Lemmy-Ansible

This provides an easy way to install Lemmy on any server. It automatically sets up an nginx server, letsencrypt certificates, docker containers, pict-rs, and email smtp.

Requirements

To run this ansible playbook, you need to:

• Have a Debian/AlmaLinux 9-based server / VPS where lemmy will run.
• Configure a DNS A Record to point at your server's IP address.
• Make sure you can ssh to it, with a sudo user: ssh <your-user>@<your-domain>
• Install Ansible (>= 2.11.0 on your local machine (do not install it on your destination server).

Supported Distribution Playbook Matrix

These are the distributions we currently support. Anything not listed here is currently not supported.
If you wish to see another distribution on the list, please test on the latest commit in main and report your findings via an Issue.

Distribution	Version	Playbook
Debian	10	lemmy.yml
Debian	11	lemmy.yml
Debian	12	lemmy.yml
Ubuntu	22.04 LTS	lemmy.yml
RHEL	9	lemmy-almalinux.yml

Install

1. Clone this repo & checkout latest tag

   git clone https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-ansible.git
   cd lemmy-ansible
   git checkout $(git describe --tags)
   

2. Make a directory to hold your config:

   mkdir -p inventory/host_vars/<your-domain>

3. Copy the sample configuration file:

   cp examples/config.hjson inventory/host_vars/<your-domain>/config.hjson

   Edit that file and change the config to your liking. Note: Do not edit anything inside the {{ }} braces.

   Here are all the config options.

4. Copy the sample inventory hosts file:

   cp examples/hosts inventory/hosts

   Edit the inventory hosts file (inventory/hosts) to your liking.

5. Copy the sample postgresql.conf

   cp examples/customPostgresql.conf inventory/host_vars/<your-domain>/customPostgresql.conf

   You can use the PGTune tool to tune your postgres to meet your server memory and CPU.

6. Copy the sample vars.yml file

   cp examples/vars.yml inventory/host_vars/<your-domain>/vars.yml

   Edit the inventory/host_vars/<your-domain>/vars.yml file to your liking.

7. Run the playbook:

   Note: See the "Supported Distribution Playbook Matrix" section above if you should use lemmy.yml or not

   ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts lemmy.yml

   Note: if you are not the root user or don't have password-less sudo, use this command:

   ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts lemmy.yml --become --ask-become-pass

   Note: if you haven't set up ssh keys¹, and ssh using a password, use the command:

   ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts lemmy.yml --become --ask-pass --ask-become-pass

   Full ansible command-line docs

   If the command above fails, you may need to comment out this line In the ansible.cfg file:

   interpreter_python=/usr/bin/python3

Upgrading

Since version 1.1.0 we no longer default to using main but use tags to make sure deployments are versioned. With every new release all migration steps shall be written below so make sure you check out the Lemmy Releases Changelog to see if there are any config changes with the releases since your last read.

Upgrading to 1.2.0 (Lemmy 0.18.5)

Major changes:

• All variables are not under a singular file so you will not need to modify anything: inventory/host_vars/{{ domain }}/vars.yml
• --become is now optional instead of forced on

Steps

• Run git pull && git checkout 1.2.0
• When upgrading from older versions of these playbooks, you will need to do the following:
  • Rename inventory/host_vars/{{ domain }}/passwords/postgres file to inventory/host_vars/{{ domain }}/passwords/postgres.psk
  • Copy the examples/vars.yml file to inventory/host_vars/{{ domain }}/vars.yml
  • Edit your variables as desired
• Run your regular deployment. Example: ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts lemmy.yml --become

Upgrading to 1.1.0 (Lemmy 0.18.3)

• No major changes should be required

Migrating your existing install to use this deploy

• Follow this guide to backup your existing install.
• Run docker-compose stop to stop lemmy.
• Move your docker folders on the server to <lemmy_base_dir>/<your-domain>.
• Copy your postgres password to inventory/host_vars/<your-domain>/passwords/postgres.
• Follow the install guide above, making sure your config.hjson is the same as your backup.

Uninstall

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts uninstall.yml --become

License

• AGPL License

Footnotes

1. To create an ssh key pair with your host environment, you can follow the instructions here, and then copy the key to your host server. ↩