How to Install Baïkal on NetBSD

Baïkal is a lightweight CalDAV+CardDAV server that provides calendar and contact synchronization services. It is compatible with most calendar and contact applications such as Apple iCal, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Android. In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to install Baïkal on NetBSD.

Prerequisites

Before we proceed with the installation, make sure that you have the following:

• A VPS or dedicated server running NetBSD with root access.
• A webserver (e.g., Apache or Nginx) with PHP and SQLite support.

Step 1: Install Required Packages

Before installing Baïkal, we need to install some required packages first. Open the terminal and run the following command:

pkgin update && pkgin install php74-sqlite3

This will update the package list and install the PHP SQLite3 module on your NetBSD server.

Step 2: Download Baïkal

Next, we need to download the Baïkal source code from the official website. Go to the Baïkal homepage at https://sabre.io/baikal/ and click the "Download Baïkal" button. Alternatively, you can download the source code using the following command:

wget https://github.com/sabre-io/Baikal/releases/download/0.9.7/baikal-0.9.7.zip

Extract the downloaded file using the following command:

unzip baikal-0.9.7.zip

This will create a new directory named "baikal-0.9.7".

Step 3: Configure Permissions

We need to assign the correct permissions to the Baïkal directory, so it can be accessed by the webserver. Change the ownership of the directory to the webserver group and user (e.g., "www" in NetBSD):

chown -R www:www baikal-0.9.7

Next, set the correct permissions using the following command:

chmod -R 755 baikal-0.9.7

Step 4: Configure Baïkal

Baïkal needs to be configured before we can start using it. Navigate to the Baïkal directory and copy the "Specific/SQLite" configuration file:

cd baikal-0.9.7
cp Specific/SQLite/db.sqlite.sample Specific/SQLite/db.sqlite

Next, edit the "Specific/SQLite/db.sqlite" file using your preferred text editor and update the "ADMINISTRATION_LOGIN" and "ADMINISTRATION_PASS" with your desired username and password for admin account:

nano Specific/SQLite/db.sqlite

Save and close the file.

Step 5: Configure Webserver

We need to configure the webserver to serve Baïkal. In this example, we will be using Nginx, but you can use Apache or any other webserver that supports PHP.

Create a new Nginx configuration file for Baïkal:

nano /usr/pkg/etc/nginx/conf.d/baikal.conf

Add the following content to the file:

server {
   listen 80;
   server_name example.com; # Replace with your server domain name

   root /path/to/baikal-0.9.7/Specific;

   location / {
      try_files $uri $uri/ /baikal/html/front.php?$args;
   }

   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;
   }
}

Replace "example.com" with your actual domain name and update the "root" directory path to the "Specific" subdirectory of your Baïkal installation.

Save and close the file.

Step 6: Start Nginx and PHP-FPM

We need to start Nginx and PHP-FPM services for the changes to take effect:

rcctl start nginx
rcctl start php74_fpm

Finally, open a web browser and navigate to http://example.com/ (replace "example.com" with your actual domain name). You should see the Baïkal installation page.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Baïkal on NetBSD.