Installing FreeScout on FreeBSD Latest

FreeScout is a free and open-source help desk and ticketing system that is designed to help businesses manage customer requests and support queries. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing FreeScout on FreeBSD Latest.

Prerequisites

To follow this tutorial, you will need:

A FreeBSD Latest system with root access
Apache or Nginx web server installed
PHP 7.2 or higher with related extensions installed
MariaDB or MySQL database server installed

Step 1: Install Required Packages

Before you begin, make sure your system is up-to-date by running the following command:

pkg update && pkg upgrade

Next, install the required packages by running the following command:

pkg install php72-extensions php72-pecl-apcu php72-session php72-xmlwriter php72-gd php72-mysqli php72-pdo_mysql php72-zip

Step 2: Download and Extract FreeScout

Next, download the latest version of FreeScout from its official GitHub repository using the following command:

fetch https://github.com/freescout-helpdesk/freescout/archive/v1.4.8.tar.gz

Next, unzip and extract the tarball into the /usr/local/www directory:

tar -zxvf v1.4.8.tar.gz -C /usr/local/www

Step 3: Set Permissions

Next, set the required permissions and ownership for the FreeScout directory and its files using the following command:

chown -R www:www /usr/local/www/freescout-1.4.8
chmod -R 755 /usr/local/www/freescout-1.4.8

Step 4: Configure Apache or Nginx

If you are using Apache as your web server, create a new virtual host configuration file with the following contents:

<VirtualHost *:80>
   DocumentRoot /usr/local/www/freescout-1.4.8/public
   ServerName freescout.yourdomain.com
   
   <Directory "/usr/local/www/freescout-1.4.8/public">
      AllowOverride All
      Require all granted
   </Directory>
   
   ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/freescout_error.log
   CustomLog /var/log/httpd/freescout_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

If you are using Nginx, create a new server block with the following contents:

server {
   listen 80;
   server_name freescout.yourdomain.com;

   root /usr/local/www/freescout-1.4.8/public;
   index index.php;

   location / {
      try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
   }

   location ~ \.php$ {
      try_files $uri =404;
      fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php-fpm.sock;
      fastcgi_index index.php;
      fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
      include fastcgi_params;
   }

   access_log /var/log/nginx/freescout_access.log;
   error_log /var/log/nginx/freescout_error.log;
}

Step 5: Create a Database and User

Next, create a new database and user for FreeScout using the following commands:

mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE freescout_db;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON freescout_db.* TO 'freescout_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'PASSWORD';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit

Replace 'PASSWORD' with the desired password for the freescout_user.

Step 6: Configure FreeScout

Next, navigate to the /usr/local/www/freescout-1.4.8/.env file and update the following variables:

APP_URL=http://freescout.yourdomain.com
DB_DATABASE=freescout_db
DB_USERNAME=freescout_user
DB_PASSWORD=yourpassword

Replace the 'http://freescout.yourdomain.com' with the domain name of your server.

Step 7: Install FreeScout

Finally, run the following commands to install FreeScout:

cd /usr/local/www/freescout-1.4.8
composer install --no-dev
php artisan migrate --seed

The first command installs all dependencies via Composer, and the second command migrates the database schema and seeds the database with default data.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed FreeScout on FreeBSD Latest. You can now access the FreeScout web interface by navigating to the server's domain name in your web browser.