• Table of contents
• Prerequisites
• Install PostgreSQL
• Install Diaspora*
  • Setup the Database
  • Start Diaspora
• Install Nginx
  • Configure Nginx
• Resources

This is a simple guide for setting up Diaspora* on FreeBSD 9.

Prerequisites¶

• Update the system and ports tree
  

  pkg update && pkg upgrade
  portsnap fetch extract
  

• Install ca_root_nss
  

  cd /usr/ports/security/ca_root_nss
  make config
  make reinstall clean
  

  • NOTE: Make sure to enable [X] ETCSYMLINK when running make config. This is to prevent an error later when running bundle install.

• Install portmaster:
  

  cd /usr/ports/ports-mgmt/portmaster
  make install clean
  pkg2ng
  

• It is vitally important that you do not use tabs in make.conf. This will break your system! The settings here are in addition to any others you already have, and are required to prevent conflicts.
  

  echo 'WITHOUT="X11"' >> /etc/make.conf
  echo 'OPTIONS_UNSET=X11' >> /etc/make.conf
  echo 'DEFAULT_VERSIONS=    perl5=5.16 ruby=2.2 python=2.7 postgresql=9.4 mysql=5.5' >> /etc/make.conf
  echo 'PERL5_DEFAULT=5.16' >> /etc/make.conf
  echo 'RUBY_VER=2.2' >> /etc/make.conf
  echo 'WANT_PGSQL_VER=94' >> /etc/make.conf
  

• The following packages are optional but recommended before you begin building Diaspora* on FreeBSD:
  

  portmaster shells/bash security/sudo devel/gmake devel/git devel/subversion lang/python27 ftp/curl devel/automake  graphics/ImageMagick-nox11 print/ghostscript9-nox11 lang/ruby22 www/node www/npm devel/libtool devel/bison devel/readline textproc/rubygem-nokogiri databases/redis sysutils/rubygem-bundler
  

• Enable and start Redis
  

  echo 'redis_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
  service redis start
  

• Add the diaspora user
  

  pw add user -n diaspora -m -s /usr/local/bin/bash -c "Diaspora*" 
  

---

Install PostgreSQL¶

• Install PostgreSQL 9.4:
  

  portmaster databases/postgresql94-server databases/postgresql94-client
  

• Connect to the default database:
  

  su - postgres
  psql
  

  • Set a password for the postgres user:
    

    \password postgres
    

  • The postgres admin console will show postgres=#, create a new diaspora database user and database:
    

    CREATE USER diasporauser WITH PASSWORD 'diasporapass';
    CREATE DATABASE diasporadb OWNER diasporauser;
    

  • Quit from the database
    

    \q
    

• Exit from the postgres user
  

  exit
  

---

Install Diaspora*¶

• Download Diaspora* as the diaspora user run:
  

  su - diaspora
  git clone git://github.com/diaspora/diaspora.git
  cd diaspora
  

• Copy the example configuration files
  

  cp config/database.yml.example config/database.yml
  cp config/diaspora.yml.example config/diaspora.yml
  

• Start by setting bundler to use the system nokogiri gem. This is to prevent an error during install:
  

  bundle config build.nokogiri "--use-system-libraries --with-xml2-include=/usr/local/include/libxml2" 
  

• Install the Ruby libraries required by Diaspora:
  

  bundle install --without test development --path vendor/bundle
  

Setup the Database¶

• Double check that the database.yml looks right:
  

  vi config/database.yml
  

• Run the following to setup the database:
  

  RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake db:create db:schema:load
  

• Edit the diaspora config:
  

  vi config/diaspora.yml
  

  • And modify the certificate_authority parameter to the following:
    

    certificate_authorities: '/usr/local/etc/ssl/cert.pem'
    

Start Diaspora¶

• Edit the production environment config:
  

  vi config/environments/production.rb
  

  • And modify the following parameter:
    

    config.assets.compile = true
    

• Precompile the assets used by Diaspora:
  

  RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake assets:precompile
  

• Start Diaspora:
  

  ./script/server
  

---

Install Nginx¶

• Install Nginx with Passenger
  

  portmaster www/nginx
  

  
  NOTE: Make sure to enable [X]PASSENGER during the configuration

• Install Passenger
  

  portmaster www/rubygem-passenger
  

  
  NOTE: Make sure to enable NGINX during the configuration
  NOTE: Enabling the [X] SYMLINK option will make upgrading passenger easier later on

• Start and enable nginx at boot:
  

  echo 'nginx_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
  service nginx start
  

Configure Nginx¶

• Create a configuration directory to make managing individual server blocks easier:
  

  mkdir /usr/local/etc/nginx/conf.d
  

• Configuring Nginx and Passenger, edit the /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf file:
  

  vi /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf
  

  • And add/modify the following
    

    user  www www;
    worker_processes  4;
    error_log  /var/log/nginx/error.log notice;
    pid        /var/run/nginx.pid;
    
    events {
      worker_connections  1024;
    }
    
    http {
      passenger_root /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/2.2/gems/passenger;
      passenger_ruby /usr/local/bin/ruby;
      passenger_max_pool_size 15;
      passenger_pool_idle_time 300;
    
      # Load config files from the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory
      include /usr/local/etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
    
      include       mime.types;
      default_type  application/octet-stream;
      sendfile      on;
      tcp_nopush    on;
      keepalive_timeout  65;
      tcp_nodelay        on;
    }
    

    
    NOTE: The above configuration will set the ruby used by passenger to the system default ruby.

• Create a server block for diaspora
  

  vi /usr/local/etc/nginx/conf.d/diaspora.conf
  

  • And add the following:
    

    server {
      listen       80;
      server_name  diaspora.example.com;
    
      passenger_enabled on;
      passenger_user    diaspora;
      passenger_group   diaspora;
    
      access_log /var/log/nginx-diaspora.log;
      root /home/diaspora/diaspora/public;
    }
    

• Restart nginx:
  

  service nginx restart
  

Resources¶

• https://wiki.diasporafoundation.org/Installation/FreeBSD