Friendica is a free and flexible, decentralized social networking platform that makes it easy for you to build and maintain your social networking projects and communities. This software comes with built-in support for ActivityPub, including platforms like Funkwhale, Hubzilla, Mastodon, Pleroma, Pixelfed, OStatus, and diaspora* protocols. For more on Friendica social platform, please visit its home page To get started with installing Friendica, follow the steps below:

Install Apache2 HTTP

Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server in use. so install it since Friendica needs it. To install Apache2 HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below. After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots. To test the Apache2 setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see the Apache2 default test page as shown below. When you see that, then Apache2 is working as expected.

Install MariaDB Database Server

v also needs a database server to store its content. and MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with v. To install MariaDB run the commands below. After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the MariaDB service always to start up when the server boots. Run these on Ubuntu After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access. 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 into the MariaDB server Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message

PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. 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 Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2 Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules. After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open the PHP default config file for Apache2. Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below is a great setting to apply in your environment. After making the change above, save the file and close it.

Create Friendica Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, create a Friendica database. Run the commands below to log on to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above. Then create a database called friendica Create a database user called friendicauser with a new password Then grant the user full access to the friendica database. Finally, save your changes and exit. After installing PHP and related modules, you must restart Apache2 to reload PHP configurations. To restart Apache2, run the commands below To test PHP 7.2 settings with Apache2, create a phpinfo.php file in the Apache2 root directory by running the commands below Then type the content below and save the file. Save the file. then browse to your server hostname followed by /phpinfo.php You should see the PHP default test page.

Download Friendica Latest Release

To get Friendica latest release, you may want to use the GitHub repository… Install Composer, Curl and other dependencies to get started. Then change into the Apache2 home directory and download Friendica packages and dependencies using Composer. After that, run the commands below to create an Apache2 .htaccess file. Since you just ran the web server as root, you should make sure any newly created files are owned by the www-data user and group. To do that, run the commands below:

Configure Apache2

Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for Friendica. This file will control how users access Friendica content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called friendica.conf Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location. Save the file and exit.

Enable the Friendica and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name or hostname. This is often localhost but can be a hostname or IP address. Your server admin or hosting company will have this information available. Validate that all requirements are met, then continue with the wizard. Next, choose whether to use SSL or not. If you’re setting up with an SSL certificate, then you can choose to use self-signed or public certificates. Next, set up your site admin account and continue That should complete the setup. Log in and begin building your network. Conclusion: You have learned how to install Friendica on Ubuntu with an Apache2 HTTP server. If you find any errors above, please leave a comment below Thanks,