How to Install Flarum on OpenBSD

Flarum is a free, open-source forum software that is user-friendly and easy to install. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the installation of Flarum on OpenBSD.

Prerequisites

Before you get started with the installation, make sure your server has the following installed:

  • OpenBSD installed and running
  • Apache web server
  • PHP version higher than 7.2.9

Step 1: Download and extract Flarum

To download the latest release of Flarum, use the following command:

$ ftp https://getcomposer.org/installer -o - | php -- --filename=composer
$ php composer create-project flarum/flarum . --stability=beta

This will download and extract the latest version of Flarum to the current directory.

Step 2: Configure Apache to serve Flarum

Now that Flarum is downloaded, you need to configure Apache to serve the application. Create a new VirtualHost configuration file for Flarum in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf:

<VirtualHost *:80>
	ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot /var/www/flarum/public
    ServerName forum.example.com
    ErrorLog /var/www/flarum/logs/error_log
    CustomLog /var/www/flarum/logs/access_log combined
    <Directory />
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Make sure you specify the correct domain name and document root directory.

Next, restart Apache to apply changes:

$ sudo apachectl restart

Step 3: Install Flarum

In order to install Flarum, you will need to run the following command in the root directory of your Flarum installation, which will install all the necessary dependencies:

$ cd /var/www/flarum
$ php composer install --no-dev -o

After the installation is complete, you can run the setup command to configure your database and other settings:

$ php flarum install

Follow the prompts and enter the required information, including the database details.

Step 4: Run Flarum

Your Flarum installation should now be up and running. Open your web browser and navigate to http://forum.example.com to access the forum.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Flarum on OpenBSD.