How to Install Invoice Ninja on OpenBSD

Invoice Ninja is a free and open-source invoicing software for small businesses and freelancers. In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to install Invoice Ninja on OpenBSD.

Prerequisites

Before we start with the installation process, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

• OpenBSD operating system installed on your system.
• Basic knowledge of OpenBSD terminal commands.

Step 1: Install Required Dependencies

To install Invoice Ninja on OpenBSD, you need to install some dependencies first. Open a terminal and execute the following command:

$ doas pkg_add -ivu composer php74-intl php74-gd php74-mbstring mysql-server

Step 2: Download Invoice Ninja

Once the dependencies are installed, download the latest version of the Invoice Ninja application. You can download it from the official website using the following command:

$ git clone https://github.com/invoiceninja/invoiceninja.git

Step 3: Setup Database

Invoice Ninja uses a MySQL or MariaDB database. If you have not installed any of these database servers on your OpenBSD system, you can install it by running the following command:

$ doas pkg_add -ivu mariadb-server

After installing the database server, start the database service by running the following command:

$ doas rcctl enable -f mysqld
$ doas rcctl start mysqld

Once the database is running, create a new database for Invoice Ninja and a new user with access to that database. You can do it using the following command:

$ mysql -u root -p
mysql> CREATE DATABASE invoiceninja;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON invoiceninja.* TO 'ninja'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> EXIT;

Make sure to replace the password with a strong password of your choice.

Step 4: Configuration

Copy the .env.example file to .env and update the database settings in the .env file. Open the .env file and modify the following variables:

APP_URL=http://localhost/
DB_DATABASE=invoiceninja
DB_USERNAME=ninja
DB_PASSWORD=password

Step 5: Install Vendor Packages

Next, install the vendor packages using Composer. Run the following command:

$ composer install --no-dev --prefer-dist

Step 6: Generate Encryption Key

Generate an encryption key by running the following command:

$ php artisan key:generate --force

Step 7: Set Permissions

Set proper permissions for the storage and bootstrap directories. Run the following commands:

$ chmod -R 755 storage bootstrap/cache

Step 8: Start the Application

Finally, start the Invoice Ninja application by running the following command:

$ php artisan serve

The application will be available at http://localhost:8000.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Invoice Ninja on OpenBSD. You can now start creating invoices and managing your business expenses with Invoice Ninja.