How To Install Etherpad on Fedora 39

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Etherpad on Fedora 39. Etherpad is an open-source, self-hosted platform that allows multiple users to simultaneously edit documents, making it an excellent choice for businesses, educational institutions, and organizations seeking a secure and feature-rich collaborative editing solution.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the Etherpad on a Fedora 39.

Prerequisites

Before diving into the installation process, let’s ensure that you have everything you need:

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Fedora 39.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• You will need access to the terminal to execute commands. Fedora 39 provides the Terminal application for this purpose. It can be found in your Applications menu.
• A network connection or internet access to download the Etherpad package.
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install Etherpad on Fedora 39

Step 1. Keeping your system up-to-date is crucial for security and stability. Start by running the following command to update your Fedora 39 installation:

sudo dnf clean all
sudo dnf update

Step 2. Installing Node.Js.

Next, install Node.js and npm (Node.js package manager) from the official Fedora repositories:

sudo dnf install nodejs npm

Verify the installed Node.js version by running:

node --version

Step 3. Installing Etherpad on Fedora 39.

For security best practices, create a new Linux user dedicated to running Etherpad:

sudo adduser etherpad

Switch to the new user:

sudo su - etherpad

Clone the latest Etherpad source code from the official GitHub repository:

git clone https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite.git

Navigate to the Etherpad directory:

cd etherpad-lite

Run the installation script to install Etherpad dependencies:

bin/run.sh tools

Etherpad requires the sqlite3 package, which can be installed using npm:

npm install sqlite3

Before starting Etherpad, configure the settings by editing the settings.json file. Update the following settings:

• dbType: Set this to "sqlite" to use the SQLite database.
• trustProxy: Set this to true to enable Nginx reverse proxy later.

You can also customize other settings according to your preferences, such as the default text, user interface language, and more.

Step 3. Set Up Database.

Etherpad supports multiple database options, including SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. For this guide, we’ll use SQLite, a file-based database that’s easy to set up and manage.

Create a new SQLite database file:

mkdir -p var/sqlite
touch var/sqlite/database.sqlite

Grant the appropriate permissions to the Etherpad user:

chown etherpad:etherpad var/sqlite/database.sqlite

Configure Etherpad to use the new SQLite database by editing the settings.json file and updating the db section:

"db": {
  "filename": "var/sqlite/database.sqlite"
}

Step 4. Run Etherpad.

With the configuration in place, start the Etherpad server:

bin/run.sh

Check the server status by visiting http://localhost:9001 in your web browser. You should see the Etherpad interface. Create a new pad to test the collaborative editing functionality.

Optionally, you can set up a systemd service to run Etherpad automatically on system startup:

sudo cp etherpad.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl enable etherpad
sudo systemctl start etherpad

Step 5. Troubleshooting.

While the installation process is straightforward, you may encounter some issues. Here are a few common problems and their resolutions:

1. Installation Errors: If you encounter errors during the installation process, double-check that you have installed all the required dependencies and have the necessary permissions.
2. Port Conflicts: If Etherpad or Nginx fails to start due to a port conflict, check if another service is already using the same port (e.g., 9001 for Etherpad or 80/443 for Nginx). You can either stop the conflicting service or change the port in the respective configuration files.
3. Permission Issues: Ensure that the Etherpad user has the necessary permissions to access and modify the required files and directories.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Etherpad. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the Etherpad on your Fedora 39 system. For additional or useful information, we recommend you check the official Etherpad website.