How to Install Discourse on OpenBSD

Discourse is a free, open-source discussion platform, widely used on the internet, and popular for discussion forums, online communities, and Q&A sites.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install Discourse on OpenBSD, a popular, secure, and reliable operating system used by millions of users.

Prerequisites

Before we begin the installation process, you need to make sure your OpenBSD system meets the following requirements:

OpenBSD 6.2 or higher (64-bit recommended)
A minimum of 2GB of RAM
At least 2 CPU cores
A domain name pointing to your OpenBSD server

Step 1: Install Docker

To install Discourse, you first need to install Docker, as it’s the underlying technology on which Discourse is built.

Open a terminal and run the following command to install Docker:

doas pkg_add docker

Step 2: Download Discourse

Next, we need to download the Discourse package. Open a terminal and run the following command:

doas ftp https://github.com/discourse/discourse/archive/master.tar.gz -o discourse-master.tar.gz

Step 3: Extract Discourse

After you have downloaded the Discourse package, you need to extract it. Navigate to the directory where the package is saved and run the following command:

doas tar xvzf discourse-master.tar.gz

Step 4: Configure Discourse

Before starting Discourse, you need to create a configuration file. Navigate to the Discourse directory and copy the sample configuration file:

cd discourse-master
cp samples/standalone.yml containers/app.yml

Next, open the app.yml file using a text editor of your choice:

doas vim containers/app.yml

Scroll down to the ## TODO: SMTP/SES Mail Settings section and update the SMTP details for your email provider.

Once you have updated your SMTP settings, scroll down to the ## TODO: Hosts section and update the values as shown below:

env:
  LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  UNICORN_WORKERS: 2
  DISCOURSE_HOSTNAME: 'discourse.example.com'
  DISCOURSE_DEVELOPER_EMAILS: '[email protected]'
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_ADDRESS: smtp.example.com
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_PORT: 587
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_USER_NAME: username
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_PASSWORD: password
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_ENABLE_START_TLS: true
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_AUTHENTICATION: 'plain'

Make sure to replace discourse.example.com with your domain name.

Step 5: Build Discourse

Now that you have configured Discourse, you need to build it. Run the following command to start the build:

doas ./launcher rebuild app

The build process may take some time, so be patient.

Step 6: Start Discourse

After the build is complete, you can start Discourse by running the following command:

doas ./launcher start app

You can now access your forum by navigating to http://<your_domain_name> in your web browser.

Conclusion

Discourse is now installed and ready to use on your OpenBSD server. You can customize it further to suit your needs by installing plugins and themes.