How to install Contao on nixOS Latest

In this tutorial, we will explain the steps required to install Contao on nixOS Latest.

Prerequisites

• A nixOS Latest server
• Basic knowledge of the command line

Step 1 - Update system

Before we begin, we will update the system to ensure that we have the latest packages and dependencies.

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade

Step 2 - Install Contao

Contao is not available in the nixOS package manager, so we will need to install it using nix-env.

nix-env -iA nixos.contao

Step 3 - Configure Contao

To configure Contao, we need to create a new virtual host and set up a database.

Create a virtual host

Create a configuration file for your virtual host. Replace "example.com" with your own domain name.

sudo mkdir -p /etc/httpd/vhosts
sudo vim /etc/httpd/vhosts/example.com.conf

Add the following contents to the file:

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name example.com;
  root /var/www/contao;
  index index.php index.html;
  
  location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
  }

  location ~ \.php$ {
    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    include fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
  }
}

Save and exit the file.

Set up a database

Install MySQL, if it is not already installed on your system.

sudo nix-env -iA nixos.mysql

Start the MySQL service.

sudo systemctl start mysql

Create a new database for your Contao installation.

mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE contao;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON contao.* TO 'contao'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password_here';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit

Edit the configuration file for Contao.

sudo vim /var/www/contao/app/config/config.yml

Change the following line to match your username, password, and database name.

parameters:
    database_driver: pdo_mysql
    database_host: localhost
    database_port: null
    database_name: contao
    database_user: contao
    database_password: your_password_here
    database_charset: UTF8

Save and exit the file.

Step 4 - Start Contao

Finally, start the Contao service.

sudo systemctl start contao

You can now access your Contao installation by navigating to your domain name in your web browser.

Congratulations, you have successfully installed Contao on nixOS Latest!