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Gemini on Uberspace 🚀

This is a short introduction on how to use Gemini on Uberspace using the Orion Gemini server.

Download Orion binary

Use wget to download the Orion source ZIP file:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ wget https://github.com/grisu48/orion/archive/refs/tags/v0.4.zip -O orion.zip
--2023-06-20 08:49:22--  https://github.com/grisu48/orion/archive/refs/tags/v0.4.zip
Resolving github.com (github.com)... 140.82.121.3
Connecting to github.com (github.com)|140.82.121.3|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: https://codeload.github.com/grisu48/orion/zip/refs/tags/v0.4 [following]
--2023-06-20 08:49:22--  https://codeload.github.com/grisu48/orion/zip/refs/tags/v0.4
Resolving codeload.github.com (codeload.github.com)... 140.82.121.9
Connecting to codeload.github.com (codeload.github.com)|140.82.121.9|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [application/zip]
Saving to: ‘orion.zip’

    [ <=>                                                                                                        ] 12,894      --.-K/s   in 0.007s

2023-06-20 08:49:22 (1.66 MB/s) - ‘orion.zip’ saved [12894]

[isabell@stardust ~]$

Unzip the source:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ unzip orion.zip
Archive:  orion.zip
1bb09d50228659e5a686c146a4a1a80fedb67767
   creating: orion-0.4/
   creating: orion-0.4/.github/
   creating: orion-0.4/.github/workflows/
  inflating: orion-0.4/.github/workflows/container.yml
  inflating: orion-0.4/.github/workflows/orion.yml
  inflating: orion-0.4/.gitignore
  inflating: orion-0.4/Dockerfile
  inflating: orion-0.4/LICENSE
  inflating: orion-0.4/Makefile
  inflating: orion-0.4/README.md
   creating: orion-0.4/cmd/
   creating: orion-0.4/cmd/orion/
  inflating: orion-0.4/cmd/orion/config.go
  inflating: orion-0.4/cmd/orion/gemini.go
  inflating: orion-0.4/cmd/orion/orion.go
  inflating: orion-0.4/cmd/orion/orion_test.go
 extracting: orion-0.4/go.mod
  inflating: orion-0.4/orion.conf
  inflating: orion-0.4/variables.md
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Change into the deflated source code directory and build the binary:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd orion-0.4/
[isabell@stardust orion-0.4]$ make
go build -o orion cmd/orion/orion.go cmd/orion/gemini.go cmd/orion/config.go
[isabell@stardust orion-0.4]$ make static
CGO_ENABLED=0 GOARGS="-buildmode=pie" go build -o orion cmd/orion/orion.go cmd/orion/gemini.go cmd/orion/config.go
[isabell@stardust orion-0.4]$

Move the compiled binary to ~/bin:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ mv ~/orion-0.4/orion ~/bin
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Download the sample orion.conf file

[isabell@stardust ~]$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/grisu48/orion/master/orion.conf -O ~/etc/orion.conf
[…]
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 644 [text/plain]
Saving to: ‘/home/isabell/orion.conf’

100%[=============================================================================>] 644         --.-K/s   in 0s

2022-05-12 10:02:04 (18.8 MB/s) - ‘/home/isabell/orion.conf’ saved [644/644]
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Create the content diretory

[isabell@stardust ~]$ mkdir ~/gemini
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Make sure your certificate and key are present

Uberspace provides Let's Encrypt certificates. These are generated with the first HTTPS request to your (sub)domain. Issue one HTTPS request to your uber.space address to make sure the certificate and key exist:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ curl -s https://$USER.uber.space > /dev/null
[isabell@stardust ~]$

The crt and key files should now be present in ~/etc/certificates/

[isabell@stardust ~]$ ll ~/etc/certificates/
total 12
-rw-r-----. 1 root isabell 5950 May 12 10:01 isabell.uber.space.crt
-rw-r-----. 1 root isabell 3247 May 12 10:01 isabell.uber.space.key
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Open a port

Since Uberspace doesn't have out of the box Gemini support, your server cannot run on Gemini's default port of 1965.

[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace port add
Port 41240 will be open for TCP and UDP traffic in a few minutes.

Write down the port number, you will need it in the next step. You will also need to include it in every link to your Gemini page.

Edit orion.conf

Change the Hostname, Bind, Certfile, Keyfile, and ContentDir lines. Make sure to adapt the Hostname, port number and certificate / key file names and paths.

## orion configuration file example
## Please modify this file to your needs
## lines starting with a '#' are comments and will be ignored

## Server hostname and listen address
## Bind ':1965' will bind to any IP address and port 1965
Hostname = isabell.uber.space
Bind = :41240

## TLS certificate
## Note: Those files will be loaded before chroot!
Certfile = /home/isabell/etc/certificates/isabell.uber.space.crt
Keyfile = /home/isabell/etc/certificates/isabell.uber.space.key

## Content directory
ContentDir = /home/isabell/gemini

## Chroot into this directory (uncomment to enable)
## Note: If enabled, the ContentDir needs to be adapted accordingly
# chroot = /srv/gemini/

## Custom user and group ids to run orion as
# Uid = 5000
# Gid = 5000

supervisord service

Create a file ~/etc/services.d/orion.ini with this content:

[program:orion]
command=%(ENV_HOME)s/bin/orion -config %(ENV_HOME)s/etc/orion.conf
startsecs=30

Run `supervisorctl update` to start your service

[isabell@stardust ~]$ supervisorctl update
orion: added process group
[isabell@stardust ~]$

After 30 seconds, orion should be in status RUNNING:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ supervisorctl status
orion                            RUNNING   pid 22348, uptime 0:01:29
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Cronjob

Uberspace regularly updates your Let's Encrypt certificate. This is done when it is accessed via HTTPS and the certificate's expires in less than 30 days. By regularly accessing the HTTPS site and restarting the Orion service, it will load the updated certificate. Run `crontab -e` to edit your crontab in your default editor and enter

@monthly /bin/curl -s https://$USER.uber.space > /dev/null 2>&1
@monthly sleep 30 ; /usr/bin/supervisorctl restart orion > /dev/null

Save the crontab.

Create content

Create a file named index.gmi in ~/gemini/ and fill it with your Gemini content.

Access your Gemini site

Use a Gemini client to access your Gemini site at

gemini://isabell.uber.space:41240/

Make your to use your port number and user name instead of 41240 / isabell.

Uberspace

Uberspace manual

Gemini software

Let's Encrypt

Orion

Orion binary

Sample orion.conf

Updated on 20 June 2023 for Orion v0.4