Installing PolitePol on Debian Latest

PolitePol is an open-source self-hosted web analytics software. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing PolitePol on Debian Latest.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

• A Debian Latest server
• A sudo user

Step 1: Update the System

Before we start installing PolitePol, let's update the system using the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Install Required Dependencies

PolitePol requires the following dependencies to be installed on your system:

• Apache web server
• MySQL/Mariadb database server
• PHP version 7.4 or higher
• PHP extensions: mbstring, gd, zip, mysqli

Use the following command to install the Apache web server, MySQL/Mariadb, and PHP with the required extensions:

sudo apt install apache2 mysql-server php7.4 php7.4-mysqli php7.4-gd php7.4-zip php7.4-mbstring

During the MySQL/Mariadb installation process, you will be prompted to set a root password. Make sure you remember this password as you will need it later.

Step 3: Configure the Web Server

We need to configure the Apache web server to serve PolitePol. To do this, you need to create an Apache Virtual Host entry for PolitePol.

Create a new file called politepol.conf in the Apache sites-available directory using the following command:

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

Add the following configuration to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME

        DocumentRoot /path/to/politepol/

        <Directory /path/to/politepol/>
                Options FollowSymLinks
                AllowOverride All
                Require all granted
        </Directory>

        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/politepol_error.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/politepol_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Replace YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME with your actual domain name and /path/to/politepol/ with the actual path to your PolitePol installation directory.

Save the file and exit.

Enable the new Virtual Host configuration using the following command:

sudo a2ensite politepol.conf

Reload the Apache web server using the following command:

sudo systemctl reload apache2

Step 4: Download and Extract PolitePol

Now we need to download and extract PolitePol onto your server. You can download the latest release from the PolitePol GitHub repository using the following command:

wget https://github.com/taroved/pol/archive/master.zip

Extract the downloaded zip file using the following command:

unzip master.zip

Move the extracted directory to /path/to/politepol/ defined in the Apache Virtual Host we created earlier.

sudo mv pol-master/ /path/to/politepol/

Change the ownership of the PolitePol directory to the Apache user using the following command:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/politepol/

Step 5: Create a Database for PolitePol

We need to create a MySQL/Mariadb database for PolitePol. Use the following command to log in to the MySQL/Mariadb server as root:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Enter the root password you set during the MySQL/Mariadb installation process.

Create a database for PolitePol using the following command:

CREATE DATABASE politepol;

Create a new user for PolitePol and grant it permission to access the database using the following command:

CREATE USER 'politepoluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password_here';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON politepol.* TO 'politepoluser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Replace your_password_here with a strong password of your choice.

Exit MySQL/Mariadb prompt using the following command:

exit

Step 6: Configure PolitePol

Rename the sample configuration file using the following command:

sudo mv /path/to/politepol/config-sample.php /path/to/politepol/config.php

Edit the configuration file using the following command:

sudo nano /path/to/politepol/config.php

Update the database configuration to reflect the database you created earlier. Change the following fields:

$db['hostname'] = 'localhost';
$db['username'] = 'politepoluser';
$db['password'] = 'your_password_here';
$db['database'] = 'politepol';

Change the 'your_password_here' field to the password you created for the politepoluser during the database creation process.

Save the file and exit.

Step 7: Complete the Installation

You can now complete the PolitePol installation process by visiting http://YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME/install.php in your web browser.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation process.

Once the installation is complete, make sure you remove the install.php file from the PolitePol directory using the following command:

sudo rm /path/to/politepol/install.php

Congratulations! You have successfully installed PolitePol on your Debian Latest server. You can now begin using it to analyze your web traffic.