How to Install Simply Shorten on OpenBSD

Simply Shorten is an open-source url-shortening service that is written in Python. In this tutorial, we'll guide you through the installation of Simply Shorten on an OpenBSD system.

Prerequisites

Before installing Simply Shorten on OpenBSD, make sure you have the following:

  • An OpenBSD system installed and running.
  • Access to the root account or an account with sudo privileges.

Steps to Install Simply Shorten on OpenBSD

Step 1: Install Dependencies

Before installing Simply Shorten, you need to install the dependencies. Open the terminal and run the following command:

$ doas pkg_add python3 py3-pip postgresql-server postgresql-client

Step 2: Download Simply Shorten

You can download Simply Shorten from the GitLab repository:

$ git clone https://gitlab.com/draganczukp/simply-shorten.git

Once the download is complete, change your working directory to the newly created simply-shorten directory:

$ cd simply-shorten

Step 3: Install Required Python Packages

To install the required Python packages, run the following command:

$ doas pip3 install -r requirements.txt

Step 4: Create PostgreSQL Database

Create a new PostgreSQL database by running the following command:

$ doas su _postgresql -c 'initdb -D /var/postgresql/data -U _postgresql -A md5'

Setup a new user and database for Simply Shorten:

$ doas su - _postgresql
$ createuser -P simplyshorten
$ createdb -O simplyshorten simplyshorten

Step 5: Configure Simply Shorten

Copy the config/sample_config.ini file to config/config.ini:

$ cp config/sample_config.ini config/config.ini

Open the config.ini file using an editor:

$ vi config/config.ini

Update the configuration settings to match your environment. Set the following parameters:

  • db_host - Set this to localhost if PostgreSQL is running on the same machine, and provide the hostname if it's running on a different machine.
  • db_user - Set this to the name of the PostgreSQL user created in Step 4.
  • db_password - Set this to the password for the PostgreSQL user created in Step 4.
  • db_name - Set this to the name of the PostgreSQL database created in Step 4.

Step 6: Start the Simply Shorten Application

Start the Simply Shorten application by running the following command:

$ doas python3 simplyshorten.py

The application should now be running on port 5000. Open your web browser and go to http://localhost:5000/ to access Simply Shorten.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we installed Simply Shorten on an OpenBSD system. You can now use Simply Shorten to shorten URLs and track clicks!