Dependencies

⚠️ Warning: dependencies guide is maintained by the community. Some parts may be outdated! ⚠️

Main dependencies supported by PeerTube:

• node LTS (>=18.20 or 20.x)
• yarn 1.x (must not be >=2.x)
• postgres >=10.x
• redis-server >=6.x
• ffmpeg >=4.3 (using a ffmpeg static build is not recommended)
• python >=3.8
• pip

note: only LTS versions of external dependencies are supported. If no LTS version matching the version constraint is available, only release versions are supported.

• Debian / Ubuntu and derivatives
• Arch Linux
• CentOS 7
• Centos 8
• Rocky Linux 8.4
• Fedora
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
• FreeBSD
• macOS
• Gentoo
• OpenBSD
• Other distributions

Debian / Ubuntu and derivatives

1. On a fresh Debian/Ubuntu, as root user, install basic utility programs needed for the installation

sudo apt-get install curl sudo unzip vim

2. It would be wise to disable root access and to continue this tutorial with a user with sudoers group access. You can see a guide for how to do this in Debian/Ubuntu here.

3. Install NodeJS 18.x: https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/all#debian-and-ubuntu-based-linux-distributions

4. Install yarn, and be sure to have a recent version: https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/install#linux-tab

5. Install Python:

On Ubuntu >= focal (20.04 LTS) or Debian >= Bullseye:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-dev python3-pip python-is-python3
python --version # Should be >= 3.8

6. Install common dependencies:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install certbot nginx ffmpeg postgresql postgresql-contrib openssl g++ make redis-server git cron wget
ffmpeg -version # Should be >= 4.1
g++ -v # Should be >= 5.x
redis-server --version # Should be >= 6.x

Now that dependencies are installed, before running PeerTube you should start PostgreSQL and Redis:

sudo systemctl start redis postgresql

Arch Linux

1. Run:

sudo pacman -S nodejs-lts-fermium yarn ffmpeg postgresql openssl redis git wget unzip python python-pip base-devel npm nginx

Now that dependencies are installed, before running PeerTube you should start PostgreSQL and Redis:

sudo systemctl start redis postgresql

CentOS 7

1. Install NodeJS 18.x: https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/all#centos-fedora-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux

2. Install yarn: https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/install

3. Install or compile ffmpeg:

• Install - https://linoxide.com/linux-how-to/install-ffmpeg-centos-7/
• Compile - https://gist.github.com/mustafaturan/7053900#file-latest-ffmpeg-centos6-sh

4. Install Packages:

sudo yum update
sudo yum install epel-release centos-release-scl
sudo yum update
sudo yum install nginx postgresql postgresql-server postgresql-contrib openssl gcc-c++ make wget redis git devtoolset-7

5. You need to use a more up to date version of G++ in order to run the yarn install command, hence the installation of devtoolset-7.

sudo scl enable devtoolset-7 bash

Later when you invoke any node command, please prefix them with CC=/opt/rh/devtoolset-7/root/usr/bin/gcc CXX=/opt/rh/devtoolset-7/root/usr/bin/g++, such as with:

sudo -H -u peertube CC=/opt/rh/devtoolset-7/root/usr/bin/gcc CXX=/opt/rh/devtoolset-7/root/usr/bin/g++ yarn install --production --pure-lockfile

6. Initialize the PostgreSQL database:

sudo PGSETUP_INITDB_OPTIONS='--auth-host=md5' postgresql-setup --initdb --unit postgresql

Now that dependencies are installed, before running PeerTube you should enable and start PostgreSQL and Redis:

sudo systemctl enable --now redis
sudo systemctl enable --now postgresql

Centos 8

1. Install NodeJS 18.x: https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/all#centos-fedora-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux

2. Install yarn: https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/install

3. Install or compile ffmpeg:

sudo dnf install epel-release dnf-utils
sudo yum-config-manager --set-enabled powertools
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo=https://negativo17.org/repos/epel-multimedia.repo
sudo dnf install ffmpeg

4. Install packages:

sudo dnf update
sudo dnf install epel-release
sudo dnf update
sudo dnf install nginx postgresql postgresql-server postgresql-contrib openssl gcc-c++ make wget redis git unzip

5. You'll need a symlink for python3 to python for youtube-dl to work

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python

6. Initialize the PostgreSQL database:

sudo PGSETUP_INITDB_OPTIONS='--auth-host=md5' postgresql-setup --initdb --unit postgresql

Now that dependencies are installed, before running PeerTube you should enable and start PostgreSQL and Redis:

sudo systemctl enable --now redis
sudo systemctl enable --now postgresql

Rocky Linux 8.4

1. Pull the latest updates:

sudo dnf update -y

2. Install NodeJS 18.x:

sudo dnf module install -y nodejs:18

3. Install yarn:

sudo npm install --global yarn

4. Install or compile ffmpeg (if you want to compile... enjoy):

sudo dnf install -y epel-release
sudo dnf --enablerepo=powertools install -y SDL2 SDL2-devel
sudo dnf install -y --nogpgcheck https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-8.noarch.rpm https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/el/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-8.noarch.rpm
sudo dnf install -y ffmpeg
sudo dnf update -y

5. Install PostgreSQL and Python3 and other stuff:

sudo dnf install -y nginx postgresql postgresql-server postgresql-contrib openssl gcc-c++ make wget redis git python3 python3-pip
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python
sudo PGSETUP_INITDB_OPTIONS='--auth-host=md5' postgresql-setup --initdb --unit postgresql
sudo systemctl enable --now redis
sudo systemctl enable --now postgresql

6. Configure the peertube user:

sudo useradd -m -d /var/www/peertube -s /bin/bash -p peertube peertube

7. Unknown missing steps:

• Steps missing here... these were adapted from the CentOS 8 steps which abruptly ended.
• /var/www/peertube does not exist yet (expected? done in future steps? documentation?).
• Nothing about Certbot, NGINX, Firewall settings, and etc.
• Hopefully someone can suggest what is missing here with some hints so I can add it?

Fedora

1. Upgrade your packages:

dnf upgrade

2. Add a user with sudoers group access:

useradd my-peertube-user
passwd my-peertube-user
usermod my-peertube-user -a -G wheel	# Add my-peertube-user to sudoers
su my-peertube-user

3. (Optional) Install certbot (choose instructions for your distribution): https://certbot.eff.org/all-instructions

4. Install NodeJS 18.x: https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/all#centos-fedora-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux

5. Install yarn: https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/install

6. Enable RPM Fusion for Fedora (available for x86, x86_64, armhfp)

sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

This is necessary because ffmpeg is not in the Fedora repos.

7. Run:

sudo dnf install nginx ffmpeg postgresql-server postgresql-contrib openssl gcc-c++ make redis git vim
ffmpeg -version # Should be >= 4.1
g++ -v # Should be >= 5.x
redis-server --version # Should be >= 6.x

8. Configure nginx

sudo mkdir /etc/nginx/sites-available
sudo mkdir /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/peertube /etc/nginx/conf.d/peertube.conf

9. Post-installation

from PostgreSQL documentation:

Due to policies for Red Hat family distributions, the PostgreSQL installation will not be enabled for automatic start or have the database initialized automatically.

# PostgreSQL
sudo PGSETUP_INITDB_OPTIONS='--auth-host=md5' postgresql-setup --initdb --unit postgresql
sudo systemctl enable postgresql.service
sudo systemctl start postgresql.service
# Nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx.service
sudo systemctl start nginx.service
# Redis
sudo systemctl enable redis.service
sudo systemctl start redis.service

10. Firewall

By default, you cannot access your server via public IP. To do so, you must configure firewall:

• Ports used by peertube dev setup:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=3000/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=9000/tcp

• Optional

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=https

• Reload firewall

sudo firewall-cmd --reload

11. Configure max ports

This is necessary if you are running dev setup, otherwise you will have errors with nodemon

echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=582222 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf && sudo sysctl -p

More info

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

1. Register system as root user to Red Hat Subscription Management (create a free Red Hat account if you don't have one yet).

# subscription-manager register --username <username> --password <password> --auto-attach
# dnf upgrade
# reboot

2. Install Node.JS

sudo dnf module install nodejs:18

3. Install Yarn

curl --silent --location https://dl.yarnpkg.com/rpm/yarn.repo | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/yarn.repo
sudo dnf install yarn

4. Install FFmpeg

sudo subscription-manager repos --enable "codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-$(arch)-rpms"
sudo dnf install --nogpgcheck https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
sudo dnf install --nogpgcheck https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-8.noarch.rpm
sudo dnf upgrade
sudo dnf install ffmpeg

5. Run:

sudo dnf install nginx postgresql postgresql-server postgresql-contrib openssl gcc-c++ make wget redis git

6. You'll need a symlink for python3 to python for youtube-dl to work

sudo alternatives --set python3 /usr/bin/python

7. Initialize the PostgreSQL database:

sudo PGSETUP_INITDB_OPTIONS='--auth-host=md5' postgresql-setup --initdb --unit postgresql

Now that dependencies are installed, before running PeerTube you should enable and start PostgreSQL and Redis:

sudo systemctl enable --now redis
sudo systemctl enable --now postgresql

If you are running the production guide, you also need to slightly pre-configure nginx, because nginx is packaged differently in the Red Hat family distributions:

8. Configure nginx

sudo mkdir /etc/nginx/sites-available
sudo mkdir /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/peertube /etc/nginx/conf.d/peertube.conf
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

9. Prepare directory

To add the 'peertube' user, you first have to create the 'www' folder and once the 'peertube' user is added, you have to set the access permissions.

sudo mkdir /var/www

sudo useradd -m -d /var/www/peertube -s /bin/bash -p peertube peertube
sudo passwd peertube

sudo chmod 755 /var/www/peertube/

10. Firewall

By default, you cannot access your server via public IP. To do so, you must configure firewall:

• Ports used by peertube dev setup:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=3000/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=9000/tcp

• Optional

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=https

• Reload firewall

sudo firewall-cmd --reload

11. Configure max ports

This is necessary if you are running dev setup, otherwise you will have errors with nodemon

echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=582222 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf && sudo sysctl -p

More info

FreeBSD

On a fresh install of FreeBSD, new system or new jail:

1. bootstrap pkg, initialize db and install peertube's dependencies, always as root (sudo not yet installed):

pkg
pkg update
pkg install -y sudo bash wget git python nginx pkgconf postgresql13-server postgresql13-contrib redis openssl node npm yarn ffmpeg unzip

2. Allow users in the wheel group (hope you don't forgot to add your user on wheel group!) to use sudo.

visudo

Uncomment the line 90

%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

3. Enable nginx, redis, postgresql services and initialize database.

sysrc postgresql_enable="YES"
sysrc redis_enable="YES"
sysrc nginx_enable="YES"

Initialize database and start services

service postgresql initdb
service postgresql start
service redis start
service nginx start

macOS

1. Add the packages:

brew install bash ffmpeg nginx postgresql openssl gcc make redis git yarn

You may need to update your default version of bash.

How to change your default shell

which -a bash # Check where bash is installed
bash --version # You need a version at least as recent as 4.0
sudo vim /etc/shells # Add in this file : /usr/local/bin/bash
chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash # To set the brew-installed bash as default bash

In a new shell, type bash --version to assert your changes took effect and correctly modified your default bash version.

2. Run the services:

brew services run postgresql
brew services run redis

On macOS, the postgresql user can be _postgres instead of postgres. If sudo -u postgres createuser -P peertube gives you an unknown user: postgres error, you can try sudo -u _postgres createuser -U peertube.

Gentoo

1. Add this to /etc/portage/sets/peertube:

net-libs/nodejs
sys-apps/yarn
media-video/ffmpeg[x264] # Optionally add vorbis,vpx
dev-db/postgresql
dev-db/redis
dev-vcs/git
app-arch/unzip
dev-lang/python
dev-lang/python-exec
www-servers/nginx

# Optional, client for Let’s Encrypt:
# app-crypt/certbot

2. If you are on a "stable" Gentoo you need to accept the testing keyword ~amd64 yarn:

mkdir -p /etc/portage/package.keywords
cat << EOF >> /etc/portage/package.keywords/peertube
# required by yarn (argument) for PeerTube
sys-apps/yarn ~amd64
EOF

3. Compile the peertube set:

emerge -a @peertube

4. Initialize the PostgreSQL database if you just merged it:

emerge --config postgresql

5. (For OpenRC) Enable and then start the services (replace with the correct PostgreSQL slot):

rc-update add redis
rc-update add postgresql-11
rc-service redis start
rc-service postgresql-11 start

6. Create Python version symlink for youtube-dl:

emerge -1 python-exec

OpenBSD

1. Install Packages:

pkg_add sudo bash wget git python nginx pkgconf postgresql-server postgresql-contrib redis openssl

2. Install yarn:

npm install --global yarn

3. Allow users in the wheel group to use sudo

visudo

Uncomment line #43:

%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

4. Enable services:

rcctl enable postgresql redis nginx

Other distributions

Feel free to update this file in a pull request!