LibrePhotos on NixOS

How to install LibrePhotos on NixOS Latest

LibrePhotos is a self-hosted, open-source alternative to Google Photos, which lets you manage and share your photos and videos securely. In this tutorial, we'll show you how to install LibrePhotos on the latest version of NixOS.

Prerequisites

Before starting, you need to have the following prerequisites:

A running instance of NixOS latest
Git installed on your machine
Basic knowledge of how to use the terminal

Step 1 - Installation of Required Dependencies

Before installing LibrePhotos, ensure that your system has the required dependencies installed. Run the following command to install all necessary dependencies:

sudo nix-env -iA nixos.python36Packages.mysql nixos.git

Step 2 - Download LibrePhotos

To download LibrePhotos, run the following command in the terminal:

git clone https://github.com/LibrePhotos/librephotos.git

This command will download the LibrePhotos repository into your current working directory.

Step 3 - Install and Setup MySQL

LibrePhotos requires a running MySQL database to store metadata and thumbnails. To install and set up MySQL, follow these steps:

sudo systemctl start mysql
sudo systemctl enable mysql
mysql_secure_installation

The above commands will start the MySQL server, enable it to start automatically on boot and run the MySQL installation script to set up the database.

Step 4 - Set up Environment Variables

To set up the required environment variables, edit the librephotos/.env file using your preferred text editor:

cd librephotos
cp .env.example .env
nano .env

Edit the following variables in the .env file:

DATABASE_URL=mysql+pymysql://root:<MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD>@localhost/librephotos

Replace <MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD> with MySQL's root password. Leave root in place for the user.

LIBREPHOTOS_SECRET_KEY=<A-RANDOM-GENERATED-SECRET-KEY>

Set <A-RANDOM-GENERATED-SECRET-KEY> to a 64 character random string. You can use pwgen like so: pwgen -B -v 64 1.

LIBREPHOTOS_ADMIN_USER=<ADMIN-USERNAME>
LIBREPHOTOS_ADMIN_PASSWORD=<ADMIN-PASSWORD-GENERATED>

Replace <ADMIN-USERNAME> with the username you want to use for the admin account, and set <ADMIN-PASSWORD-GENERATED> to the password you want to use for that account.

Save and close the file.

Step 5 - Install and Set up LibrePhotos

To install and set up LibrePhotos, run the following command in the terminal:

python3.6 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py collectstatic

Step 6 - Start LibrePhotos

You can now start LibrePhotos by running the following command:

python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

This command will start the server on port 8000. You can access the LibrePhotos web interface by navigating to http://<YOUR-SERVER-IP-ADDRESS>:8000/ in your web browser.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and set up LibrePhotos on NixOS Latest. You can now start uploading, managing, and sharing your photos and videos securely.