How to Install GoToSocial on NetBSD

In this tutorial, we will walk you through the steps to install GoToSocial on NetBSD. GoToSocial is an open-source social network platform developed by Super Serious Business. It is built with modern technologies such as React, Redux, and Django that offers a robust social networking experience.

Prerequisites

Before installing GoToSocial, you should have the following:

NetBSD installed on your system
Access to the root account or an account with sudo privileges

Step 1: Install Dependencies

To get started with the installation, we need to install the following dependencies:

sudo pkgin update 
sudo pkgin install python3 py37-pip py37-virtualenv nodejs

The above command will install Python 3, Pip (Python package manager), Virtual Env (Python Virtual Environment), and NodeJS.

Step 2: Clone GoToSocial Repository

After installing the dependencies, we need to clone the GoToSocial repository from GitHub.

git clone https://github.com/superseriousbusiness/gotosocial.git

The above command will clone the source code of the repository into a new directory called "gotosocial."

Step 3: Install Python Dependencies

In this step, we will install the necessary Python dependencies using pip requirements files.

cd gotosocial 
virtualenv -p python3 env 
source env/bin/activate 
pip install -r requirements/base.txt

The above commands will create a new virtual environment, activate it, and install the Python dependencies required by GoToSocial.

Step 4: Install JavaScript Dependencies

After installing Python dependencies, you need to install JavaScript dependencies using the npm package manager.

npm install

After running this command, npm will download and install all the required packages and dependencies.

Step 5: Configure the Database

By default, GoToSocial uses SQLite as its database. However, you can also use PostgreSQL or MySQL.

For SQLite, let's create a new database file:

cd gotosocial 
mkdir -p var/db 
touch var/db/gotosocial.sqlite3

For PostgreSQL, you need to create a database, user, and password.

Step 6: Configure the Environment Variables

In "gotosocial," create a new local.env file:

cd gotosocial 
cp env.example local.env

Edit this file and enter your database configuration and other settings as needed.

Step 7: Run Migrations and Load Initial Data

Before starting the GoToSocial server, we need to run migrations to apply the database changes and insert initial data.

python manage.py migrate 
python manage.py loaddata initial.json

These commands will create database tables and load the data required for GoToSocial.

Step 8: Start the Server

Finally, it's time to start the server.

npm run webpack 
python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

The first command will compile the JavaScript files, and the second command will start the server on port 8000.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed GoToSocial on your NetBSD operating system. You can now access the GoToSocial web application by opening your web browser and navigating to http://yourserverip:8000.