Downloading the archive and preparing the system

The following commands install Qisutu 1.0.2 in the designated /opt/qisutu directory. Run them as root or from a root shell.

Downloading and extracting the archive

cd /opt
wget https://ftp.qisutu.de/qisutu-1.0.2.tar.gz
tar xzf qisutu-1.0.2.tar.gz
mv qisutu-1.0.2 qisutu

The directory name is technically significant: with the standard /opt/qisutu installation, it becomes the qisutu instance identifier and the /qisutu web path. Do not use a path containing spaces.

Preparing the system user

On Debian and Ubuntu, create the Qisutu system user and add it to the web-server group as follows:

useradd -d /opt/qisutu -c 'Qisutu user' qisutu
usermod -G www-data qisutu
chown qisutu:www-data -R /opt/qisutu

If the user already exists, do not run useradd again. The installation script also checks and adds the required user and group membership. The web-server group is usually named apache on RHEL-based systems and www on openSUSE/SLES.

Starting the installation script

cd /opt/qisutu
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

install.sh must run with root privileges. It detects the distribution, installs the required packages, configures Apache and systemd, corrects file permissions, and creates an instance-specific configuration in var/install/instance.conf.

Installing on a completely unprepared server

Qisutu can also be installed on a bare server. Apache and MariaDB do not need to be installed or configured manually beforehand. The installation script installs the required packages and configures MariaDB.

For a new local installation, install.sh first signs in locally as the root database user without a password. It then creates a temporary database installer with a random password. The required credentials are stored temporarily in:

/opt/qisutu/var/install/database-bootstrap.conf

This file is used only to pass the credentials to the web installer. After successful setup, Qisutu automatically removes both the temporary database user and the file.

A standard installation creates, among other items:

  • Web path /qisutu

  • Apache configuration qisutu.conf

  • Service qisutu-daemon.service

  • Database and database user qisutu

  • Session cookie QISUTU_SESSION

After successfully preparing the system, the script displays the web installer address. A typical URL is:

http://SERVER/qisutu/install.pl

Troubleshooting

If the script stops, first read var/log/install.log. Common causes include missing root privileges, a path containing spaces, unavailable package repositories, an Apache configuration name that is already in use, or an unsupported distribution. Restart the script only after resolving the cause; an existing, fully installed instance is not overwritten as a new installation.