Title: How to install Kanboard on OpenBSD

	Title: How to install Kanboard on OpenBSD
	Author: Solène
	Date: 07 July 2023
	Tags: openbsd selfhosting nocloud
	Description: In this article you will learn how to install the php web
	application Kanboard on an OpenBSD server

	# Introduction

	Let me share an installation guide on OpenBSD for a product I like:
	kanboard. It's a Kanban board written in PHP, it's easy of use, light,
	effective, the kind of software I like.

	While there is a docker image for easy deployment on Linux, there is no
	guide to install it on OpenBSD. I did it successfuly, including httpd
	for the web server.

	Kanboard official project website

	# Setup

	We will need a fairly simple stack:

	* httpd for the web server (I won't explain how to do TLS here)
	* php 8.2
	* database backed by sqlite, if you need postgresql or mysql, adapt

	## Kanboard files

	Prepare a directory where kanboard will be extracted, it must be owned
	by root:

	```
	install -d -o root -g wheel -m 755 /var/www/htdocs/kanboard
	```

	Download the latest version of kanboard, prefer the .tar.gz file
	because it won't require an extra program.

	Kanboard GitHub releases

	Extract the archive, and move the extracted content into
	`/var/www/htdocs/kanboard`; the file `/var/www/htdocs/kanboard/cli`
	should exists if you did it correctly.

	Now, you need to fix the permissions for a single directory inside the
	project to allow the web server to write persistent data.

	```
	install -d -o www -g www -m 755 /var/www/htdocs/kanboard/data
	```

	## PHP configuration

	For kanboard, we will need PHP and a few extensions. They can be
	installed and enabled using the following command: (for the future, 8.2
	will be obsolete, adapt to the current PHP version)

	```
	pkg_add php-zip--%8.2 php-curl--%8.2 php-zip--%8.2 php-pdo_sqlite--%8.2
	for mod in pdo_sqlite opcache gd zip curl
	do
	ln -s /etc/php-8.2.sample/${mod}.ini /etc/php-8.2/
	done
	rcctl enable php82_fpm
	rcctl start php82_fpm
	```

	Now you have the service php82_fpm (chrooted in /var/www/) ready to be
	used by httpd.

	## HTTPD configuration

	Configure the web server httpd, you can use nginx or apache if you
	prefer, with the following piece of configuration:

	```
	server "kanboard.my.domain" {
	listen on * port 80

	location "*.php" {
	fastcgi socket "/run/php-fpm.sock"
	}

	# don't rewrite for assets (fonts, images)
	location "/assets/*" {
	root "/htdocs/kanboard/"
	pass
	}

	location match "/(.*)" {
	request rewrite "/index.php%1"
	}

	location "/*" {
	root "/htdocs/kanboard"
	}
	}
	```

	Now, enable httpd if not already done, and (re)start httpd:

	```
	rcctl enable httpd
	rcctl restart httpd
	```

	From now, Kanboard should be reachable and usable. The default
	credentials are admin/admin.

	## Sending emails

	If you want to send emails, you have three choices:

	* use php mail() which just use the local relay
	* use sendmail command, which will also use the local relay
	* configure an smtp server with authentication, can be a remote server

	### Local email

	If you want to use one of the first two methods, you will have to add a
	few files to the chroot like `/bin/sh`; you can find accurate and up to
	date information about the specific changes in the file
	`/usr/local/share/doc/pkg-readms/php-8.2`.

	### Using a remote smtp server

	If you want to use a remote server with authentication (I made a
	dedicated account for kanboard on my mail server):

	Copy `/var/www/htdocs/kanboard/config.default.php` as
	`/var/www/htdocs/kanboard/config.php`, and changes the variables below
	accordingly:

	```
	define('MAIL_TRANSPORT', 'smtp');

	define('MAIL_SMTP_HOSTNAME', 'my-server.local');
	define('MAIL_SMTP_PORT', 587);
	define('MAIL_SMTP_USERNAME', 'YOUR_SMTP_USER');
	define('MAIL_SMTP_PASSWORD', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx');
	define('MAIL_SMTP_HELO_NAME', null);
	define('MAIL_SMTP_ENCRYPTION', "tls");
	```

	Your kanboard should be able to send emails now. You can check by
	creating a new task, and click on "Send by email".

	NOTE: Your user also NEED to enable email notifications.

	## Cronjob configuration

	For some tasks like reminding emails or stats computation, Kanboard
	requires to run a daily job by running a the CLI version.

	You can do it as the www user in root crontab:

	```
	0 1 * * * -ns su -m www -c 'cd /var/www/htdocs/kanboard && /usr/local/bin/php-8…
	```

	# Conclusion

	Kanboard is a fine piece of software, I really like the kanban workflow
	to organize. I hope you'll enjoy it as well.

	I'd also add that installing software without docker is still a thing,
	this requires you to know exactly what you need to make it run, and how
	to configure it, but I'd consider this a security bonus point. Think
	that it will also have all its dependencies updated along with your
	system upgrades over time.