How to Install Pretalx on Debian

Introduction

Pretalx is an open-source event management system that helps you to organize conferences, meetings and workshops. It is built using Python and Django, and designed with the needs of event organizers in mind. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Pretalx on Debian.

Prerequisites

Before starting the installation process, make sure that you have the following prerequisites:

  • A Debian based system (we use Debian Latest for this tutorial).
  • Python 3.5 or higher.
  • pip package manager.

Step 1 - Update Your System

The first thing you should always do before installing any software is to update your system's package repository. To do this, run the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

This will update all of the packages currently installed on your system to their latest version.

Step 2 - Install Dependencies

Pretalx requires several dependencies to be installed on your system. To install them, use the following command:

sudo apt install build-essential python3-dev python3-pip libpq-dev postgresql postgresql-contrib libssl-dev libffi-dev libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev zlib1g-dev
  • The build-essential package is necessary to compile C code on your system.
  • The python3-dev, libssl-dev, and libffi-dev packages are necessary to build Python extensions.
  • The libpq-dev package provides the development files for building PostgreSQL client libraries.
  • The postgresql and postgresql-contrib packages provide the PostgreSQL server and additional modules.
  • The libxml2-dev, libxslt1-dev and zlib1g-dev packages are necessary for building the lxml Python package, which is a dependency of Pretalx.

Step 3 - Create a PostgreSQL Database and User

Pretalx requires a PostgreSQL database and user to store the event data. If you haven't already installed PostgreSQL, then use the following command:

sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib

Once PostgreSQL is installed, log in as the postgres user and create a new database and user for Pretalx:

sudo su - postgres
createdb pretalx
createuser pretalx

Set the password for the pretalx user with the following command:

psql
postgres=# ALTER USER pretalx WITH PASSWORD 'your_password';
postgres=# \q

Step 4 - Install Pretalx

Create a new virtual environment to isolate the installation of Pretalx from other Python packages installed on your system. To create a virtual environment, run the following commands:

sudo pip3 install virtualenv
virtualenv -p /usr/bin/python3 venv
source venv/bin/activate

Download and install Pretalx using pip:

pip install pretalx

Step 5 - Configure Pretalx

Pretalx requires some configuration before you can use it. First, navigate to the Pretalx configuration directory and create a new configuration file:

cd ~
mkdir .pretalx
cd .pretalx
touch config.yml

Edit the config.yml file to add the following configuration:

core:
    debug: False
    secrets:
        shared: 'your_secret_key'
        mail: 'your_mail_secret_key'
    locale:
        fallback: en
    timezone: UTC
database:
    url: postgresql://pretalx:your_password@localhost/pretalx
web:
    url: https://your_domain_name.com
    host: 127.0.0.1
    port: 8000
    secure:
        scheme: https
        hsts: True
email:
    backend: 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
    host: 'your_smtp_host'
    port: 25

Replace your_secret_key, your_mail_secret_key, your_password, your_domain_name.com and your_smtp_host with your own settings.

Step 6 - Initialize the Database

Use the following command to initialize the database:

pretalx migrate

Step 7 - Create an Administrative User

Create a new administrative user using the following command:

pretalx createsuperuser

Follow the instructions to create a new user account.

Step 8 - Run the Server

Use the following command to start the Pretalx server:

pretalx start

Visit https://your_domain_name.com:8000 (replace your_domain_name.com with your own domain name) in your web browser to check if the installation is successful and the server is running.

Conclusion

That’s it! You’ve successfully installed Pretalx on your Debian server. You can now start using Pretalx to create and manage events. Good luck!