How to Install Firefly III on Ubuntu Linux

Install Nginx

You can install Nginx on Ubuntu by opening your terminal and running a couple of commands. Nginx is a web server that helps make your Firefly III application available online, so installing it is a key first step.

To install Nginx HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used to stop, start, and enable the Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop nginx.service
sudo systemctl start nginx.service
sudo systemctl enable nginx.service

To determine if the Nginx HTTP server is installed, open your web browser and type in the server’s IP or hostname.

Nginx is installed and working when you see a page like the one below.

http://localhost

Install MariaDB

Firefly III needs a database to store your financial records, and MariaDB is a great choice. You can install the MariaDB database system on Ubuntu by opening your terminal and running a simple command.

To install MariaDB, run the commands below.

sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing MariaDB, the commands below can stop, start, and enable the service to start when the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

• Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
• Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
• New password: Enter password
• Re-enter new password: Repeat password
• Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
• Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
• Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y
• Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

Restart MariaDB server

To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to log on to the MariaDB server.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, type the password you created above to sign on. If successful, you should see a MariaDB welcome message.

Install PHP 7.4-FPM

Firefly III needs PHP version 7.4 with the FPM module to run properly. Since this specific version might not be available by default, you’ll add a special software source using terminal commands before installing PHP 7.4-FPM.

Run the commands below to add the below third-party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.4-FPM.

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Then, update to PHP 7.4-FPM.

sudo apt update

Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.4-FPM and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.4-fpm php7.4-common php7.4-gmp php7.4-curl php7.4-ldap php7.4-intl php7.4-mbstring php7.4-xmlrpc php7.4-mysql php7.4-gd php7.4-bcmath php7.4-xml php7.4-cli php7.4-zip

After installing PHP 7.4, run the commands below to open Nginx’s PHP default config file.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini

Then, save the changes on the following lines below in the file. The value below is an ideal setting to apply in your environment.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
short_open_tag = On
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
max_input_vars = 1500
date.timezone = America/Chicago

After making the change above, please save the file and close it.

Create Firefly III Database

After setting up MariaDB, you need to create a dedicated database for Firefly III to keep your financial information organized. You’ll do this by accessing MariaDB through your terminal and creating a new database named ‘firefly’.

Run the commands below to log on to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, create a database called firefly

CREATE DATABASE firefly;

Create a database user called fireflyuser with a new password

CREATE USER 'fireflyuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then grant the user full access to the firefly database.

GRANT ALL ON firefly.* TO 'fireflyuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download Firefly III Latest

To get the latest version of Firefly III, you’ll download it from its official GitHub page. First, you need to install two helpful tools, Curl and Composer, using your terminal before you can download the Firefly III software.

sudo apt install curl git
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

After installing curl and Composer above, change into the Nginx root directory and download Firefly III packages from Github.

cd /var/www/
sudo composer create-project grumpydictator/firefly-iii --no-dev --prefer-dist firefly-iii 5.2.8

After downloading, you should see a success message similar to the one below:

> @php artisan firefly:instructions install
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                              |
| Thank you for installing Firefly III, v5.2.8!                                |
|                                                                              |
|                                                                              |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
> @php artisan key:generate
Application key set successfully.

sudo nano /var/www/firefly-iii/.env

Make the highlighted changes.

Database credentials. Make sure the database exists. I recommend a dedicated user for Firefly III
 For other database types, please see the FAQ: https://docs.firefly-iii.org/support/faq
 If you use Docker or similar, you can set these variables from a file by appending them with _FILE
 Use "mysql" for MySQL and MariaDB. Use "sqlite" for SQLite.
 DB_CONNECTION=mysql
 DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
 DB_PORT=3306
 DB_DATABASE=firefly
 DB_USERNAME=fireflyuser
 DB_PASSWORD=type_password_here

Save the file and exit.

Next, return to the Firefly III root directory and update all packages and requirements.

cd /var/www/firefly-iii
sudo php artisan migrate:refresh --seed
sudo php artisan firefly-iii:upgrade-database
sudo php artisan passport:install

Since you just ran the web server as root, you should ensure the www-data user and group own any newly created files.

To do that, run the commands below:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/firefly-iii/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/firefly-iii/

Configure Nginx

Configuring Nginx is the final main step to get Firefly III up and running. This involves creating a new settings file for Nginx in your terminal, where you’ll add specific instructions that tell Nginx how to handle requests for your Firefly III website.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/firefly.conf

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location.

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    server_name  example.com www.example.com;
    root   /var/www/firefly-iii/public;
    index  index.php;
    
    access_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.error.log;

    client_max_body_size 100M;
  
    autoindex off;

    location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php$is_args$args;
      }

    location ~ .php$ {
         include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
         fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
         include fastcgi_params;
         fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
    }
}

Save the file and exit.

After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below.

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/firefly.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name or hostname. This is often localhost but can be a hostname or IP address.

Your server admin or hosting company will have this information available.

http://example.com/

Create an admin account and register.

Log in and begin setting up your finances.

Conclusion:

This post showed you how to install Firefly III on Ubuntu. If you find any errors above, please leave a comment below.