How to Install Cactus Comments on OpenBSD

Introduction

Cactus Comments is a commenting system for static websites. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing Cactus Comments on an OpenBSD server.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

• An OpenBSD server with root access
• A static website that you want to add Cactus Comments to

Step 1: Install Dependencies

Cactus Comments requires Python 3 and pip. OpenBSD comes with Python 2.7 out of the box, so we need to install Python 3 and pip first.

$ doas pkg_add python3 py3-pip

Step 2: Install Cactus Comments

We can now install Cactus Comments using pip.

$ doas pip3 install cactus.chat

Step 3: Add Cactus Comments to your website

Now that Cactus Comments is installed, we need to add it to our website.

Create a new file called comments.md in your website's content directory.

In this file, add the following line:

{% include "cactus-comments.html" %}

Save the file and add it to your website's navigation menu.

Step 4: Configure Cactus Comments

Cactus Comments needs a few settings to work properly.

Create a new file called cactus.yaml in your website's root directory.

Add the following lines to the file:

cactus_comments:
  url: https://api.cactus.chat/v1
  site_id: <your_site_id>
  site_name: <your_site_name>

Replace <your_site_id> and <your_site_name> with your own values. You can find your site ID on the Cactus Comments dashboard.

Step 5: Build and Deploy your website

Finally, rebuild your website and deploy it to your OpenBSD server.

$ cactus build
$ cactus deploy

Conclusion

You have now successfully installed and configured Cactus Comments on your OpenBSD server. Your visitors can now leave comments on your static website.