How to Install Collective Access - Providence on NetBSD

Collective Access - Providence is a web-based software application that helps manage and document archives, museum collections, and other digital assets. It requires a web server and a database management system.

In this tutorial, we will go through the steps to install Collective Access - Providence on NetBSD.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure that you have the following:

A working installation of NetBSD, version 7.0 or above
Root access to the system
A web server installation (such as httpd or nginx)
A database management system installation (such as MySQL or PostgreSQL)

Step 1: Download and Extract the Software

Visit the Collective Access - Providence website at https://collectiveaccess.org/ and download the latest version of the software. You can also use the following command from the terminal:

$ cd /usr/local/src
$ fetch https://github.com/collectiveaccess/providence/archive/1.7.9.tar.gz
$ tar -xzvf 1.7.9.tar.gz

Step 2: Install Required Packages

To ensure that Providence runs smoothly on NetBSD, install the necessary PHP extensions and dependencies:

$ pkgin install php74-ctype php74-curl php74-dom php74-fileinfo php74-filter php74-gd php74-iconv php74-intl php74-json php74-mbstring php74-mysqli php74-opcache php74-pdo php74-pdo_mysql php74-pdo_pgsql php74-session php74-tokenizer php74-xml php74-zip
$ pkgin install graphics/ImageMagick

Additionally, you may need to install additional packages for your particular web server and database management system.

Step 3: Configure the System

Create a new vhost configuration file in your web server configuration directory:

$ cd /usr/local/etc/httpd/vhosts
$ touch providence.conf

Add the following content to the file:

<Directory /var/www/providence>
  Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
  AllowOverride All
  Order allow,deny
  allow from all
</Directory>

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerAdmin [email protected]
  DocumentRoot /var/www/providence
  ServerName providence.example.com
  ErrorLog /var/log/providence.error.log
  CustomLog /var/log/providence.access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Create a new database user and database for Providence:

$ su - postgres
$ createuser -P providence # enter a secure password when prompted
$ createdb -O providence providence
$ exit

Edit the configuration file for Providence:
```
$ cd /usr/local/src/providence-1.7.9/app/conf/
$ cp ca_objects.conf.dist ca_objects.conf
$ vi ca_objects.conf
```
- Set the install_type to new.
- Set the db_host, db_port, db_user, db_pass, and db_name parameters to match your database configuration.

Copy the entire providence directory to the web server directory:

$ cd /usr/local/src
$ mv providence-1.7.9 /var/www/providence

Set the correct permissions for the directories:

$ cd /var/www
$ chown -R www:www providence/
$ chmod -R 755 providence/

Step 4: Complete the Installation

Open a web browser and navigate to http://providence.example.com (replace providence.example.com with the domain or IP address of your server)
Follow the prompts and fill out the necessary information to complete the installation process.
Once the installation is complete, remove the app/install directory:
```
$ cd /var/www/providence
$ rm -rf app/install
```

Conclusion

You have successfully installed Collective Access - Providence on NetBSD. You can now use the web-based interface to manage and document your archives, museum collections, and other digital assets.