How to Install DAViCal on Debian Latest

DAViCal is a free and open-source CalDAV server that allows users to share calendars, address books, and tasks. In this tutorial, we will learn how to install DAViCal on Debian Latest.

Prerequisites

• A server running Debian Latest
• A sudo user
• Minimum 512 MB RAM

Step 1 - Install prerequisites

Before installing DAViCal, make sure your system is up-to-date with the latest packages. Run the following commands to update the package list and install the necessary packages.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install apache2 apache2-utils php libapache2-mod-php postgresql postgresql-contrib php-pgsql phppgadmin curl

Step 2 - Install DAViCal

Follow the below steps to install DAViCal.

Fetch the DAViCal source code from the official website using the following command.

cd /tmp && curl -L -O https://github.com/autonomy/davical/releases/download/1.1.10/davical-1.1.10.tar.gz

Extract the downloaded file.

tar -xzvf davical-1.1.10.tar.gz

Move the extracted directory to /usr/share, and change ownership to the webserver user.

sudo mv davical-1.1.10 /usr/share/davical
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/share/davical

Create the DAViCal configuration file.

cd /usr/share/davical/config
sudo cp config.php-dist config.php

Open the configuration file and update the following variables.

sudo nano config.php

$c->base_uri = 'https://your_domain.com/davical/'; //replace your domain name
$dbtype = 'pgsql';
$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbname = 'davical';
$dbuser = 'davical_app';
$dbpass = 'password'; //replace with a strong password

Save and close the file.

Step 3 - Configure the PostgreSQL Database

Create a new PostgreSQL user for DAViCal.

sudo su - postgres
psql
CREATE ROLE davical_app WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'password'; //replace with a strong password
CREATE DATABASE davical OWNER davical_app;
ALTER ROLE davical_app SET search_path TO davical_calendar, public;
\q
exit

Step 4 - Configure Apache

Create a new virtual host configuration file for DAViCal.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/davical.conf

Add the following content into the file.

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName your_domain.com #replace with your domain name
ServerAlias www.your_domain.com #replace with your domain name
ServerAdmin [email protected]
DocumentRoot /usr/share/davical/htdocs

Alias /davical /usr/share/davical/htdocs

<Directory /usr/share/davical/htdocs>
    Options FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
    Require all granted

    <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
        RewriteEngine On
        RewriteRule ^.well-known/caldav(.*)$ /caldav.php$1 [L]
        RewriteRule ^.well-known/carddav(.*)$ /carddav.php$1 [L]
        RewriteRule ^/?$ /caldav.php [L]
    </IfModule>
</Directory>

ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file.

Disable the default Apache virtual host and enable the newly created configuration.

sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf
sudo a2ensite davical.conf
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 5 - Accessing DAViCal

You can now access DAViCal by visiting your domain name in a web browser.

http://your_domain.com/davical/

To log in, use the following credentials.

Username: admin
Password: admin

You should change the default password for security reasons.

That's it! You have successfully installed DAViCal on Debian Latest. Enjoy sharing your calendars, address books and tasks.