Fresh install of NodeBB 1.11.1 on Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch) issues

squre

Hi Guys!
First of all thank you for all your work & sharing NodeBB with us!

It is my "first ever install" of NodeBB therefore I might have done some elementary mistakes. I was following steps from the documentation below, unfortunately I did not managed to get to the point of "working setup NodeBB screen".

https://github.com/nodesource/distributions
https://docs.nodebb.org/installing/os/debian/

Debian & installed software versions

---------------------------------

root@s01:~#  uname -a 
Linux s01 4.9.0-8-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.9.130-2 (2018-10-27) x86_64 GNU/Linux

---------------------------------

root@s01:~# cat /etc/os-release 
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="9"
VERSION="9 (stretch)"
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

---------------------------------

root@s01:~# nodejs --version
v11.4.0
root@s01:~# npm --version
6.4.1

---------------------------------

root@s01:~# aptitude show build-essential                                                                                                                                                                
Package: build-essential                 
Version: 12.3
State: installed

(...)

---------------------------------

Installation & setup of NodeBB

---------------------------------

root@s01:/home/webservices/domains/example.com# git clone -b v1.11.x https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB.git nodebb
Cloning into 'nodebb'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 24, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (24/24), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (19/19), done.
remote: Total 163377 (delta 6), reused 11 (delta 5), pack-reused 163353
Receiving objects: 100% (163377/163377), 48.73 MiB | 10.97 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (124771/124771), done.
root@s01:/home/webservices/domains/example.com# cd nodebb/
root@s01:/home/webservices/domains/example.com/nodebb# ./nodebb setup
package.json not found.
Populating package.json...
OK
Dependencies outdated or not yet installed.
Installing them now...

npm WARN deprecated [email protected]: CircularJSON is in maintenance only, flatted is its successor.
npm WARN deprecated [email protected]: This version is no longer maintained. Please upgrade to the latest version.
npm WARN deprecated [email protected]: This version is no longer maintained. Please upgrade to the latest version.
npm WARN deprecated [email protected]: This version is no longer maintained. Please upgrade to the latest version.

> [email protected] install /home/webservices/domains/example.com/nodebb/node_modules/benchpressjs
> cd rust/benchpress-rs && npm install

npm WARN lifecycle [email protected]~install: cannot run in wd [email protected] neon build >> build.log 2>&1 || exit 0 (wd=/home/webservices/domains/example.com/nodebb/node_modules/benchpressjs/rust/benchpress-rs)
npm notice created a lockfile as package-lock.json. You should commit this file.
added 86 packages from 84 contributors and audited 123 packages in 15.229s
found 0 vulnerabilities


> [email protected] install /home/webservices/domains/example.com/nodebb/node_modules/sharp
> (node install/libvips && node install/dll-copy && prebuild-install) || (node-gyp rebuild && node install/dll-copy)

info sharp Using cached /root/.npm/_libvips/libvips-8.7.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
prebuild-install WARN install No prebuilt binaries found (target=11.4.0 runtime=node arch=x64 platform=linux)
make: Entering directory '/home/webservices/domains/example.com/nodebb/node_modules/sharp/build'
  TOUCH Release/obj.target/libvips-cpp.stamp
  CXX(target) Release/obj.target/sharp/src/common.o
In file included from ../src/common.cc:24:0:
../../nan/nan.h: In constructor ‘Nan::Utf8String::Utf8String(v8::Local<v8::Value>)’:
../../nan/nan.h:1064:78: warning: ‘v8::Local<v8::String> v8::Value::ToString(v8::Isolate*) const’ is deprecated: Use maybe version [-Wdeprecated-declarations]
       v8::Local<v8::String> string = from->ToString(v8::Isolate::GetCurrent());
                                                                              ^
In file included from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:26:0,
                 from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/node.h:63,
                 from ../src/common.cc:22:
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:2538:31: note: declared here
                 Local<String> ToString(Isolate* isolate) const);
                               ^
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8config.h:326:3: note: in definition of macro ‘V8_DEPRECATED’
   declarator __attribute__((deprecated(message)))
   ^~~~~~~~~~
  CXX(target) Release/obj.target/sharp/src/metadata.o
In file included from ../src/metadata.cc:19:0:
../../nan/nan.h: In constructor ‘Nan::Utf8String::Utf8String(v8::Local<v8::Value>)’:
../../nan/nan.h:1064:78: warning: ‘v8::Local<v8::String> v8::Value::ToString(v8::Isolate*) const’ is deprecated: Use maybe version [-Wdeprecated-declarations]
       v8::Local<v8::String> string = from->ToString(v8::Isolate::GetCurrent());
                                                                              ^
In file included from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:26:0,
                 from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/node.h:63,
                 from ../src/metadata.cc:18:
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:2538:31: note: declared here
                 Local<String> ToString(Isolate* isolate) const);
                               ^
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8config.h:326:3: note: in definition of macro ‘V8_DEPRECATED’
   declarator __attribute__((deprecated(message)))
   ^~~~~~~~~~
  CXX(target) Release/obj.target/sharp/src/stats.o
In file included from ../src/stats.cc:20:0:
../../nan/nan.h: In constructor ‘Nan::Utf8String::Utf8String(v8::Local<v8::Value>)’:
../../nan/nan.h:1064:78: warning: ‘v8::Local<v8::String> v8::Value::ToString(v8::Isolate*) const’ is deprecated: Use maybe version [-Wdeprecated-declarations]
       v8::Local<v8::String> string = from->ToString(v8::Isolate::GetCurrent());
                                                                              ^
In file included from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:26:0,
                 from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/node.h:63,
                 from ../src/stats.cc:19:
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:2538:31: note: declared here
                 Local<String> ToString(Isolate* isolate) const);
                               ^
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8config.h:326:3: note: in definition of macro ‘V8_DEPRECATED’
   declarator __attribute__((deprecated(message)))
   ^~~~~~~~~~
  CXX(target) Release/obj.target/sharp/src/operations.o
In file included from ../src/common.h:23:0,
                 from ../src/operations.cc:23:
../../nan/nan.h: In constructor ‘Nan::Utf8String::Utf8String(v8::Local<v8::Value>)’:
../../nan/nan.h:1064:78: warning: ‘v8::Local<v8::String> v8::Value::ToString(v8::Isolate*) const’ is deprecated: Use maybe version [-Wdeprecated-declarations]
       v8::Local<v8::String> string = from->ToString(v8::Isolate::GetCurrent());
                                                                              ^
In file included from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:26:0,
                 from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/node.h:63,
                 from ../src/common.h:22,
                 from ../src/operations.cc:23:
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:2538:31: note: declared here
                 Local<String> ToString(Isolate* isolate) const);
                               ^
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8config.h:326:3: note: in definition of macro ‘V8_DEPRECATED’
   declarator __attribute__((deprecated(message)))
   ^~~~~~~~~~
  CXX(target) Release/obj.target/sharp/src/pipeline.o
In file included from ../src/pipeline.cc:27:0:
../../nan/nan.h: In constructor ‘Nan::Utf8String::Utf8String(v8::Local<v8::Value>)’:
../../nan/nan.h:1064:78: warning: ‘v8::Local<v8::String> v8::Value::ToString(v8::Isolate*) const’ is deprecated: Use maybe version [-Wdeprecated-declarations]
       v8::Local<v8::String> string = from->ToString(v8::Isolate::GetCurrent());
                                                                              ^
In file included from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:26:0,
                 from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/node.h:63,
                 from ../src/pipeline.cc:26:
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:2538:31: note: declared here
                 Local<String> ToString(Isolate* isolate) const);
                               ^
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8config.h:326:3: note: in definition of macro ‘V8_DEPRECATED’
   declarator __attribute__((deprecated(message)))
   ^~~~~~~~~~
  CXX(target) Release/obj.target/sharp/src/sharp.o
In file included from ../src/sharp.cc:16:0:
../../nan/nan.h: In constructor ‘Nan::Utf8String::Utf8String(v8::Local<v8::Value>)’:
../../nan/nan.h:1064:78: warning: ‘v8::Local<v8::String> v8::Value::ToString(v8::Isolate*) const’ is deprecated: Use maybe version [-Wdeprecated-declarations]
       v8::Local<v8::String> string = from->ToString(v8::Isolate::GetCurrent());
                                                                              ^
In file included from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:26:0,
                 from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/node.h:63,
                 from ../src/sharp.cc:15:
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:2538:31: note: declared here
                 Local<String> ToString(Isolate* isolate) const);
                               ^
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8config.h:326:3: note: in definition of macro ‘V8_DEPRECATED’
   declarator __attribute__((deprecated(message)))
   ^~~~~~~~~~
  CXX(target) Release/obj.target/sharp/src/utilities.o
In file included from ../src/utilities.cc:19:0:
../../nan/nan.h: In constructor ‘Nan::Utf8String::Utf8String(v8::Local<v8::Value>)’:
../../nan/nan.h:1064:78: warning: ‘v8::Local<v8::String> v8::Value::ToString(v8::Isolate*) const’ is deprecated: Use maybe version [-Wdeprecated-declarations]
       v8::Local<v8::String> string = from->ToString(v8::Isolate::GetCurrent());
                                                                              ^
In file included from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:26:0,
                 from /root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/node.h:63,
                 from ../src/utilities.cc:18:
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8.h:2538:31: note: declared here
                 Local<String> ToString(Isolate* isolate) const);
                               ^
/root/.node-gyp/11.4.0/include/node/v8config.h:326:3: note: in definition of macro ‘V8_DEPRECATED’
   declarator __attribute__((deprecated(message)))
   ^~~~~~~~~~
  SOLINK_MODULE(target) Release/obj.target/sharp.node
  COPY Release/sharp.node
make: Leaving directory '/home/webservices/domains/example.com/nodebb/node_modules/sharp/build'

> [email protected] postinstall /home/webservices/domains/example.com/nodebb/node_modules/preact
> node -e "console.log('\u001b[35m\u001b[1mLove Preact? You can now donate to our open collective:\u001b[22m\u001b[39m\n > \u001b[34mhttps://opencollective.com/preact/donate\u001b[0m')"

Love Preact? You can now donate to our open collective:
 > https://opencollective.com/preact/donate
npm notice created a lockfile as package-lock.json. You should commit this file.
added 624 packages from 747 contributors and audited 4314 packages in 165.443s
found 5 vulnerabilities (1 low, 4 moderate)
  run `npm audit fix` to fix them, or `npm audit` for details
OK

[benchpressjs] Unable to build or find a suitable native module, falling back to JS version
2018-12-15T16:36:25.746Z [2912] - info: NodeBB Setup Triggered via Command Line

Welcome to NodeBB v1.11.1!

This looks like a new installation, so you'll have to answer a few questions about your environment before we can proceed.
Press enter to accept the default setting (shown in brackets).
URL used to access this NodeBB (http://localhost:4567) 

---------------------------------

Access to setup

---------------------------------

root@s01:~# curl http://localhost:4567
curl: (7) Failed to connect to localhost port 4567: Connection refused

---------------------------------

root@s01:~# iptables -L
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination         

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination         

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination         
root@s01:~# 

---------------------------------

Questions

1.) Why there are so many warnings & deprecated notices? Is that normal? Should I use different version of nodejs?
2.) Is that secure "found 5 vulnerabilities (1 low, 4 moderate)"?
3.) Why I am not able to access "http://localhost:4567" using curl from the same machine ... what is necessary to improve in my installation process?
4.) As in the future I will be using Nginx to reverse proxy to "http://localhost:4567" ... which user should I use to start NodeBB? www-data? root? other?

Thank you very much for your help!

Cheers!

PitaJ

I recommend two things:

Use the Ubuntu installation docs, they're the most maintained. It's essentially the same as Debian
Use Node 10

squre

@PitaJ thank you very much for the reply!

1.) Can you advice me which user should I use to go through the installation process? www-data? root? other?

2.) Does it matter which user runs the command "./nodebb start" after successful setup?

Does user mentioned in points nr (1) and (2) really matter as the service will be available anyway on http://localhost:4567?

Thank you for your help!

PitaJ

@squre said in Fresh install of NodeBB 1.11.1 on Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch) issues:

@PitaJ thank you very much for the reply!

1.) Can you advice me which user should I use to go through the installation process? www-data? root? other?

I suggest creating a new nodebb user with a home directory and installing NodeBB into a folder in nodebb's home directory.

Please don't install or run NodeBB as root.

2.) Does it matter which user runs the command "./nodebb start" after successful setup?

Yes, due to file system ownership and permissions. You should run ./nodebb start as the nodebb user if you follow my previous suggestions.

Does user mentioned in points nr (1) and (2) really matter as the service will be available anyway on http://localhost:4567?

Only in the "don't use root" sense. Otherwise it doesn't really matter.

squre

@PitaJ Got it, thanks a lot for your suggestions. I will try the installation process once again today.