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Install Mathesar from source on Linux

For experienced Linux sysadmins

To follow this guide you need be experienced with Linux server administration, including the command line interface and some common utilities.

If you run into any trouble, we encourage you to open an issue or submit a PR proposing changes to this file.

Requirements

System

We recommend having at least 60 GB disk space and 4 GB of RAM.

Operating System

We’ve tested this on Debian 12, but we expect that it can be adapted for other Linux distributions as well.

Access

You should have root access to the machine you’re installing Mathesar on.

Software

You’ll need to install the following system packages before you install Mathesar:

  • Python 3.9, 3.10, or 3.11

    Python version

    Python older than 3.9 will not run Mathesar.

    Python 3.12 will run Mathesar, but you’ll have to take extra steps to get some dependencies to build. Installing a package for your OS that provides the libpq-fe.h header file should be enough in most cases. On Debian 12, this header is provided by the libpq-dev package.

  • PostgreSQL 13 or newer (Verify by logging in, and running the query: SELECT version();)

  • Caddy (Verify with caddy version)

  • git (Verify with git --version)

  • GNU gettext (Verify with gettext --version)

Domain (optional)

If you want Mathesar to be accessible over the internet, you’ll probably want to set up a domain or sub-domain to use. If you don’t need a domain, you can skip this section.

Before you start installation, ensure that the DNS for your sub-domain or domain is pointing to the machine that you’re installing Mathesar on.

Customizing this Guide

Type your domain name into the box below. Do not include a trailing slash.

Then press Enter to customize this guide with your domain name.

Installation Steps

Set up the database

  1. Open a psql shell.

    sudo -u postgres psql  # Modify based on your Postgres installation.
    
  2. Let’s create a Postgres user for Mathesar

    CREATE USER mathesar WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD '1234';
    

    Customize your password

    Be sure to change the password 1234 in the command above to something more secure and private. Record your custom password somewhere safe. You will need to reference it later.

  3. Next, we have to create a database for storing Mathesar metadata. Your PostgreSQL user will either need to be a SUPERUSER or OWNER of the database. In this guide, we will be setting the user to be OWNER of the database as it is slightly restrictive compared to a SUPERUSER.

    CREATE DATABASE mathesar_django OWNER mathesar;
    
  4. Press Ctrl+D to exit the psql shell.

Set up your installation directory

  1. Choose a directory to store the Mathesar application files.

    Examples

    • /home/my_user_name/mathesar
    • /etc/mathesar
  2. Type your installation directory into the box below. Do not include a trailing slash.

    Then press Enter to customize this guide with your installation directory.

  3. Create your installation directory.

    mkdir -p xMATHESAR_INSTALLATION_DIRx
    

    When installing outside your home folder

    If you choose a directory outside your home folder, then you’ll need to create it with sudo and choose an appropriate owner for the directory (i.e. root or a custom user of your choosing).

    The remainder of this guide requires you to run commands with full permissions inside your installation directory. You can do this, for example via:

    • chown my_user_name: xMATHESAR_INSTALLATION_DIRx

      Or

    • sudo su

  4. Navigate into your installation directory.

    cd xMATHESAR_INSTALLATION_DIRx
    

    The remaining commands in this guide should be run from within your installation directory.

Set up the environment

  1. Clone the git repo into the installation directory.

    git clone https://github.com/mathesar-foundation/mathesar.git .
    
  2. Checkout the tag of the latest stable release, 0.1.7.

    git checkout 0.1.7
    

    Important

    If you don’t run the above command you’ll end up installing the latest development version of Mathesar, which will be less stable.

  3. We need to create a python virtual environment for the Mathesar application.

    <path-to-python-binary> -m venv ./mathesar-venv
    # /usr/bin/python3.9 -m venv ./mathesar-venv
    
  4. Next we will activate our virtual environment:

    source ./mathesar-venv/bin/activate
    

    Important

    You need to activate the environment each time you restart the shell as they don’t persist across sessions.

Install the Mathesar application

  1. Install Python dependencies

    pip install -r requirements-prod.txt
    
  2. Set the environment variables

    1. Create .env file

      touch .env
      
    2. Edit your .env file, adding environment variables to configure Mathesar.

      Example

      Your .env file should look something like this

      DOMAIN_NAME='xDOMAIN_NAMEx'
      ALLOWED_HOSTS='xDOMAIN_NAMEx'
      SECRET_KEY='REPLACE_THIS_WITH_YOUR_RANDOMLY_GENERATED_VALUE' # REPLACE THIS!
      POSTGRES_DB=mathesar_django
      POSTGRES_USER=mathesar
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mathesar1234  # Do not use this password!
      POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
      POSTGRES_PORT=5432
      

      Tip

      You can generate a SECRET_KEY variable by running:

      echo $(cat /dev/urandom | LC_CTYPE=C tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | head -c 50)
      
    3. Add the environment variables to the shell

      You need to export the environment variables listed in the .env file to your shell. The easiest way would be to run the below command.

      export $(cat .env)
      

      Important

      You need to export the environment variables each time you restart the shell as they don’t persist across sessions.

  3. Download release static files and extract into the correct directory

    wget https://github.com/mathesar-foundation/mathesar/releases/download/0.1.7/static_files.zip
    unzip static_files.zip && mv static_files mathesar/static/mathesar && rm static_files.zip
    
  4. Compile Mathesar translation files

    python manage.py compilemessages
    
  5. Install Mathesar functions on the database:

    python -m mathesar.install --skip-confirm | tee /tmp/install.py.log
    
  6. Create a media directory for storing user-uploaded media

    mkdir .media
    

Set up Gunicorn

Elevated permissions needed

Most of the commands below need to be run as a root user, or using sudo. If you try to run one of these commands, and see an error about “permission denied”, use one of those methods.

  1. Create a user for running Gunicorn

    groupadd gunicorn && \
    useradd gunicorn -g gunicorn
    
  2. Make the gunicorn user the owner of the .media directory

    chown -R gunicorn:gunicorn .media/
    
  3. Create the Gunicorn SystemD service file.

    touch /lib/systemd/system/gunicorn.service
    

    and copy the following code into it.

    [Unit]
    Description=gunicorn daemon
    After=network.target network-online.target
    Requires=network-online.target
    
    [Service]
    Type=notify
    User=gunicorn
    Group=gunicorn
    RuntimeDirectory=gunicorn
    WorkingDirectory=xMATHESAR_INSTALLATION_DIRx
    ExecStart=/bin/bash -c 'xMATHESAR_INSTALLATION_DIRx/mathesar-venv/bin/gunicorn config.wsgi:application'
    EnvironmentFile=xMATHESAR_INSTALLATION_DIRx/.env
    
    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target
    
  4. Reload systemctl and start the Gunicorn socket

    systemctl daemon-reload
    systemctl start gunicorn.service
    systemctl enable gunicorn.service
    
  5. Check the logs to verify if Gunicorn is running without any errors

    journalctl --priority=notice --unit=gunicorn.service
    

Set up the Caddy reverse proxy

We will use the Caddy Reverse proxy to serve the static files and set up SSL certificates.

  1. Create the CaddyFile

    touch /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
    
  2. Add the configuration details to the CaddyFile

    https://xDOMAIN_NAMEx {
        log {
            output stdout
        }
        respond /caddy-health-check 200
        encode zstd gzip
        handle_path /media/* {
            @downloads {
                query dl=*
            }
            header @downloads Content-disposition "attachment; filename={query.dl}"
    
            file_server {
                precompressed br zstd gzip
                root {$MEDIA_ROOT:xMATHESAR_INSTALLATION_DIRx/.media/}
            }
        }
        handle_path /static/* {
            file_server {
                precompressed br zstd gzip
                root {$STATIC_ROOT:xMATHESAR_INSTALLATION_DIRx/static/}
            }
        }
        reverse_proxy localhost:8000
    }
    
  3. Create a user for running Caddy

    groupadd caddy && \
    useradd caddy -g caddy
    
  4. Create the Caddy systemd service file.

    touch /lib/systemd/system/caddy.service
    

    and copy the following code into it.

    [Unit]
    Description=Caddy
    Documentation=https://caddyserver.com/docs/
    After=network.target network-online.target
    Requires=network-online.target
    
    [Service]
    Type=notify
    User=caddy
    Group=caddy
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/caddy run --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
    ExecReload=/usr/bin/caddy reload --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile --force
    TimeoutStopSec=5s
    LimitNOFILE=1048576
    LimitNPROC=512
    PrivateTmp=true
    ProtectSystem=full
    AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
    
    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target
    
  5. Reload the systemctl and start the Caddy socket

    systemctl daemon-reload && \
    systemctl start caddy.service && \
    systemctl enable caddy.service
    
  6. Check the logs to verify if Caddy is running without any errors

    journalctl --priority=notice --unit=caddy.service
    

Set up your user account

Mathesar is now installed! You can use it by visiting the URL xDOMAIN_NAMEx.

You’ll be prompted to set up an admin user account the first time you open Mathesar. Follow the instructions on screen.