Phabricator is an open source version control platform similar to GitHub and other hosted version control service… It comes with code review, repository hosting, bug tracking, project management, and more. This makes it probably the easiest way of setting up a self-hosted Git service.
If you’re looking for an alternative development platform with set of tools to help build better software quickly, then Phabricator might be a great place to start.
Phabricator has rich features like issues and time tracking, repository branching, file locking and tagging, merging and many others features that you will find in a typical source control platform.
For more about Phabricator, please check its homepage.
This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to easily install Phabricator on Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 LTS servers.
Install Apache2 HTTP Server
Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server in use. so install it, since Phabricator needs it. To install Apache2 HTTP on Ubuntu server, run the commands below.
sudo apt update sudo apt install apache2
After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop apache2.service sudo systemctl start apache2.service sudo systemctl enable apache2.service
To test whether Apache2 is installed, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address. When you see that, then Apache2 is working as expected.
Install MariaDB Database Server
MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open source database servers to use with Phabricator. To install MariaDB run the commands below.
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.
Run these on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mysql.service sudo systemctl start mysql.service sudo systemctl enable mysql.service
Run these on Ubuntu 17.10 and 18.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.
sudo mysql_secure_installation
When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.
- Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
- Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
- New password: Enter password
- Re-enter new password: Repeat password
- Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
- Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
- Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
- Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y
Restart MariaDB server
To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon to MariaDB server
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message
Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules
PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. in order to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.
Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2
sudo apt update
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-curl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-json php7.2-cli
After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open PHP default config file for Apache2.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini
Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below is great settings to apply in your environments.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
After making the change above, save the file and close out.
After installing PHP and related modules, all you have to do is restart Apache2 to reload PHP configurations.
To restart Apache2, run the commands below
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
To test PHP 7.2 settings with Apache2, create a phpinfo.php file in Apache2 root directory by running the commands below
sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
Then type the content below and save the file.
<?php phpinfo( ); ?>
Save the file. then browse to your server hostname followed by /phpinfo.php
/phpinfo.php
You should see PHP default test page.
Download and Install Phabricator
Run the commands below to get Phabricator and its dependencies. You’ll create a new home folder for Phabricator to run from.
sudo mkdir /var/www/html/repository cd /var/www/html/repository sudo apt install git sudo git clone sudo git clone sudo git clone
To configure phabricator MariaDB configurations file, execute the following commands: Change the highlighted lines with settings for your environment.
cd /var/www/html/repository/phabricator sudo ./bin/config set mysql.host localhost sudo ./bin/config set mysql.user root sudo ./bin/config set mysql.pass type_root_password_here
Next, run the commands below to upgrade. This script will load the database schemasudo ./bin/storage upgrade --user root --password type_root_password_here
You should be prompted whether to continue. type y for Yes.
Before running storage upgrades, you should take down the Phabricator web
interface and stop any running Phabricator daemons (you can disable this
warning with --force).
Are you ready to continue? [y/N] y
After that, run the commands below to change the root folder permissions.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/repository/phabricator/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/repository/phabricator/
Configure Apache2 Phabricator Site
Finally, configure Apache2 configuration file for Phabricator. This file will control how users access Phabricator content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called phabricator.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/phabricator.conf
Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin [email protected]
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/repository/phabricator/webroot
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/rsrc/(.*) - [L,QSA]
RewriteRule ^/favicon.ico - [L,QSA]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?__path__=$1 [B,L,QSA]
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
<Directory /var/www/html/repository/phabricator/webroot/>
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Save the file and exit.
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
Enable the Phabricator Site and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below, then restart Apache2 server.
sudo a2ensite phabricator.conf sudo a2enmod rewrite sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
You won’t be able to logon with MariaDB root account…
When you attempt to logon using MariaDB root account it will fail… That’s because MariaDB and MySQL have switch their authentication method to auth_socket
The auth_socket plugin authenticates users that connect from the localhost through the Unix socket file… which prevents users from connecting with password… So, you won’t be able to connect using the root account…
When you attempt to logon, you see the error “#1698 – Access denied for user ‘root’@’localhost’”
To fix that, run the commands below:
sudo mysql -u root
That should get you into the database server. After that, run the commands below to disable plugin authentication for the root user
use mysql; update user set plugin='' where User="root"; flush privileges; exit
Restart and run the commands below to set a new password.
sudo systemctl restart mariadb.service
Next, open your browser and go to the URL. and continue with the setup.
You will be prompted to create an admin account. please do.
Enjoy!
Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Phabricator on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 servers.
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