Etherpad

Return to server-guides # Why Etherpad Etherpad is a highly customizable open-source online editor providing collaborative editing in really real-time. It is not end-to-end encrypted, but owning the infrastructure, it is a great solution for everyday collaboration and is an excellent alternative to the typical services.

A more advanced and secure service, <a href="https://cryptpad.org/" target="_blank">cryptpad</a> provides many more options and more than a Wordpad-style service.

Install Code

The following code does the following: 1. Sets up the environment to properly install etherpad 1. Installs Etherpad 1. Configures a read database (MariaDB) instead of the development db 1. Establishes SSL ## Read Me The script will prompt for domain and subdomain and then for SQL password, but as it it sensitive, it will not display as this password is typed.

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">#!/bin/bash

source: https://hub.docker.com/r/etherpad/etherpad

user_prompts(){

   echo "domain: " 
   read -r domain
   echo "sub-domain: "
   read -r subdomain
   echo "SQL Password: "
   read -s -r sql_password

} dependencies="certbot openssl nano nodejs" etherpad_user_setup(){

   #source: https://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-the-etherpad-collaborative-web-editor-on-rocky-linux-8/#step-3---install-mariadb
   sudo adduser --system --home /opt/etherpad --create-home etherpad
   cd /opt/etherpad || exit

} system_setup(){

   apt update
   # update system and make sure sudo is installed
   apt install -y sudo
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt upgrade
   # loop through all the required dependencies
   if [ -n "$dependencies" ];then
       for pkg in $dependencies;do
           echo "Installing $pkg"
           #install but don't spit out all the noise
           sudo apt install -y "$pkg" 2&>/dev/null
       done
   fi
   etherpad_user_setup

} setup_git(){

   #assume location is /opt/etherpad
   #running install commands as newly created etherpad user
   sudo -H -u etherpad bash -c cd /opt/etherpad || exit
   sudo -H -u etherpad bash -c curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
   sudo -H -u etherpad bash -c git clone --branch master https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite.git
   sudo -H -u etherpad bash -c cd etherpad-lite || exit
   sudo -H -u etherpad bash -c src/bin/run.sh
   # create etherpad as a service
   echo "[Unit]
   Description=Etherpad, a collaborative web editor.
   After=syslog.target network.target
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   User=etherpad
   Group=etherpad
   WorkingDirectory=/opt/etherpad
   Environment=NODE_ENV=production
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/node --experimental-worker /opt/etherpad/etherpad-lite/node_modules/ep_etherpad-lite/node/server.js
   Restart=always
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target" | sudo tee -a /etc/systemd/system/etherpad.service

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl enable etherpad --now

} setup-mariadb(){

   sql_db_name="etherpad_lite_db"
   sql_user="etherpaduser"
   sudo apt install -y mariadb-server
   sudo systemctl enable mariadb --now
   sudo mariadb -e "CREATE DATABASE $sql_db_name DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;"
   sudo mariadb -e "CREATE USER '$sql_user'@'localhost' identified by '$sql_password';"
   sudo mariadb -e "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON $sql_db_name. TO '$sql_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '$sql_password';"
   ##FIXME remove dirty db
   #sed -i '/"dbType"/i \/\ settings.json
   #need sed for after 3 
   ##FIXME configure settings
   #  "dbType" : "mysql",
   #  "dbSettings" : {
   #     "user":     "etherpaduser",
   #     "host":     "localhost",
   #     "port":     3306,
   #     "password": "8rrE2tasO",
   #     "database": "etherpad",
   #     "charset":  "utf8mb4"
   #  },
   #FIXME
   #  "trustProxy": true,
   #sed -i '/"trustProxy"/s/false/true' settings.json

} setup_ssl(){

   sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/letsencrypt
   sudo certbot certonly --standalone --agree-tos --preferred-challenges http -m ssl@"$domain" -d "$subdomain"."$domain"
   # cert is saved to /etc/letsencrypt/live/$domain
   sudo openssl dhparam -out /etc/ssl/certs/dhparam.pem 2048
   #create a renew cron
   echo "#!/bin/sh

certbot renew --cert-name $domain --webroot -w /var/lib/letsencrypt/ --post-hook systemctl reload nginx "| sudo tee -a /etc/cron.daily/certbot-renew

   sudo chmod +x /etc/cron.daily/certbot-renew

} main(){

   user_prompts
   system_setup
   setup_git
   setup-mariadb
   setup_ssl
   #set node to production
   export NODE_ENV=production
   systemctl start etherpad

} main</syntaxhighlight>

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