How to Install Kimai on NetBSD

Kimai is a popular open source time-tracking application. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing Kimai on a NetBSD server.

Before you proceed with the installation, make sure that your NetBSD system is fully up-to-date.

Install Required Dependencies

First, install the required dependencies for Kimai. Use the following command to install them:

pkgin install php74 php74-mysqli php74-curl php74-json php74-gd php74-mbstring php74-iconv php74-xml

This will install PHP along with the necessary PHP extensions.

Download and Install Kimai

Next, download the latest version of Kimai from the Kimai website. Use the following command to download the package:

ftp https://github.com/kimai/kimai2/releases/download/1.14.1/kimai_2.14.1.zip

Then, extract the downloaded package and move it to /var/www/kimai2 with the following commands:

unzip kimai_2.14.1.zip
mv kimai2/* /var/www/kimai2/

Configure Kimai

Now, create a new MySQL database for Kimai. Use the following command to login MySQL:

mysql -u root -p

Then, create a new database and user for Kimai with the following commands:

CREATE DATABASE kimai2 CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'kimai2'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON kimai2.* TO 'kimai2'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

After that, configure Kimai's database settings by copying the /.env.dist file to /.env and editing it with the following command:

cd /var/www/kimai2/
cp .env.dist .env
vi .env

In the .env file, set the following configuration variables:

DATABASE_URL=mysql://kimai2:password@localhost/kimai2
APP_ENV=prod

Save and close the file when you are done.

Set Permissions

Next, set the correct permissions for the Kimai directory with the following command:

chown -R www /var/www/kimai2
chmod 755 -R /var/www/kimai2

Configure Web Server

Finally, configure your web server to serve the Kimai application. For example, if you are using Apache, you can create a new virtual host for Kimai with the following command:

vi /etc/httpd/conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

Then, add the following configuration to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerName kimai.example.com   
   DocumentRoot "/var/www/kimai2/public"
   DirectoryIndex index.php
   <Directory "/var/www/kimai2/public">
       AllowOverride All
       Require all granted
       Options FollowSymlinks
   </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Save and exit the file when you are done. Then, restart your web server with the following command:

service httpd restart

Access Kimai

You can now access Kimai by browsing to http://kimai.example.com in your web browser, where kimai.example.com is the hostname you configured for your Kimai installation.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Kimai on a NetBSD server. You now have a powerful time-tracking application at your fingertips. Enjoy!