How to Install phpList on NixOS Latest

phpList is an open source software designed to manage mailing lists, newsletters, and email campaigns. If you want to install phpList on NixOS latest, here is a tutorial for you.

Before You Start

Before starting the installation process, make sure you have the following requirements:

A running NixOS latest machine
A non-root user with sudo privileges
A domain name or IP address that you want to use for phpList installation
Internet connectivity

Step 1: Update Your System

The first step is to update your NixOS machine to the latest version. You can do this by running the following command:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade

This command will update your system with the latest packages and security patches.

Step 2: Install the Required Packages

phpList requires some packages to be installed before it can run smoothly. To install them, run the following command:

sudo nix-env -iA nixos.nginx nixos.php nixos.mariadb

This command will install Nginx, PHP, and MariaDB packages that are required for phpList.

Step 3: Configure MariaDB

After installing MariaDB, you need to configure it. To do this, run the following commands:

sudo mysql_install_db
sudo mysql_secure_installation

The first command will initialize the MariaDB data directory, while the second command will secure your MariaDB installation by setting a root password, removing test users and databases, and disabling remote root login.

Step 4: Create a Database for phpList

Now you need to create a database for phpList. To do this, log in to the MariaDB shell with the following command:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database, a database user, and grant the user privileges over the database:

CREATE DATABASE phplist;
CREATE USER 'phplist_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password_here';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON phplist.* TO 'phplist_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 5: Install and Configure Nginx

Next, you need to install Nginx and configure it for phpList. To start, create a new Nginx configuration file for phpList:

sudo nano /etc/nixos/nginx/sites-available/phplist.conf

Copy and paste the following configuration into the new file:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com; # Replace with your domain name or IP address
    root /var/www/phplist/public_html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock; # Adjust socket path as necessary
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }
}

Save the file and then create a symbolic link to enable the site:

sudo ln -s /etc/nixos/nginx/sites-available/phplist.conf /etc/nixos/nginx/sites-enabled/phplist.conf

Finally, reload Nginx for the changes to take effect:

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 6: Download and Install phpList

The final step is to download and install phpList. To do this, navigate to the web root directory and download the latest version of phpList:

cd /var/www/
sudo wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/phplist/files/phplist/3.6.0/phplist-3.6.0.tgz
sudo tar -xzvf phplist-3.6.0.tgz

After extracting the archive, you need to move the files to the web root directory and set the correct permissions:

sudo mv phplist-3.6.0 public_html
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data public_html
sudo chmod -R 755 public_html

Step 7: Configure phpList

Now you need to configure phpList by editing the configuration file:

sudo nano /var/www/phplist/public_html/config/config.php

Edit the lines that start with $database_ to match the database connection details you set earlier:

$database_host = 'localhost';
$database_name = 'phplist';
$database_user = 'phplist_user';
$database_password = 'your_password_here';

Save the file and exit the text editor.

Step 8: Access phpList

Congratulations! You have successfully installed phpList on NixOS. To access phpList, open your web browser and visit the domain name or IP address you specified in your Nginx configuration:

http://example.com/

You will be redirected to the phpList setup page. Follow the prompts to complete the setup process.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to install phpList on NixOS latest, configure MariaDB and Nginx, and access phpList. With phpList installed, you can now manage mailing lists, newsletters, and email campaigns with ease.