💾 Archived View for ilonagabor.de › posts › docker.gmi captured on 2021-12-04 at 18:04:22. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

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Gemserv

I have recently joined the Gemini space and decided to make my own gemini:// webpage on day 1.

I run my own Ubuntu-based server from my home. At first, I installed the Gemserv binary along with 450 MB of Rust dependencies, this setup took up about 1 GB of space, all to serve a 1 kB .gmi file :-) I was annoyed by this, and as I am a big fan of Docker, I started searching in Gemini space if there are similarly inclined people. All it took was one search on gus.guru to find the page of Hannu Hartikainen, who had a similar idea and wrote a Dockerfile that allowed me to wrap Gemserv as a single static binary measuring just above 8 MB.

Hannu Hartikainen's Gemini space

That's more like it! This is the setup I am running right now and as I am only planning to serve static pages, I am very satisfied with its low footprint.

I decided to write this tutorial on my chosen setup for all of you people looking to start hosting your own Gemini webpages. Drop me a mail if you have any comments, corrections or would just like to get in touch.

✉️ gabor@ilonagabor.de

Tutorial: Running Gemserv as a Docker container on Ubuntu 18.04

Step zero - for following this tutorial, I suggest a terminal based gemini browser to download files. I am using `amfora`.

🌍makeworld-the-better-one/amfora

First, download and install Docker and Docker Compose for Ubuntu (if you don't already have it).

sudo apt update && sudo apt install docker docker-compose

Second, download the tarball of the Gemserv Docker image from here. This has been compiled by me based on the Dockerfile written by Hannu. I am also including a link to the Dockerfile if you prefer to build the image on your own or tweak it further.

gemserv.tar

or in Terminal

amfora gemini://ilonagabor.de/assets/gemserv.tar

Hannu's Dockerfile

Now import the Docker image.

sudo docker load -i <path to gemserv.tar>

Third, make the directory, where you would like to keep your configuration file for Gemserv. For me, it is `/var/gemini`. Change to it.

mkdir <your gemini folder>
chown -R <gemini user>:<gemini group> <your gemini folder>  && cd <your gemini folder>

I suggest you use a non-sudo user to upload content into <your gemini folder>.

Download the docker-compose file to generate the docker container `gemserv`.

docker-compose.yml

or in Terminal

amfora gemini://ilonagabor.de/assets/docker-compose.yml

pro-Tipp! If you are using Amfora, it will show you `docker-compose.yml` rather than downloading it. Press `ctrl + s` once open to save the file to your downloads folder.

The docker container will be looking for a configuration file for gemserv in the same folder as the docker-compose.yml. Download and copy this into <your gemini folder>. Edit the file with your favorite editor, most importantly add your domain under "hostname". You can also use `localhost` to test. Comment in any extra features you might want use.

config.toml

or in Terminal

amfora gemini://ilonagabor.de/assets/config.toml

Use openssl to generate certificates for your Gemini space. These should also be stored in the same root folder along with docker-compose.yml and config.toml. Answer the questions according to your needs.

openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout <your gemini folder>/gemini.key -x509 -days 365 -out <your gemini folder>/gemini.crt

OK, we are almost ready to go. Now comes the fun part. We will now generate the folder for your static content `srv` and a landing page for your Gemini space `index.gmi`.

mkdir <your gemini folder>/srv

echo "# Hello World" > <your gemini folder>/srv/index.gmi

Open up the port! For Gemini it's port 1965.

sudo ufw allow 1965 && sudo ufw reload

You're ready to go. Change back to <your gemini folder> and fire up the docker container.

sudo docker-compose up -d

note: the docker compose file is set to always restart this container. Your Gemserv will start automatically, even if you reboot your server.

Now navigate to your domain in your gemini browser.

amfora gemini://<your domain>

note: in case of issues, check docker logs!

sudo docker logs gemserv

You're done! Welcome to Gemini space.

Edit your index.gmi and upload your static content to `<your gemini folder>/srv`.

Last updated: 18 Feb 2021 22:42:02 CET