How to Install Friendica on FreeBSD Latest

Friendica is a free and open-source social network software that is designed to provide privacy, security and freedom on the internet. In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to install Friendica on FreeBSD Latest.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, there are some prerequisites which need to be met:

• A FreeBSD latest 64-bit system with root access
• A domain name pointing to the server's IP address
• Basic command line knowledge of FreeBSD

Step 1: Install Required Packages

Firstly, you need to update your FreeBSD system's package repository by running the following command:

# pkg update && pkg upgrade

Once the package repository is updated, you can install the required packages for the Friendica installation.

# pkg install apache24 php74 php74-mysqli php74-pdo_mysql php74-curl php74-openssl php74-mbstring php74-zip php74-json php74-gd php74-xml

Step 2: Configure Apache

Friendica requires the Apache web server to be installed and running on your FreeBSD server. We need to configure it by creating a new virtual host for Friendica in the Apache configuration file.

Run the following command to create a new Apache configuration file for Friendica:

# vi /usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/friendica.conf

Add the following lines to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>

        ServerName friendica.example.com
        DocumentRoot /usr/local/www/friendica

        <Directory /usr/local/www/friendica>
                Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
                AllowOverride All
                Require all granted
        </Directory>

</VirtualHost>

Replace "friendica.example.com" with your domain name.

Step 3: Download and Extract Friendica

Next, you need to download Friendica's latest version from their website using the following command:

# cd /usr/local/www/
# fetch https://github.com/friendica/friendica/archive/refs/tags/2021.04.zip

Extract the downloaded file using the following command:

# unzip 2021.04.zip

Rename the extracted friendica folder to your domain name:

# mv friendica-2021.04 friendica.example.com

Step 4: Configure Friendica

Copy the sample configuration file and customize it to match your server's configuration.

# cp /usr/local/www/friendica.example.com/.htconfig.php.sample /usr/local/www/friendica.example.com/.htconfig.php
# vi /usr/local/www/friendica.example.com/.htconfig.php

Modify the following settings in the .htconfig.php file:

$hostname = "friendica.example.com";
$db_host = "localhost";
$db_user = "friendica_user";
$db_pass = "friendica_password";

Save and exit the file.

Step 5: Set Permissions

You need to set the appropriate ownership and permissions for the Friendica files so that Apache can read it.

# chown -R www:www /usr/local/www/friendica.example.com
# chmod -R 755 /usr/local/www/friendica.example.com

Step 6: Start Apache and Test Friendica

Finally, start the Apache web server and test your Friendica installation by visiting your domain name in your web browser.

# service apache24 start

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Friendica on FreeBSD Latest.