Install with the script

One command on a fresh Debian 13 server installs Apache, MariaDB, PHP and ITFlow, gets a certificate, adds cron and leaves you at the setup wizard.

The install script sets up everything ITFlow needs on a fresh Debian 13 server, then hands you to the setup wizard to make your account. It takes a few minutes.

Watch out

Use a new server that runs nothing else. The script upgrades the server's packages, sets up Apache, and turns off Apache's default site.

Run it

Point your domain name, such as itflow.example.com, at the server's public IP address, and open ports 80 and 443 to it.
Sign in to the server as root.

Download the script and run it:

wget -O itflow_install.sh https://github.com/itflow-org/itflow-install-script/raw/main/itflow_install.sh
bash itflow_install.sh

Answer its four questions. Press Enter to take the suggestion in brackets:

Timezone [UTC]: America/New_York
Domain [debian]: itflow.example.com
Available branches: master, develop
Which branch to use [master]:
SSL options: letsencrypt, selfsigned, none
SSL type [letsencrypt]:

Wait for Installation Complete!, then open the address it shows, such as https://itflow.example.com. The setup wizard opens at your account, because the script has already set up the database.

Question	What to answer
Timezone	The server's timezone, such as `America/New_York` or `Europe/London`. You set ITFlow's own timezone in the setup wizard.
Domain	The full name ITFlow will be reached at. For a Let's Encrypt certificate, it must already point at this server.
Branch	`master`, the released versions. `develop` is where new work lands first, and is only for testing.
SSL type	`letsencrypt` gets a free certificate that renews by itself. `selfsigned` makes one that browsers warn about, for a test server. `none` leaves ITFlow on plain http://, and lets you sign in without HTTPS. Only use `none` on a test server that stays on your own network.

What it sets up

Apache, MariaDB, PHP and the PHP extensions ITFlow uses, git, cron and certbot, after upgrading the packages already on the server
PHP limits of 500 MB for uploads and 5 minutes for a page to run, so you can restore large backups
An Apache site for your domain, with ITFlow in /var/www/ followed by the domain, such as /var/www/itflow.example.com, owned by the web server's user, www-data
The certificate: Let's Encrypt's, or a self-signed one
A database and a database user, both called itflow, with a random password. It creates ITFlow's tables in the database and writes config.php.
The cron entry, in /etc/cron.d/itflow, run every minute as www-data

Without the questions

To build servers without answering questions, give the answers as options and add --unattended:

bash itflow_install.sh --domain itflow.example.com --timezone America/New_York --ssl letsencrypt --unattended

Option	Does
`-d`, `--domain`	The domain name. Without it, the server's own full name is used.
`-t`, `--timezone`	The server's timezone. Unattended, it is `America/New_York` unless you give one.
`-b`, `--branch`	`master` (the default) or `develop`
`-s`, `--ssl`	`letsencrypt` (the default), `selfsigned` or `none`
`-u`, `--unattended`	Ask nothing
`-h`, `--help`	List the options

If it doesn't work

Invalid domain. - give a full name, such as itflow.example.com, not itflow on its own.
Invalid timezone. - use a name from timedatectl list-timezones, such as Europe/London.
No certificate - Let's Encrypt can't reach the server by its name. Check the name points at the server and port 80 is open, then get the certificate on its own: certbot --apache -d itflow.example.com. Until then, ITFlow won't let you sign in.
The script prints what it is doing as it goes. Scroll back to see where it stopped, and see When something goes wrong.

Once the setup wizard is done, go through After installing.