How to install Helpy on FreeBSD Latest

Overview

In this tutorial, we will be installing Helpy, an open-source customer support platform on FreeBSD Latest. Helpy is built on Ruby on Rails and uses PostgreSQL as its database. The installation process will include setting up the environment, installing the necessary dependencies, cloning Helpy’s source code from GitHub, configuring the database, and starting the Helpy server.

Prerequisites

  • A FreeBSD Latest server or virtual machine
  • A root user account
  • Basic knowledge of the command line

Steps

  1. Update the system and install necessary dependencies by running the following command:
pkg update && pkg upgrade -y && pkg install -y curl git node mysql57-client ruby26-bundler ruby26-gems
  1. Install PostgreSQL by running the following command:
pkg install -y postgresql96-server postgresql96-contrib
  1. Initialize the database cluster with the following command:
service postgresql initdb
  1. Start the PostgreSQL server by running:
service postgresql start
  1. Create a new user role and database for Helpy:
su - postgres
createuser -P helpyuser
createdb  -O helpyuser helpydb
  1. Clone the latest Helpy source code from GitHub:
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/helpyio/helpy.git
cd helpy
bundle install
  1. Copy the configuration files:
cp config/database.yml.mysql config/database.yml
  1. In the database.yml file, set the database credentials for Helpy:
production:
  adapter: mysql2
  encoding: utf8
  database: helpydb
  pool: <%= ENV.fetch("RAILS_MAX_THREADS") { 5 } %>
  username: helpyuser
  password: yourpasswordhere
  host: localhost
  1. Create the database tables by running:
bundle exec rails db:migrate RAILS_ENV=production
  1. Precompile the assets with the following command:
bundle exec rails assets:precompile RAILS_ENV=production
  1. Start Helpy by running:
bundle exec unicorn -p 8080 -E production -c config/unicorn.rb
  1. Access Helpy by navigating to http://your-server-ip:8080 in your web browser.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we went through the process of installing Helpy on FreeBSD Latest. We covered setting up the environment, installing dependencies, cloning the source code, configuring the database, and starting the Helpy server. With these steps, you should have successfully installed and started the Helpy customer support platform.