How to Install GoatCounter on NixOS Latest

GoatCounter is a simple web statistics service that provides useful information on website traffic at a very affordable price. If you are using NixOS Latest and want to install GoatCounter, you are in the right place. This tutorial will provide a step-by-step guide to install GoatCounter on NixOS Latest.

Prerequisites

• An operating install of NixOS Latest
• A domain name for your website that points to your NixOS Latest instance
• A working knowledge of the Nix package manager and NixOS configuration files

Step 1: Install GoatCounter on NixOS Latest

To install GoatCounter on NixOS Latest, you will need to add the package to your configuration.nix file. To do this, open the file with a text editor, and add the following code to the environment.systemPackages section:

environment.systemPackages = [
  # other packages ...
  goatcounter
];

This will install the latest version of GoatCounter and add it to your NixOS environment.

Step 2: Configure GoatCounter

To configure GoatCounter, you will need to create a configuration file in the /etc/goatcounter/ directory. To do this, create a new file with the following name /etc/goatcounter/goatcounter.conf and add the following code:

database = "/var/lib/goatcounter/goatcounter.db"

# Make sure to replace the following with your own domain name
url = "https://example.com"

This configuration tells GoatCounter to use an SQLite database to store its data and to use the domain name you specify as the URL for your website.

Step 3: Enable and Start the GoatCounter Service

To enable and start the GoatCounter service, add the following code to your configuration.nix file:

systemd.services.goatcounter = {
  serviceConfig.Type = "simple";
  serviceConfig.ExecStart = "${pkgs.goatcounter}/bin/goatcounter serve /etc/goatcounter/goatcounter.conf";
  wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
};

This code tells NixOS to enable and start the GoatCounter service. The ExecStart line specifies the command to run when starting the service, which in this case is the GoatCounter executable with the serve parameter and the path to the configuration file.

Step 4: Reload Your NixOS Configuration and Start GoatCounter

To apply the changes you made to your configuration.nix file, you need to reload the NixOS configuration. To do this, run the following command:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch

This will apply the changes to your NixOS configuration and start the GoatCounter service. You can verify that the service is running correctly by checking its status with the following command:

systemctl status goatcounter

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured GoatCounter on NixOS Latest. You can now track website statistics by visiting the GoatCounter dashboard at https://example.com/count.