How to install Request Tracker on Arch Linux

Overview

Request Tracker (RT) is a popular open-source ticketing system. It is used by various organizations including universities, government agencies, and corporations to manage their help desk and customer service requests. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Request Tracker on Arch Linux.

Prerequisites

A running Arch Linux system
Access to the command-line interface with sudo privileges

Steps

Step 1: Install dependencies

Before installing Request Tracker on Arch Linux, we need to install some dependencies first. These dependencies include Perl, Apache, and MySQL.

sudo pacman -S perl apache mysql

Step 2: Install RT dependencies

To run Request Tracker on Arch Linux, you need to install additional Perl modules and dependencies that are required by RT.

sudo pacman -S perl-app-cpanminus
sudo pacman -S perl-dbd-mysql
sudo pacman -S perl-redis
sudo pacman -S perl-digest-sha1
sudo pacman -S perl-term-readline-gnu

Step 3: Install Request Tracker

Now that we have installed all the required dependencies, we can proceed with the installation of Request Tracker.

sudo pacman -S rt

Step 4: Configure RT

After installing Request Tracker, you need to configure it before you can use it. The configuration files are located in /etc/request-tracker4. We will first create a new database for RT.

mysql -u root -p

CREATE DATABASE rt4 DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
CREATE USER 'rt_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON rt4.* TO 'rt_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit

In the /etc/request-tracker4/RT_SiteConfig file, update the following configuration options to match your system.

Set($DatabaseName, 'rt4');
Set($DatabaseUser, 'rt_user');
Set($DatabasePassword, 'password');
Set($WebPath, '/rt');
Set($Organization, 'Your Organization Name');

Step 5: Start RT

After configuring Request Tracker, we need to start Apache and RT.

sudo systemctl start httpd
sudo systemctl start mysql
sudo systemctl start request-tracker4
sudo systemctl enable request-tracker4

Step 6: Login to RT

Open your favorite web browser and enter the URL http://your-server-ip/rt. You will be prompted to log in with the username root and the password password. You will be directed to the Request Tracker dashboard.

Conclusion

That's it! Now you know how to install Request Tracker on Arch Linux. With RT, you can efficiently manage your customer service requests and help desk tickets. With a few configuration tweaks, you can customize RT to fit your organization's specific needs.