest
  • A terminal or SSH client

Step 1: Install Dependencies

Before we can install ShortURL, we need to install some dependencies. Open a terminal or SSH client and run the following command:

apk add build-base sqlite-dev

This will install the necessary build tools and SQLite development header files.

Step 2: Clone ShortURL

Next, we need to clone the ShortURL repository from GitLab. Run the following command:

git clone https://git.mills.io/prologic/shorturl.git

This will download the codebase into a new folder named shorturl.

Step 3: Build ShortURL

To build ShortURL, navigate into the shorturl folder and run the following command:

make build

This will compile the ShortURL binary and place it in the build/ folder.

Step 4: Install ShortURL

To install ShortURL, run the following command from within the shorturl folder:

make install

This will install the ShortURL binary to /usr/local/bin/shorturl and the configuration file to /etc/shorturl/shorturl.conf.

Step 5: Configure ShortURL

Open the file /etc/shorturl/shorturl.conf in a text editor and configure the settings to your liking. Here are some common settings to change:

  • DATABASE: Change this to the path where you want the SQLite database to be saved.
  • BASEURL: Change this to the base URL of your website (e.g. https://example.com).

Save the changes and close the file.

Step 6: Start ShortURL

To start ShortURL, run the following command:

shorturl -c /etc/shorturl/shorturl.conf

This will start the ShortURL server in the foreground. You should see output similar to the following:

INFO[2021-09-21T00:00:00Z] Starting server                            address=:8080

You can now navigate to http://localhost:8080 to access the ShortURL web interface.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have walked through the process of installing ShortURL on Alpine Linux Latest. With ShortURL installed and configured, you can now begin to shorten URLs and share them with others.