How to Install GoatCounter on Arch Linux

GoatCounter is a simple web analytics service that you can host on your own server. In this tutorial, we’ll be looking at how to install GoatCounter on Arch Linux.

Prerequisites

Before we start, you’ll need to ensure that you have the following:

  • Root access to an Arch Linux server
  • A registered domain name pointing to your server's IP address (optional)

Step 1: Install Dependencies

GoatCounter requires a number of dependencies to be installed on your server. We’ll start by updating the Arch Linux package cache and installing the relevant packages:

$ sudo pacman -Syu
$ sudo pacman -S git go

Step 2: Clone the Repository

Next, we’ll clone the GoatCounter repository from GitHub:

$ git clone https://github.com/zgoat/goatcounter.git
$ cd goatcounter

Step 3: Build and Install GoatCounter

With the repository cloned, we can now build and install GoatCounter:

$ go build
$ sudo cp goatcounter /usr/local/bin/goatcounter

Step 4: Configure GoatCounter

GoatCounter needs to be configured before it can be used. We’ll create a directory to store the configuration files, and then create a configuration file by copying the example configuration provided:

$ sudo mkdir -p /etc/goatcounter
$ sudo cp cmd/goatcounter/example-goatcounter.toml /etc/goatcounter/goatcounter.toml

Next, we’ll edit the configuration file to specify the domain name that GoatCounter will be tracking:

$ sudo nano /etc/goatcounter/goatcounter.toml

[server]
  domain="example.com"

Note that you’ll need to replace example.com with your own domain name.

Step 5: Start GoatCounter

With GoatCounter now configured, we can start it by running:

$ sudo goatcounter serve

Step 6: Verify GoatCounter is Running

Finally, we can verify that GoatCounter is up and running by accessing it in a web browser. To do this, enter the following URL into your browser:

http://example.com/count

Again, make sure to replace example.com with your own domain name.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we’ve seen how to install GoatCounter on an Arch Linux server. Once installed, GoatCounter provides a simple way to track website visits and other analytics data.