Deploy Lemmy the easy way! Contribute to ubergeek77/Lemmy-Easy-Deploy development by creating an account on GitHub.
In the past few days, I’ve seen a number of people having trouble getting Lemmy set up on their own servers. That motivated me to create Lemmy-Easy-Deploy, a dead-simple solution to deploying Lemmy using Docker Compose under the hood.
To accommodate people new to Docker or self hosting, I’ve made it as simple as I possibly could. Edit the config file to specify your domain, then run the script. That’s it! No manual configuration is needed. Your self hosted Lemmy instance will be up and running in about a minute or less. Everything is taken care of for you. Random passwords are created for Lemmy’s microservices, and HTTPS is handled automatically by Caddy.
Updates are automatic too! Run the script again to detect and deploy updates to Lemmy automatically.
If you are an advanced user, plenty of config options are available. You can set this to compile Lemmy from source if you want, which is useful for trying out Release Candidate versions. You can also specify a Cloudflare API token, and if you do, HTTPS certificates will use the DNS challenge instead. This is helpful for Cloudflare proxy users, who can have issues with HTTPS certificates sometimes.
Sorry, I don’t have access to an unRaid system to test it with.
However, I know most NAS systems at least support CLI-style Docker and Docker Compose, so if you can manage to get Docker running, it might work? The script has some Docker detection if you’re not sure.
However, I know Synology hogs use of port 80 and 443. I’m not sure if unRaid is the same way. If it is, this might not be the best solution for you. But, if you want to give it a shot, I do have some advanced options in my config that lets you change to different ports and turn off HTTPS (so you can run a proxy in front of it). I can’t really help people who run it behind a webserver like this, but the template files in my repo can be freely modified, so you’re welcome to hack at my script any way you like to get it working!
I appreciate the effort, but for software as experimental as Lemmy I would argue making things 1-click “simple” will inevitably lead to people breaking their instances in the future, when some migration will be required.
I would strongly suggest people figure things on their own.
As someone who spent hours figuring out how to deploy through Ansible, how dare you /s But seriously thank you for putting in the work to make creating an instance more attainable for people.
This was absolutely amazing. I was having some trouble with the build process using the docker compose from Lemmy itself, but this just instantly worked. Thank you!
What’s the Enthusiasm About?
Hello there! Are you familiar with Go High Level? If not, let’s break it down. Imagine managing multiple apps for marketing. Sounds busy. That’s where Go High Level comes in. It’s like that friend who has a solution for everything. Whether you are working on creating an outstanding sales funnel or sending out an email campaign, this platform has your back. The best part? They let you test drive everything with a 14-day free trial. It’s like trying out a new car but for your business. And if you ever need assistance, their support team is just a click away. Pretty exciting, huh?
So, How Much Does It Cost?
Alright, let’s talk about the financial side. Go High Level offers 3 main plans. The Agency Starter Plan is perfect if you’re just starting or have a small business. It’s loaded with all the essential tools, and it’s quite cost-effective. But if you’re looking to scale up, the Agency Unlimited Plan is your best choice. It’s like the VIP pass at a concert, giving you access to everything without any limitations. Not sure about committing? Remember that 14-day free trial I mentioned? It’s a great way to give it a try without any obligations. Lastly, they offer a Pro plan that includes “SaaS mode,” where you can white label the product under your brand. Fantastic!
Why Everyone’s Raving About It:
In a world full of sophisticated digital tools, Go High Level is like that all-in-one Swiss Army knife. There’s no need to switch between apps because it has everything under one roof. Whether you’re a newcomer or an experienced marketer, it’s super user-friendly. It’s not just about launching impressive campaigns; they ensure you understand their performance with top-notch analytics. There’s even a white-label feature for marketing agencies, so you can add your brand and impress your clients.
A bit OT, but worth the shot: can anyone confirm whether instances deployed with this script can be found on Mastodon?
I have tried both the ansible script provided by the developers and I’ve adapted the docker-compose files to get things running on Docker Swarm. Everything seems to be working well, object storage, federation… except that I can not find any user or community from my instance if I search from Mastodon.
What’s the Enthusiasm About?
Hello there! Are you familiar with Go High Level? If not, let’s break it down. Imagine managing multiple apps for marketing. Sounds busy. That’s where Go High Level comes in. It’s like that friend who has a solution for everything. Whether you are working on creating an outstanding sales funnel or sending out an email campaign, this platform has your back. The best part? They let you test drive everything with a 14-day free trial. It’s like trying out a new car but for your business. And if you ever need assistance, their support team is just a click away. Pretty exciting, huh?
So, How Much Does It Cost?
Alright, let’s talk about the financial side. Go High Level offers 3 main plans. The Agency Starter Plan is perfect if you’re just starting or have a small business. It’s loaded with all the essential tools, and it’s quite cost-effective. But if you’re looking to scale up, the Agency Unlimited Plan is your best choice. It’s like the VIP pass at a concert, giving you access to everything without any limitations. Not sure about committing? Remember that 14-day free trial I mentioned? It’s a great way to give it a try without any obligations. Lastly, they offer a Pro plan that includes “SaaS mode,” where you can white label the product under your brand. Fantastic!
Why Everyone’s Raving About It:
In a world full of sophisticated digital tools, Go High Level is like that all-in-one Swiss Army knife. There’s no need to switch between apps because it has everything under one roof. Whether you’re a newcomer or an experienced marketer, it’s super user-friendly. It’s not just about launching impressive campaigns; they ensure you understand their performance with top-notch analytics. There’s even a white-label feature for marketing agencies, so you can add your brand and impress your clients.
seriously, distributing the load helps a LOT. Though if you can’t spin up your own instance one thing you can do is try and host pictures externally, in !youshouldknow!youshouldknow@lemmy.world a post mentioned how to do it for images in comments since by default it has you upload if you don’t manually put in 
You kind Sir/Lady/Gentleperson are making the fediverse a better place with this help. Thanks a bunch, gonna definitely ease my attempts at eventually self-hosting!
I haven’t tested a local only use case, but you can probably set these options in config.env
Set LEMMY_HOSTNAME to localhost
Set CADDY_DISABLE_TLS to true
Set TLS_ENABLED to false
This will disable any HTTPS certificate generation and only run Lemmy on port 80. I don’t know if Caddy or Lemmy will act weird if the hostname is localhost, but this should work for you. Let me know if it doesn’t.
SOLVED: The problem was caused because I was using a | In the site name SETUP_SITE_NAME
for some reason the bash script is returning sed: -e expression #7, char 32: unknown option to `s'
I 've looked online and found nothing that related to my problem.
I suspect the problem starts in line 253 because the file lemmy.hjson is empty and the docker-compose.yml isn’t created.
I will make a note in the example file about this. You can use special characters if you want, but you’ll need to backslash escape them first. So in config.env, you probably could have done:
hi! do you have some IM we could talk please? I am getting insane haha, trying to bring up a server for 4 days now lol I think your method is the closest to work but I am getting something wrong.
I already use Caddy on my server because of other services I have running so I was afraid it could conflict with the caddy container in the docker-compose you provide, so I disabled caddy service just for testing and afterwards I could try to figure how to make it work alongside my current configuration. But for some reason I can’t get my domain to connect to the instance.
So I decided to try different and do not install the caddy container and use the one I have running natively. So I just coppied the Caddyfile content that is generated by the deploy.sh and replaced the env variable with my domain name (just to make sure it would work).
Sorry, combining this with an already-running webserver is not a use case I support for this easy deployment script. My script is intended for new deployments for people not already running servers.
The best thing you can do is change the ports in docker-compose.yml.template, and today I will make an update that gives you environment variables for them.
Unfortunately I do not have time to help you dig deeper into the issue, but hopefully these tips help you:
Change the ports in docker-compose.yml.template to something that won’t conflict with your webserver. Take note of what port you used for 80
Edit config.env and set CADDY_DISABLE_TLS to true
Edit your own webserver config to point to this deployment via a reverse proxy. I’ll leave it up to you to configure that. You are already using Caddy, so you can look at my Caddyfile for inspiration on how reverse proxies work.
Since you’re using your own webserver, doing it this way will not automatically retrieve certificates for you. Hopefully you have a system in place for that already.
Nice! Looks like it even has update checker as well. Is there any reason why pictrs is not included in the update checker and hardcoded to version 0.3.1?
The Lemmy maintainers themselves seem to lock it at 0.3.1, and I wanted to maintain parity with their deployment. I know pictrs is up to at least 0.3.3, and has a release candidate for 0.4, but upstream Lemmy uses 0.3.1 for whatever reason, so that’s why I lock it there.
It’s excluded from the update checker because I don’t have a stable way to check what version upstream is using. The Lemmy update checker just checks to see what the latest tag on LemmyNet/lemmy is. I could try and pull the latest Gitea tag for pictrs, but since upstream Lemmy isn’t using the latest version, that’s not really an option as something might break.
I considered trying to parse their docker-compose.yml file to see what version they use, but they seem to be restructuring their docker folder right now. The folder in main is completely different from the one tagged 0.17.4. If I assume a certain directory path for that file for every version after this, but they move it, my script will break. Sadly, until their Docker deployment files seem like they’re going unchanged for a good few versions, I’ll have to do it manually for now.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !selfhosted@lemmy.world
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don’t control.
Rules:
Be civil: we’re here to support and learn from one another. Insults won’t be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.
No spam posting.
Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it’s not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.
Don’t duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.
Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).
Way cool. Can you provide something for unRaid?
Sorry, I don’t have access to an unRaid system to test it with.
However, I know most NAS systems at least support CLI-style Docker and Docker Compose, so if you can manage to get Docker running, it might work? The script has some Docker detection if you’re not sure.
However, I know Synology hogs use of port 80 and 443. I’m not sure if unRaid is the same way. If it is, this might not be the best solution for you. But, if you want to give it a shot, I do have some advanced options in my config that lets you change to different ports and turn off HTTPS (so you can run a proxy in front of it). I can’t really help people who run it behind a webserver like this, but the template files in my repo can be freely modified, so you’re welcome to hack at my script any way you like to get it working!
I appreciate the effort, but for software as experimental as Lemmy I would argue making things 1-click “simple” will inevitably lead to people breaking their instances in the future, when some migration will be required.
I would strongly suggest people figure things on their own.
As someone who spent hours figuring out how to deploy through Ansible, how dare you /s But seriously thank you for putting in the work to make creating an instance more attainable for people.
This was absolutely amazing. I was having some trouble with the build process using the docker compose from Lemmy itself, but this just instantly worked. Thank you!
Exploring Go High Level:
What’s the Enthusiasm About?
Hello there! Are you familiar with Go High Level? If not, let’s break it down. Imagine managing multiple apps for marketing. Sounds busy. That’s where Go High Level comes in. It’s like that friend who has a solution for everything. Whether you are working on creating an outstanding sales funnel or sending out an email campaign, this platform has your back. The best part? They let you test drive everything with a 14-day free trial. It’s like trying out a new car but for your business. And if you ever need assistance, their support team is just a click away. Pretty exciting, huh?
So, How Much Does It Cost?
Alright, let’s talk about the financial side. Go High Level offers 3 main plans. The Agency Starter Plan is perfect if you’re just starting or have a small business. It’s loaded with all the essential tools, and it’s quite cost-effective. But if you’re looking to scale up, the Agency Unlimited Plan is your best choice. It’s like the VIP pass at a concert, giving you access to everything without any limitations. Not sure about committing? Remember that 14-day free trial I mentioned? It’s a great way to give it a try without any obligations. Lastly, they offer a Pro plan that includes “SaaS mode,” where you can white label the product under your brand. Fantastic!
Why Everyone’s Raving About It:
In a world full of sophisticated digital tools, Go High Level is like that all-in-one Swiss Army knife. There’s no need to switch between apps because it has everything under one roof. Whether you’re a newcomer or an experienced marketer, it’s super user-friendly. It’s not just about launching impressive campaigns; they ensure you understand their performance with top-notch analytics. There’s even a white-label feature for marketing agencies, so you can add your brand and impress your clients.
Here is a link to their 14-day free trial:
https://www.gohighlevel.com/?fp_ref=get-started-now.
Will try this tomorrow. Tried them all. Nothing seems to work! I have been at it the whole week trying.
A bit OT, but worth the shot: can anyone confirm whether instances deployed with this script can be found on Mastodon?
I have tried both the ansible script provided by the developers and I’ve adapted the docker-compose files to get things running on Docker Swarm. Everything seems to be working well, object storage, federation… except that I can not find any user or community from my instance if I search from Mastodon.
Works great on Linode!!
Exploring Go High Level:
What’s the Enthusiasm About?
Hello there! Are you familiar with Go High Level? If not, let’s break it down. Imagine managing multiple apps for marketing. Sounds busy. That’s where Go High Level comes in. It’s like that friend who has a solution for everything. Whether you are working on creating an outstanding sales funnel or sending out an email campaign, this platform has your back. The best part? They let you test drive everything with a 14-day free trial. It’s like trying out a new car but for your business. And if you ever need assistance, their support team is just a click away. Pretty exciting, huh?
So, How Much Does It Cost?
Alright, let’s talk about the financial side. Go High Level offers 3 main plans. The Agency Starter Plan is perfect if you’re just starting or have a small business. It’s loaded with all the essential tools, and it’s quite cost-effective. But if you’re looking to scale up, the Agency Unlimited Plan is your best choice. It’s like the VIP pass at a concert, giving you access to everything without any limitations. Not sure about committing? Remember that 14-day free trial I mentioned? It’s a great way to give it a try without any obligations. Lastly, they offer a Pro plan that includes “SaaS mode,” where you can white label the product under your brand. Fantastic!
Why Everyone’s Raving About It:
In a world full of sophisticated digital tools, Go High Level is like that all-in-one Swiss Army knife. There’s no need to switch between apps because it has everything under one roof. Whether you’re a newcomer or an experienced marketer, it’s super user-friendly. It’s not just about launching impressive campaigns; they ensure you understand their performance with top-notch analytics. There’s even a white-label feature for marketing agencies, so you can add your brand and impress your clients.
Here is a link to their 14-day free trial:
https://www.gohighlevel.com/?fp_ref=get-started-now.
Really awesome work. We need more Lemmy servers!
seriously, distributing the load helps a LOT. Though if you can’t spin up your own instance one thing you can do is try and host pictures externally, in !youshouldknow!youshouldknow@lemmy.world a post mentioned how to do it for images in comments since by default it has you upload if you don’t manually put in
Can you point to the post ? Didn’t found it
I’m relatively competent installing server software, but the Lemmy instructions completely flummoxed me. Their docker instructions just don’t work.
I ended up using the ansible docker scripts and filling out the blanks because I’m unfamiliar with ansible.
If this is as good as it sounds, you’re doing everyone a massive favour.
deleted by creator
You kind Sir/Lady/Gentleperson are making the fediverse a better place with this help. Thanks a bunch, gonna definitely ease my attempts at eventually self-hosting!
What adjustments I need to do to run this locally (in my LAN) just for testing?
I haven’t tested a local only use case, but you can probably set these options in
config.envLEMMY_HOSTNAMEtolocalhostCADDY_DISABLE_TLStotrueTLS_ENABLEDtofalseThis will disable any HTTPS certificate generation and only run Lemmy on port 80. I don’t know if Caddy or Lemmy will act weird if the hostname is
localhost, but this should work for you. Let me know if it doesn’t.Sorry to bring more problems to you.
SOLVED: The problem was caused because I was using a
|In the site nameSETUP_SITE_NAMEfor some reason the bash script is returningsed: -e expression #7, char 32: unknown option to `s'I 've looked online and found nothing that related to my problem. I suspect the problem starts in line253because the filelemmy.hjsonis empty and thedocker-compose.ymlisn’t created.Good catch!
I will make a note in the example file about this. You can use special characters if you want, but you’ll need to backslash escape them first. So in
config.env, you probably could have done:hi! do you have some IM we could talk please? I am getting insane haha, trying to bring up a server for 4 days now lol I think your method is the closest to work but I am getting something wrong.
Sorry, I don’t use Matrix. Please describe your issue here and I will try my best to assist.
OK! So here we go.
I already use Caddy on my server because of other services I have running so I was afraid it could conflict with the caddy container in the docker-compose you provide, so I disabled caddy service just for testing and afterwards I could try to figure how to make it work alongside my current configuration. But for some reason I can’t get my domain to connect to the instance.
So I decided to try different and do not install the caddy container and use the one I have running natively. So I just coppied the Caddyfile content that is generated by the deploy.sh and replaced the env variable with my domain name (just to make sure it would work).
I changed the docker-compose.yml to this:
Placed all the
.envin the same folder of thedocker-compose.ymland placed thelemmy.hjsonin this same folder too.runned the
docker-compose up -dand everything went OK, no errors in the terminal. but still my domain don’t connect.I have disabled cloudflare proxy and cache but nothing helped :(
Sorry, combining this with an already-running webserver is not a use case I support for this easy deployment script. My script is intended for new deployments for people not already running servers.
The best thing you can do is change the ports in
docker-compose.yml.template, and today I will make an update that gives you environment variables for them.Unfortunately I do not have time to help you dig deeper into the issue, but hopefully these tips help you:
docker-compose.yml.templateto something that won’t conflict with your webserver. Take note of what port you used for80config.envand setCADDY_DISABLE_TLStotrueSince you’re using your own webserver, doing it this way will not automatically retrieve certificates for you. Hopefully you have a system in place for that already.
Good luck!
Wow, I’ll definitely look into this, thanks! Even if I don’t use it, it still may be useful just reading through it.
Nice! Looks like it even has update checker as well. Is there any reason why
pictrsis not included in the update checker and hardcoded to version 0.3.1?The Lemmy maintainers themselves seem to lock it at 0.3.1, and I wanted to maintain parity with their deployment. I know
pictrsis up to at least0.3.3, and has a release candidate for0.4, but upstream Lemmy uses0.3.1for whatever reason, so that’s why I lock it there.It’s excluded from the update checker because I don’t have a stable way to check what version upstream is using. The Lemmy update checker just checks to see what the latest tag on
LemmyNet/lemmyis. I could try and pull the latest Gitea tag forpictrs, but since upstream Lemmy isn’t using the latest version, that’s not really an option as something might break.I considered trying to parse their docker-compose.yml file to see what version they use, but they seem to be restructuring their
dockerfolder right now. The folder inmainis completely different from the one tagged0.17.4. If I assume a certain directory path for that file for every version after this, but they move it, my script will break. Sadly, until their Docker deployment files seem like they’re going unchanged for a good few versions, I’ll have to do it manually for now.I see, looks like it’s a correct decision to me. Let the Lemmy developers worry about which version of pictrs to use themselves.