How to Install HyperKitty on Debian Latest

HyperKitty is a very popular web-based mailing list and archive viewer. HyperKitty is usually used in conjunction with the Mailman mailing list manager. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing HyperKitty on Debian Latest.

Prerequisites

Before you can begin installation of HyperKitty, you need to ensure that you have the following prerequisites:

  • A server running Debian Latest
  • A sudo user account
  • Basic knowledge of Command Line Interface (CLI)
  • A basic understanding of how to configure a web server.

Step 1: Update and Upgrade the System

Update the Apt package list and upgrade the system with the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Install Required Dependencies

HyperKitty relies on a number of Python packages. Install these dependencies using the following command:

sudo apt install -y python3-pip python3-virtualenv python3-dev build-essential libpq-dev libxml2 libxslt1-dev zlib1g-dev libjpeg-dev libfreetype6-dev gettext redis-server

Step 3: Install Mailman and Mailman-Core

We need to install Mailman and Mailman-core before installing HyperKitty. Install both packages with the following command:

sudo apt install -y mailman mailman-core

Step 4: Create a Virtual Environment

In this step, we will create a virtual environment for HyperKitty using the virtualenv package. 

sudo virtualenv -p python3 /opt/hyperkitty

Activate the Virtual Environment with the following command:

source /opt/hyperkitty/bin/activate

Step 5: Install HyperKitty

Now, we need to install HyperKitty using the pip package:

sudo pip3 install hyperkitty[postgresql]

Step 6: Configure HyperKitty

Configure HyperKitty with the following commands:

  1. Create the /etc/hyperkitty.cfg file:
sudo nano /etc/hyperkitty.cfg
  1. Copy and paste the following configuration settings into the file:
[database]
engine = django.db.backends.postgresql
name = hyperkitty
user = hyperkitty
password = <insert your desired database password here>
host = localhost
port = 5432

[general]
secret_key = <insert your own secret key here>
time_zone = UTC

[mailman]
hostname = localhost
port = 8001
  1. Create the HyperKitty database with the following command:
sudo -u postgres createdb -O <insert database owner name here> hyperkitty
  1. Migrate the database:
sudo hyperkitty-admin.py migrate
  1. Create a superuser:
sudo hyperkitty-admin.py createsuperuser

Step 7: Configure Apache2

Edit the /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Add the following configuration settings:

<VirtualHost *:80>
 ServerName localhost
 DocumentRoot /opt/hyperkitty/hyperkitty/static/
 <Directory /opt/hyperkitty/hyperkitty/static>
  Require all granted
 </Directory>

 Alias /media /opt/hyperkitty/hyperkitty/media/
 <Directory /opt/hyperkitty/hyperkitty/media>
  Require all granted
 </Directory>

 WSGIDaemonProcess hyperkitty python-path=/opt/hyperkitty:/opt/hyperkitty/lib/python3.7/site-packages
 WSGIProcessGroup hyperkitty
 WSGIScriptAlias / /opt/hyperkitty/bin/hyperkitty.wsgi

</VirtualHost>

Restart Apache2:

sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Step 8: Access HyperKitty

You can now access HyperKitty by opening your web browser and navigating to http://<Server_IP_Address>/ or http://localhost/.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have learned how to install HyperKitty on Debian Latest. If you have any questions or comments about this tutorial or any other topic, feel free to leave a comment below.