Goatcounter
Goatcounter is an open source web analytics platform available as a free, donation-supported hosted service or self-hosted app.
It aims to offer easy to use and meaningful privacy-friendly web analytics as an alternative to Google Analytics or Matomo.
Note
For this guide you should be familiar with the basic concepts of
License
All relevant legal information can be found here
Prerequisites
The host domain and a subdomain for goatcounter need to be setup:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace web domain list
isabell.uber.space
goatcounter.isabell.uber.space
[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace web backend set goatcounter.isabell.uber.space/ --http --port 1235
[isabell@stardust ~]$
If you don’t have a goatcounter.* subdomain, add it via uberspace web domain add goatcounter.isabell.uber.space.
Installation
Check the goatcounter releases page for the most recent Linux AMD64 download:
https://github.com/arp242/goatcounter/releases
Create a folder and download goatcounter:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ mkdir ~/goatcounter
[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd ~/goatcounter
[isabell@stardust ~]$ wget https://github.com/arp242/goatcounter/releases/download/v2.5.0/goatcounter-v2.5.0-linux-amd64.gz
[isabell@stardust ~]$ gzip -d goatcounter-v2.5.0-linux-amd64.gz
[isabell@stardust ~]$ mv goatcounter-v2.5.0-linux-amd64 goatcounter
[isabell@stardust ~]$ chmod +x goatcounter
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Configuration
Create database
[isabell@stardust ~]$ ./goatcounter db create site -createdb -vhost goatcounter.isabell.uber.space -user.email <user>@uber.space
Make sure to use your own domain and email address. You will be asked to enter a password for the specified user which will be used to access the webpage later.
Test
Run ./goatcounter serve -listen :1235 -tls http to test your installation by accessing https://goatcounter.isabell.uber.space
Setup daemon
Create ~/etc/services.d/goatcounter.ini with the following content:
[program:goatcounter]
command = %(ENV_HOME)s/goatcounter/goatcounter serve -listen :1235 -tls http -db sqlite+%(ENV_HOME)s/goatcounter/db/goatcounter.sqlite3
autostart = true
autorestart = true
After creating the configuration, tell supervisord to refresh its configuration and start the service:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ supervisorctl reread
SERVICE: available
[isabell@stardust ~]$ supervisorctl update
SERVICE: added process group
[isabell@stardust ~]$ supervisorctl status
SERVICE RUNNING pid 26020, uptime 0:03:14
[isabell@stardust ~]$
If it’s not in state RUNNING, check your configuration.
Configure web server
Finishing installation
Now you can include Goatcounter (for details have a look into the Help menu of your installation).
Updates
Note
Check for updates regularly to stay informed about the newest version.
When an update is available download a new release from the release page and follow the update instructions on the goatcounter-github.
[isabell@stardust ~]$ pip3 install --user --upgrade isso
Tested with Goatcounter 2.5.0 and Uberspace 7.15.4
Written by: Lomion0815