Gollum
Gollum is a simple wiki software written in Ruby. It is the software component that drives many popular wiki integrations (e.g. GitHub and GitLab wikis). It is a very simple, small and fast wiki alternative to larger systems like Dokuwiki. Gollum is Git-backed, so all changes made through the web interface are also committed to the underlying Git repository.
Note
For this guide you should be familiar with the basic concepts of
Ruby and its package manager gem
Prerequisites
Since Ruby and its package manager Gem are already installed by default on Uberspace, one might think, that a simple gem install gollum would do the trick. Unfortunately that’s not the case, because currently (June 2020) Uberspace uses a rather old version of CMake (2.8.12.2). So we need to install a recent version (> 3.5.1) of CMake first, before we can run Gollum.
Install recent CMake version
To install a recent CMake version, the fastest way is to run the official installer script in your home folder (alternatively you could also use brew to install the current CMake version). Make sure to copy the link to the latest version from the official website (look for “Latest Release” and Linux x86_64).
[isabell@stardust ~]$ wget https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/download/v3.17.3/cmake-3.17.3-Linux-x86_64.sh
[isabell@stardust ~]$ bash cmake-3.17.3-Linux-x86_64.sh --skip-license --prefix=$HOME
[isabell@stardust ~]$ rm cmake-3.17.3-Linux-x86_64.sh
[isabell@stardust ~]$ hash -r # clear cache
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Afterwards, make sure that your new CMake version works correctly by checking the version number using this command:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ cmake --version
cmake version 3.17.3
[isabell@stardust ~]$
All good! Now we’re ready to install Gollum.
Create directory for Gollum content
All the data within Gollum is kept in one directory, which is also where the underlying Git repository is located. You should create a new, empty directory in your home folder if you want to start a new wiki (or clone an existing Git repository instead).
[isabell@stardust ~]$ git init wiki
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Install Gollum
Gollum can now be installed via the ruby package manager by running:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ gem install gollum
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Now you should be able to start Gollum via:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ gollum $HOME/wiki
[isabell@stardust ~]$
However Gollum is not yet reachable from the internet. So, close the Gollum application again (by pressing CTRL + C).
Setting up a web backend
Note
By default Gollum runs on port 4567, so we need to create a web backend for this port.
To make the application accessible from the outside, configure a web backend:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace web backend set / --http --port <port>
Set backend for / to port <port>; please make sure something is listening!
You can always check the status of your backend using "uberspace web backend list".
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Note
If you want to run Gollum under a different URL, just adjust the “/” parameter in the command above to match your preferred path.
Now you can start Gollum again and you should be able to open it in your browser using your Uberspace URL (e.g. https://isabell.uber.space/).
Gollum as a service
If you want to run Gollum on your Uberspace permanently it’s probably a good idea to run it as a service, meaning it will run in the background and autostart when the system reboots. Create a new file ~/etc/services.d/gollum.ini and paste this:
[program:gollum]
command=gollum %(ENV_HOME)s/wiki
autostart=yes
autorestart=yes
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 ~]$
Tested with CMake 3.17.3, Gollum 5.0.1, Uberspace 7.7.1.2
Written by: Moritz Stückler <https://twitter.com/MoStueck>