Initial commit: nimforum with BaraDB backend

- Replaced SQLite with BaraDB via TCP wire protocol - Added baradb_client.nim and baradb_sqlite.nim adapter - Renamed SQL keywords: status->usrStatus, key->sessionKey, like->postLike - Added NOW() support for datetime defaults - Switched Jester to asynchttpserver (-d:useStdLib) to avoid thread/GC issues - Frontend built and favicon added
2026-05-15 17:24:24 +03:00
commit 570d53f391
80 changed files with 29916 additions and 0 deletions
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+# NimForum setup
+
+This document describes the steps needed to setup a working NimForum instance.
+
+## Requirements
+
+* Ubuntu 16.04+
+* Some Linux knowledge
+
+## Installation
+
+Begin by downloading the latest NimForum release from
+[here](https://github.com/nim-lang/nimforum/releases). The macOS releases are
+mainly provided for testing.
+
+Extract the downloaded tarball on your server. These steps can be done using
+the following commands:
+
+```
+wget https://github.com/nim-lang/nimforum/releases/download/v2.0.0/nimforum_2.0.0_linux.tar.xz
+tar -xf nimforum_2.0.0_linux.tar.xz
+```
+
+Then ``cd`` into the forum's directory:
+
+```
+cd nimforum_2.0.0_linux
+```
+
+### Dependencies
+
+The following may need to be installed on your server:
+
+```
+sudo apt install libsass-dev sqlite3
+```
+
+## Configuration and DB creation
+
+The NimForum release comes with a handy ``setup_nimforum`` program. Run
+it to begin the setup process:
+
+```
+./setup_nimforum --setup
+```
+
+The program will ask you multiple questions which will require some
+additional setup, including mail server info and recaptcha keys. You can
+just specify dummy values if you want to play around with the forum as
+quickly as possible and set these up later.
+
+This program will create a ``nimforum.db`` file, this contains your forum's
+database. It will also create a ``forum.json`` file, you can modify this
+file after running the ``setup_nimforum`` script if you've made any mistakes
+or just want to change things.
+
+## Running the forum
+
+Executing the forum is simple, just run the ``forum`` binary:
+
+```
+./forum
+```
+
+The forum will start listening to HTTP requests on port 5000 (by default, this
+can be changed in ``forum.json``).
+
+On your server you should set up a separate HTTP server. The recommended choice
+is nginx. You can then use it as a reverse proxy for NimForum.
+
+### HTTP server
+
+#### nginx
+
+Once you have nginx installed on your server, you will need to configure it.
+Create a ``forum.hostname.com`` file (replace the hostname with your forum's
+hostname) inside ``/etc/nginx/sites-available/``.
+
+Place the following inside it:
+
+```
+server {
+        server_name forum.hostname.com;
+        autoindex off;
+
+        location / {
+                proxy_pass http://localhost:5000;
+                proxy_set_header Host $host;
+                proxy_set_header X-Real_IP $remote_addr;
+        }
+}
+```
+
+Again, be sure to replace ``forum.hostname.com`` with your forum's
+hostname.
+
+You should then create a symlink to this file inside ``/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/``:
+
+```
+ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/<forum.hostname.com> /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/<forum.hostname.com>
+```
+
+Then reload nginx configuration by running ``sudo nginx -s reload``.
+
+### Supervisor
+
+#### systemd
+
+In order to ensure the forum is always running, even after a crash or a server
+reboot, you should create a systemd service file.
+
+Create a new file called ``nimforum.service`` inside ``/lib/systemd/system/nimforum.service``.
+
+Place the following inside it:
+
+```
+[Unit]
+Description=nimforum
+After=network.target httpd.service
+Wants=network-online.target
+
+[Service]
+Type=simple
+WorkingDirectory=/home/<user>/nimforum-2.0.0/ # MODIFY THIS
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/stdbuf -oL /home/<user>/nimforum-2.0.0/forum # MODIFY THIS
+# Restart when crashes.
+Restart=always
+RestartSec=1
+
+User=dom
+
+StandardOutput=syslog+console
+StandardError=syslog+console
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
+```
+
+**Be sure to specify the correct ``WorkingDirectory`` and ``ExecStart``!**
+
+You can then enable and start the service by running the following:
+
+```
+sudo systemctl enable nimforum
+sudo systemctl start nimforum
+```
+
+To check that everything is in order, run this:
+
+```
+systemctl status nimforum
+```
+
+You should see something like this:
+
+```
+● nimforum.service - nimforum
+   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nimforum.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
+   Active: active (running) since Fri 2018-05-25 22:09:59 UTC; 1 day 22h ago
+ Main PID: 21474 (forum)
+    Tasks: 1
+   Memory: 55.2M
+      CPU: 1h 15min 31.905s
+   CGroup: /system.slice/nimforum.service
+           └─21474 /home/dom/nimforum/src/forum
+```
+
+## Conclusion
+
+That should be all you need to get started. Your forum should now be accessible
+via your hostname, assuming that it points to your VPS' IP address.