How to Install imgproxy on POP! OS Latest

imgproxy is an open-source image processing server that allows you to resize, crop, and compress images on the fly. Installing imgproxy server on your operating system will enable your web application to use a fast and reliable image resizing service. This tutorial will guide you through the step-by-step installation of imgproxy on POP! OS Latest.

Requirements

Before you begin, ensure that you have the following:

  • A server running POP! OS Latest
  • A non-root user with sudo privileges
  • Basic terminal knowledge

Step 1: Install Dependencies

First, we need to install some dependencies that imgproxy requires. Open the terminal and execute the following command:

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install libvips libvips-dev libpng-dev libwebp-dev pkg-config build-essential

Step 2: Download imgproxy Binary

Go to the imgproxy website and download the latest release binary. To download the binary, you could use the following command:

$ wget https://github.com/imgproxy/imgproxy/releases/latest/download/imgproxy-linux-amd64

Make the binary file executable:

$ chmod +x imgproxy-linux-amd64

Step 3: Move imgproxy Binary to /usr/local/bin

The next step is to move the binary to the system’s local binary directory, which is /usr/local/bin. Execute the following command in the terminal:

$ sudo mv imgproxy-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/imgproxy

Step 4: Verify imgproxy is Installed

After successfully installing imgproxy, we need to ensure that it’s installed correctly. Execute the following command to check whether imgproxy is installed or not:

$ imgproxy -version

The output should show the version number of imgproxy.

Step 5: Creating a Configuration File

We now need to create a configuration file that will tell imgproxy the location of the source images and the transformation options. In the terminal, execute the following command:

$ sudo nano /etc/imgproxy.toml

Copy and paste the following configuration into the file:

# The address and port imgproxy will bind to.
address = "127.0.0.1:8080"

[source]
# Filesystem source where the original images are stored.
# The `root` value is a required parameter.
type = "filesystem"
root = "/path/to/your/images/"

[server]
# Max width or height of an image. Larger images will be scaled down.
max_image_size = 8000

# Max amount (in bytes) for an image that can be retrieved from the source.
max_src_filesize = 5000000

# Max amount (in bytes) for an image that can be retrieved at 1x resolution
max_cache_filesize = 2500000

Replace /path/to/your/images/ with the path to your original images.

Press "ctrl+O" to save the file, and then "ctrl+X" to close the editor.

Step 6: Running imgproxy in a Systemd Service

We will now create a systemd service that will automatically start imgproxy on boot.

Create the service file by appending the following in the terminal:

$ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/imgproxy.service

Copy and paste the following configuration into the file:

[Unit]
Description=imgproxy

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/imgproxy -config /etc/imgproxy.toml

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Press "ctrl+O" to save the file, and then "ctrl+X" to close the editor.

After creating the file, reload systemd:

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload

And start the imgproxy service:

$ sudo service imgproxy start

To enable the imgproxy service on boot, execute the following command:

$ sudo systemctl enable imgproxy

Step 7: Configuring Firewall

By default, imgproxy binds to 127.0.0.1:8080. We need to open the port on the firewall if we intend to use the service over the network.

$ sudo ufw allow 8080/tcp

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we walked through the configuration and installation of imgproxy on POP! OS Latest. You’re now ready to use imgproxy as an image processing server in your web application.