Installing Lstu on POP! OS

In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing Lstu on POP! OS using the command line. Lstu is a self-hosted URL shortener written in Perl. It is free and open-source software that allows you to create your URL shortener on your server.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

• A server running POP! OS.
• Root or Sudo access to the server.
• An active internet connection.

Step 1: Install Required Dependencies

First, we need to install some dependencies that are required to run Lstu. Open the terminal on your POP! OS and run the following command:

sudo apt-get install git curl build-essential libssl-dev cpanminus

The command will install git, curl, build-essential, libssl-dev, and cpanminus on your system.

Step 2: Clone Lstu Repository

Next, we need to clone the Lstu repository from GitHub. Run the following command to clone the Lstu repository:

git clone https://github.com/ldidry/lstu.git

The command will download the Lstu code from GitHub to your local system.

Step 3: Install Required Perl Modules

Change your working directory to the Lstu directory and run the following command to install the required Perl modules:

cd lstu
sudo cpanm --installdeps .

The command will install all the required Perl modules to run Lstu.

Step 4: Configure Lstu

Now, copy the sample configuration file and change it according to your preference:

cp lstu.conf.default lstu.conf
nano lstu.conf

You can use any text editor to edit the lstu.conf file.

Step 5: Create a Systemd Service

Create a systemd service file by running the following command:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/lstu.service

Copy and paste the following code:

[Unit]
Description=Lstu - Lightweight URL Shortener
Documentation=https://lstu.fr/
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=www-data
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/lstu
ExecStart=/usr/bin/perl /var/www/lstu/lstu.pl daemon
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save and close the file.

Step 6: Start the Lstu Service

Reload the systemd configuration by running the following command:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Start the Lstu service:

sudo systemctl start lstu

Step 7: Check the Lstu Service Status

Run the following command to check the status of the Lstu service:

sudo systemctl status lstu

If everything is working fine, you should see a message similar to this:

● lstu.service - Lstu - Lightweight URL Shortener
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/lstu.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-09-24 17:39:13 CEST; 2s ago
   Main PID: 12345 (perl)
      Task: 12345 (perl)
     Memory: 23.6M
     CGroup: /system.slice/lstu.service
             └─12345 /usr/bin/perl /var/www/lstu/lstu.pl daemon

Sep 24 17:39:13 pop-os systemd[1]: Started Lstu - Lightweight URL Shortener.

Step 8: Access the Lstu Web Interface

Lstu is now installed on your POP! OS, and you can access it using your web browser by typing the following URL http://server-ip:8080/.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Lstu on POP! OS using the command line. You can now create and use your URL shortener.