1 public-inbox (server-side) installation
2 ---------------------------------------
4 This is for folks who want to setup their own public-inbox instance.
5 Clients should use normal git-clone/git-fetch, or NNTP clients
6 if they want to import mail into their personal inboxes.
8 public-inbox is developed on Debian GNU/Linux systems and will
9 never depend on packages outside of the "main" component of
10 the "stable" distribution, currently Debian 9.x ("stretch")
12 Most packages are available in other GNU/Linux distributions
15 TODO: this still needs to be documented better,
16 also see the scripts/ and sa_config/ directories in the source tree
21 public-inbox requires a number of other packages to access its full
22 functionality. The core tools are, of course:
24 * Git (1.8.0+, 2.6+ for writing v2 repositories)
26 * DBD::SQLite (needed for NNTP, message threading, and v2 repositories)
28 To accept incoming mail into a public inbox, you'll likely want:
30 * MTA - postfix is recommended (for public-inbox-mda)
31 * SpamAssassin (spamc/spamd) (for public-inbox-watch/public-inbox-mda)
33 Beyond that, there is a long list of Perl modules required, starting with:
35 * Date::Parse deb: libtimedate-perl
39 * Digest::SHA typically installed with Perl
42 * Email::MIME deb: libemail-mime-perl
46 * Plack deb: libplack-perl
48 rpm: perl-Plack, perl-Plack-Test,
49 (for HTML/Atom generation)
51 * URI::Escape deb: liburi-perl
54 (for HTML/Atom generation)
56 Where "deb" indicates package names for Debian-derived distributions,
57 "pkg" is for the FreeBSD package (maybe other common BSDs, too), and
58 "rpm" is for RPM-based distributions (only known to work on Fedora).
60 Numerous optional modules are likely to be useful as well:
62 - DBD::SQLite deb: libdbd-sqlite3-perl
65 (for v2, NNTP, or gzipped mboxes)
67 - Search::Xapian deb: libsearch-xapian-perl
69 rpm: perl-Search-Xapian
72 - Net::Server deb: libnet-server-perl
75 (for HTTP/NNTP background daemons,
76 not needed as systemd services or
79 - Inline::C[7] deb: libinline-c-perl
81 (speeds up process spawning on Linux,
82 see public-inbox-daemon(8))
84 - Plack::Middleware::ReverseProxy deb: libplack-middleware-reverseproxy-perl
85 pkg: p5-Plack-Middleware-ReverseProxy
86 rpm: perl-Plack-Middleware-ReverseProxy
87 (ensures redirects are correct when running
88 behind nginx or Varnish)
90 - Plack::Middleware::Deflater deb: libplack-middleware-deflater-perl
91 pkg: p5 -Plack-Middleware-Deflater
92 rpm: perl-Plack-Middleware-Deflater
93 (saves bandwidth on responses)
95 * highlight deb: libhighlight-perl
96 (for syntax highlighting with coderepo)
98 * xapian-compact (tool) deb: xapian-tools
101 (optional, for public-inbox-compact(1))
103 The following modules are typically pulled in by dependencies listed
104 above, so there is no need to explicitly install them:
106 - Email::MIME::ContentType deb: libemail-mime-contenttype-perl
107 pkg: p5-Email-MIME-ContentType
108 rpm: perl-Email-MIME-ContentType
109 (pulled in by Email::MIME)
111 - Email::Simple deb: libemail-simple-perl
113 rpm: perl-Email-Simple
114 (pulled in by Email::MIME)
116 * Encode deb: libperl5.$MINOR (or libencode-perl)
119 (likely installed with Perl)
121 - DBI deb: libdbi-perl
124 (pulled in by DBD::SQLite)
126 * Devel::Peek deb: libperl5.$MINOR (e.g. libperl5.24)
129 (optional for stale FD cleanup in daemons,
130 typically installed alongside Perl5)
132 - Filesys::Notify::Simple deb: libfilesys-notify-simple-perl
133 pkg: pkg-Filesys-Notify-Simple
134 rpm: perl-Filesys-Notify-Simple
135 (for public-inbox-watch, pulled in by Plack)
137 - IO::Compress::Gzip deb: perl-modules (or libio-compress-perl)
139 rpm: perl-IO-Compress
140 (for gzipped mbox over HTTP)
142 Uncommonly needed modules:
144 - Socket6 deb: libsocket6-perl
147 (pulled in by SpamAssassin and Net::Server,
148 only necessary if using IPv6 with
149 Plack::Middleware::AccessLog or similar
152 - Crypt::CBC deb: libcrypt-cbc-perl
154 (for PublicInbox::Unsubscribe (rarely used))
156 Optional packages testing and development:
158 - IPC::Run deb: libipc-run-perl
162 - Plack::Test deb: libplack-test-perl
166 - Test::Simple deb: perl-modules-5.$MINOR
168 rpm: perl-Test-Simple
170 - XML::Feed deb: libxml-feed-perl
174 standard MakeMaker installation (Perl)
175 --------------------------------------
177 To use MakeMaker, you need to ensure ExtUtils::MakeMaker is available.
178 This is typically installed with Perl, but RPM-based systems will likely
179 need to install the `perl-ExtUtils-MakeMaker' package.
181 Once the dependencies are installed, you should be able to build and
182 install the system (into /usr/local) with:
187 make install # root permissions may be needed
189 When installing Search::Xapian, make sure the underlying Xapian
190 installation is not affected by an index corruption bug:
192 https://bugs.debian.org/808610
194 For Debian 8.x (jessie), this means using Debian 8.5 or later.
196 public-inbox will never store unregeneratable data in Xapian
197 or any other search database we might use; Xapian corruption
198 will not destroy critical data.
200 See the public-inbox-overview(7) man page for the next steps once
201 the installation is complete.
206 Copyright 2013-2019 all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
207 License: AGPL-3.0+ <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt>