How to Install Askbot on Ubuntu 20.04

In this article, we will have explained the necessary steps to install and configure Askbot on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Before continuing with this tutorial, make sure you are logged in as a user with sudo privileges. All the commands in this tutorial should be run as a non-root user.

Askbot is an open-source question and answer (Q&A) software for creating a Q&A forum that is built on Python and Django Framework. It is simple, highly customizable, and very similar to other forum software including StackOverflow and YahooAnswers. It has some good features including a karma-based content system, voting, and content moderation.

Install Askbot on Ubuntu 20.04

Step 1. First, before you start installing any package on your Ubuntu server, we always recommend making sure that all system packages are updated.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install python-dev python-setuptools python3-pip python3-psycopg2 libpq-dev

Step 2. Install PostgreSQL Database Server.

For a database server, we’ll use a PostgreSQL database server. This can be installed with the commands below:

sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-client

Once done, you can use the commands below to stop, start, enable and check PostgreSQL status:

sudo systemctl stop postgresql.service
sudo systemctl start postgresql.service
sudo systemctl enable postgresql.service
sudo systemctl status postgresql.service

Step 3. Create PostgreSQL User Password.

It is a good idea to create or change the default Postgres user password:

sudo passwd postgres

When prompted, create a new Linux password for Postgres users as shown below:

Enter new UNIX password: 
Retype new UNIX password: 
passwd: password updated successfully

Step 4. Create the PostgreSQL database.

We are going to type the following to create a new database called askbot:

su - postgres
psql
create database askbot;
create user askbotuser with password 'your-strong-password-here';
grant all privileges on database askbot to askbotuser;
\q
exit

After creating the above database and user, let’s edit the PostgreSQL configuration file and enable md5 authentication. We can do this with our favorite editor:

sudo nano /etc/postgresql/12/main/pg_hba.conf

Edit the highlighted lines to reference md5 authentication:

"local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
 local   all             all                                     md5 
 IPv4 local connections:
 host    all             all             127.0.0.1/32            md5
 IPv6 local connections:
 host    all             all             ::1/128                 md5
 Allow replication connections from localhost, by a user with the

After editing the above file, we save and exit. Now we will have to restart PostgreSQL:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

Step 5. Install Askbot on the Ubuntu system.

First, create a new user named askbot and create new password for that user account:

sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash askbot 
sudo passwd askbot
sudo usermod -a -G sudo askbot

Next, we are going to execute this other command in the terminal to install Python virtual environment (virtualenv):

sudo pip install virtualenv six

Then, log in to the askbot user account using the su commands and create a new virtual environment for Askbot:

su - askbot
virtualenv askbot

The next step will be to switch to the virtual environment and activate it:

cd askbot
source bin/activate

Next, run the command below to install Askbot, Six, and PostgreSQL modules:

pip install --upgrade pip
pip install six==1.10.0
pip install askbot==0.11.1 psycopg2

we will create a directory called myapps for askbot and configure it:

mkdir myapps
cd myapps

And setup Askbot using the command:

askbot-setup

Output:

Deploying Askbot - Django Q&A forum application
Problems installing? -> please email [email protected]

To CANCEL - press Ctr-C.

Enter the Root directory path (relative or absolute).
This directory will contain the Django project's manage.py file.
Press ENTER to use ./askbot_site.
> 
Enter the Project directory name.
Will be a subdirectory within the Root for the settings.py, urls.py files.
Press ENTER to use askbot_site.
> 
Select the database engine: 1 - postgresql, 2 - sqlite, 3 - mysql, 4 - oracle.
Type 1/2/3/4, press ENTER to select sqlite
> 1
Enter the database host name
Press ENTER to use empty string (default value).
> 
Enter database name. (required)
> askbot
Enter database password. (required)
> type_password_here
Enter database user name. (required)
> askbotuser
Enter the database port
Press ENTER to use empty string (default value).
> 
Enter email of the site admin (required)
> [email protected]
Enter name of the site admin (required)
> superadmin
Enter the default from email
Press ENTER to use [email protected]
>   
Enter the server email
Press ENTER to use [email protected]

Finally, run the command below to complete the setup:

cd askbot_site/
python manage.py collectstatic
python manage.py migrate

Step 6. Launch Askbot.

You can start or test the Askbot application by running the command below:

python manage.py runserver --insecure 0.0.0.0:8080

To access your Askbot application via the URL, open your favorite web browser and browse the server IP with port 8080:

http://localhost:8080

That’s all you need to do to install the Askbot on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa. I hope you find this quick tip helpful. For further reading on Install Askbot, please refer to their official knowledge base. If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below.