Self-hosting Pixelfed on OpenBSD
1894 words, 9 minutes
In case you don’t already know, Pixelfed is a media sharing oriented solution that federates with Fediverse using the ActivityPub . And I like it also because it is based on PHP. This makes it quite simple to be hosted on OpenBSD. And here’s how I do this.
The official Run your own Pixelfed website documentation is not that much Linux-centric and really good. I’ll reuse its structure hoping this produces an homage and not a plagiarism ;-)
Preparing your machine
I’m using a server that runs OpenBSD 7.3-STABLE. Depending on your reading timeline, you may need to adapt the following directions.
Creating a dedicated app-user
The user has its own resource class and home directory. The PHP scripts will be chrooted and require their own sets of system files and sockets.
# cat > /etc/login.conf.d/pixelfed
pixelfed:\
:openfiles=1024:\
:tc=daemon:
# useradd -c "PixelFed user" -d /home/pixelfed \
-m -g =uid -L pixelfed -s /sbin/nologin \
-r 2000..3000 _pixelfed
# mkdir -p ~_pixelfed/{bin,cache,dev,etc/ssl,logs,run,tmp}
# cp -p /etc/hosts /etc/resolv.conf ~_pixelfed/etc/
# cp -p /etc/ssl/cert.pem ~_pixelfed/etc/ssl/
# chown -R _pixelfed:_pixelfed ~_pixelfed/{cache,tmp}
# rcctl set syslogd flags -a ~_pixelfed/dev/log
# rcctl restart syslogd
Install and configure dependencies
Because the database and the cache are used by several other applications, and because I use rdomain(4), I don’t connect using sockets but using IP. I also have to upgrade some max values. You may not have to do it this way.
Configuring Redis socket
The memory cache is mutualized and using rdomain:
# pkg_add redis
# vi /etc/redis/redis.conf
(...)
bind 127.0.0.1
maxclients 1024
# rcctl enable redis
# rcctl set redis rtable 1
# rcctl start redis
Database
I’m using MariaDB ; mostly because I know MySQL better that PostgreSQL. It is isolated using rdomain and has its own, non-default, storage location.
# pkg_add mariadb-server
# vi /etc/my.cnf
(...)
data=/home/mysql
# /usr/local/bin/mariadb-install-db
# rcctl enable mysqld
# rcctl set mysqld rtable 1
# rcctl start mysqld
# mariadb-secure-installation
# mysql -u root -p
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE pixelfed;
MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON pixelfed.* \
TO 'pixelfed'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '<changeme>';
MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
MariaDB [(none)]> EXIT;
PHP-FPM
Because I’m not using Apache, I run php-fpm(8):
# pkg_add composer \
pecl81-imagick \
pecl81-redis \
php-curl%8.1 \
php-gd%8.1 \
php-intl%8.1 \
php-mysqli%8.1 \
php-pcntl%8.1 \
php-pdo_mysql%8.1 \
php-zip%8.1
# cd /etc/php-8.1; ln -s ../php-8.1.sample/* .; cd -
I also run it on its own rdomain:
# cp -p /etc/php-8.1.ini /etc/php-8.1-pixelfed.ini
# vi /etc/php-8.1-pixelfed.ini
(...)
max_execution_time = 600
error_log = syslog
syslog.ident = php-fpm
date.timezone = Europe/Amsterdam
; bigger value for Instagram imports
post_max_size = 512M
upload_max_filesize = 512M
max_file_uploads = 1024
# cp -p /etc/php-fpm.conf /etc/php-fpm-pixelfed.conf
# vi /etc/php-fpm-pixelfed.conf
(...)
error_log = syslog
syslog.ident = php-fpm-pixelfed
user = _pixelfed
group = _pixelfed
listen = /home/pixelfed/run/php-fpm.sock
listen.owner = _pixelfed
listen.group = _pixelfed
chroot = /home/pixelfed
# ln -s /etc/rc.d/php81_fpm /etc/rc.d/php81_fpm_pixelfed
# rcctl enable php81_fpm_pixelfed
# rcctl set php81_fpm_pixelfed flags \
-c /etc/php-8.1-pixelfed.ini -y /etc/php-fpm-pixelfed.conf
# rcctl set php81_fpm_pixelfed rtable 2
# rcctl start php81_fpm_pixelfed
Generic Installation guide
Setting up Pixelfed files
Get Pixelfed sources from git and set the proper permissions:
# pkg_add git
# cd ~_pixelfed
# umask 022
# git clone -b dev https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed.git src
# chown -R _pixelfed:_pixelfed src
# ln -s . home
# ln -s . pixelfed
Note that the dev branch shall become stable someday.
Also note the symbolic links magic. It is used to be able to chroot the PHP
scripts eventhough Pixelfed is not aware of this.
Initialize PHP dependencies
Every dependencies can be fetched and installed using composer. Running it as
the _pixelfed user enforces the use of $HOME and does not wreck the whole
/usr/local.
# cd ~_pixelfed/src
# doas -u _pixelfed composer install --no-ansi \
--no-interaction --optimize-autoloader
Configure environment variables
The configuration file is build from the example env file.
# cd ~_pixelfed/src
# doas -u _pixelfed cp .env.example .env
# vi .env
(...)
APP_NAME="Foo'l'Bazar"
PF_OPTIMIZE_IMAGES="false"
IMAGE_DRIVER=imagick
APP_URL="https://chicklens.foolbazar.eu"
APP_DOMAIN="chicklens.foolbazar.eu"
ADMIN_DOMAIN="chicklens.foolbazar.eu"
SESSION_DOMAIN="chicklens.foolbazar.eu"
(...)
DB_PASSWORD="(...)"
(...)
REDIS_DATABASE="2"
(...)
LOG_LEVEL="info"
(...)
ACTIVITY_PUB="true"
AP_REMOTE_FOLLOW="true"
AP_INBOX="true"
AP_OUTBOX="true"
AP_SHAREDINBOX="true"
(...)
IMPORT_INSTAGRAM=true
IMPORT_INSTAGRAM_POST_LIMIT=1024
Setting up services
One time tasks
Things to run once to setup everything.
# cd ~_pixelfed/src
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan key:generate
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan storage:link
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan migrate --force
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan import:cities
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan instance:actor
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan passport:keys
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan route:cache
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan view:cache
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan config:cache
Note that the config:cache must be run each time the .env file is
modified.
Job queueing
The Laravel Horizon software is used to manage queues. Create and enable access to the dashboard. Then create an rc script that will start it at boot time:
# cd ~_pixelfed/src
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan horizon:install
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan horizon:publish
# vi /etc/rc.d/pixelfed
#!/bin/ksh
daemon="/usr/local/bin/php artisan --no-ansi horizon"
daemon_execdir="/home/pixelfed/src"
daemon_logger="daemon.info"
daemon_user="_pixelfed"
. /etc/rc.d/rc.subr
rc_bg=YES
rc_reload=NO
rc_cmd $1
#EOF
# chmod 0755 /etc/rc.d/pixelfed
# rcctl enable pixelfed
# rcctl set pixelfed rtable 2
# rcctl start pixelfed
Scheduling periodic tasks
The task scheduler is used to run periodic commands in the background, such as media optimization, garbage collection, and other time-based tasks that should be run every once in a while.
# vi /home/pixelfed/bin/periodic_tasks
#!/bin/sh
PATH="/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin"
cd "$HOME/src"
php artisan --no-ansi schedule:run 2>&1 | \
grep -v '^$' | \
logger -ip daemon.info -t pixelfed_periodic_tasks
#EOF
# chown _pixelfed /home/pixelfed/bin/periodic_tasks
# chmod 0750 /home/pixelfed/bin/periodic_tasks
# crontab -u _pixelfed -e
* * * * * -s /home/pixelfed/bin/periodic_tasks
Handling web requests
I’ll be using nginx(8). Mostly because I don’t want to add to many specifics right now. Someday, I shall migrate to httpd(8).
# pkg_add nginx
# ln -s /etc/rc.d/nginx /etc/rc.d/nginx_pixelfed
# rcctl enable nginx_pixelfed
# rcctl set nginx_pixelfed flags \
-c /etc/nginx/nginx_pixelfed.conf -p /home/pixelfed
# rcctl set nginx_pixelfed rtable 2
# vi /etc/nginx/nginx_pixelfed.conf
user _pixelfed;
worker_processes 1;
error_log /dev/null;
error_log syslog:server=unix:/dev/log,nohostname,tag=nginx_pixelfed,severity=notice;
worker_rlimit_nofile 1024;
events {
worker_connections 800;
}
http {
include mime.types;
default_type application/octet-stream;
index index.html index.htm;
log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
'$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
'"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';
access_log /dev/null;
access_log syslog:server=unix:/dev/log,nohostname,tag=nginx_pixelfed,severity=notice main;
keepalive_timeout 65;
gzip on;
server_tokens off;
server {
listen 127.0.0.1:8887;
server_name chicklens.foolbazar.eu;
root /home/pixelfed/src/public;
client_body_temp_path /home/pixelfed/cache/client_body_temp;
proxy_temp_path /home/pixelfed/cache/proxy_temp;
fastcgi_temp_path /home/pixelfed/cache/proxy_temp;
uwsgi_temp_path /home/pixelfed/cache/uwsgi_temp;
scgi_temp_path /home/pixelfed/cache/scgi_temp;
add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";
index index.php;
charset utf-8;
# Adapt to /etc/php-8.1-pixelfed.ini post_max_size and upload_max_filesize
client_max_body_size 512M;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
}
location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
location = /robots.txt { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
error_page 404 /index.php;
location ~ \.php$ {
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_pass unix:run/php-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_param QUERY_STRING $query_string;
fastcgi_param REQUEST_METHOD $request_method;
fastcgi_param CONTENT_TYPE $content_type;
fastcgi_param CONTENT_LENGTH $content_length;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME $fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_param REQUEST_URI $request_uri;
fastcgi_param DOCUMENT_URI $document_uri;
fastcgi_param DOCUMENT_ROOT $document_root;
fastcgi_param SERVER_PROTOCOL $server_protocol;
fastcgi_param GATEWAY_INTERFACE CGI/1.1;
fastcgi_param SERVER_SOFTWARE nginx/$nginx_version;
fastcgi_param REMOTE_ADDR $remote_addr;
fastcgi_param REMOTE_PORT $remote_port;
fastcgi_param SERVER_ADDR $server_addr;
fastcgi_param SERVER_PORT $server_port;
fastcgi_param SERVER_NAME $server_name;
fastcgi_param HTTPS $https if_not_empty;
fastcgi_param REDIRECT_STATUS 200;
fastcgi_param HTTPS $https if_not_empty;
fastcgi_param REDIRECT_STATUS 200;
fastcgi_param HTTP_PROXY "";
}
location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
deny all;
}
}
}
#EOF
# rcctl start nginx_pixelfed
Exposing application on the Internet
Because #reasons, I’m using relayd(8) to expose Pixelfed. That’s why nginx only runs on localhost using HTTP. relayd(8) and httpd(8) take care of HTTPS.
# vi /etc/relayd.fedi.conf
ip4_fedi="192.0.2.8"
prefork 3
log state changes
log connection
table <localhost> { 127.0.0.1 }
table <pixelfed> { 127.0.0.1 }
http protocol www {
request header "Host" value "chicklens.foolbazar.eu" forward to <localhost>
}
http protocol wwwtls {
tls keypair chicklens.foolbazar.eu
http websockets
tcp { nodelay, socket buffer 65536 }
request header "Host" value "chicklens.foolbazar.eu" forward to <pixelfed>
}
relay www {
listen on $ip4_fedi port 80
protocol www
forward to <localhost> port 80
}
relay www4tls {
listen on $ip4_fedi port 443 tls
protocol wwwtls
forward to <pixelfed> port 8887
}
#EOF
# ln -s /etc/rc.d/relayd /etc/rc.d/relayd_fedi
# rcctl enable relayd_fedi
# rcctl set relayd_fedi flags -f /etc/relayd.fedi.conf
# rcctl set relayd_fedi rtable 2
# rcctl start relayd_fedi
From here, Pixelfed should be up and running.
Using a Web browser, go to your configured FQDN and enjoy.
Administering your website
User management / creation
I didn’t activate registration so I have to create my user(s) manually.
# cd ~_pixelfed/src
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan user:create
Creating a new user...
Name:
> Joel Carnat
Username:
> joel
Email:
> px<at>fqdn<dot>net
Password:
> (...)
Confirm Password:
> (...)
Make this user an admin? (yes/no) [no]:
> no
Manually verify email address? (yes/no) [no]:
> no
Are you sure you want to create this user? (yes/no) [no]:
> yes
Created new user!
Now, browse to the Pixelfed UI, log in and start sharing images.
You can browse to /i/admin/diagnostics/home using an admin account to check
if everything is ok.
Instagram Import
I wanted to import all my IG photos to Pixelfed. So I went to Instagram and requested my full archive, in JSON mode. A couple of minutes later, I got it.
By default, IG import is not enabled. So browse to the config section and enable Instagram Import. I have done it in my config file.
Browse to Settings / Import, click the “Import” button and follow the wizard. Depending on your archive size and server speed, it can take several minutes to proceed. So just wait :)
Not sure why, but after the import, the posts counter was not updated. But there is a simple command to solve this:
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan fix:statuscount
Instagram imports have their visibility set to “hidden from public feeds”. I want them to be public and have not seen a setting for this. So I invoked a bit of SQL magic:
> UPDATE statuses SET scope='public',visibility='public' \
WHERE profile_id='<MY_PROFILE_ID>' AND scope='unlisted';
Query OK, 342 rows affected (0.019 sec)
Rows matched: 342 Changed: 342 Warnings: 0
After such a backend operation, it is required to clear the Redis cache so that the photos appear as requested.
# redis-cli INFO keyspace
(...)
db2:keys=32,expires=29,avg_ttl=183421743
# redis-cli -n 2 FLUSHDB
OK
The pictures can now be shared and added to Collections.
Backup
There are PHP Artisan commands dedicated to backup. See here for more details.
I am using those as part of my rsnapshot process. I have created a local backup script:
# cat /home/scripts/rsnapshot-pixelfed-backup
#!/usr/bin/env ksh
#
# Script called by remote rsnapshot
# Backup Pixelfed (in ./storage/app/Foo'l'Bazar)
#
PATH="/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin"
cd /home/pixelfed/src
umask 0066
doas -u _pixelfed php artisan backup:run --quiet
doas -u _pixelfed php artisan backup:clean --quiet
exit 0
#EOF
On the rsnapshot server, the configuration goes like this:
backup_exec ssh -i /backup/.ssh/backup backup@pixelfed \
"/home/scripts/rsnapshot-pixelfed-backup" required/
backup backup@pixelfed:/home/pixelfed/src/storage/app/Foo\'l\'Bazar/ \
home/pixelfed/
Updating Pixelfed
Updating Pixelfed is currently done by pulling the dev branch and running a few PHP commands:
# cd ~_pixelfed/src
# doas -u _pixelfed git pull origin dev
# doas -u _pixelfed composer install
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan config:cache
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan route:cache
# doas -u _pixelfed php artisan migrate --force
# rcctl restart pixelfed
You are now ready to share your 📷 photos in the wild!
One More Thing
I’ll be posting using
@joel@chicklens.foolbazar.eu
. My
Instagram feed has been imported. I just need to edit a few descriptions and
AltTexts. Feel free to browse it, come say Hello World! and let me know
about your account :)