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+date = 2022-06-07
+title = "Self-Hosting FreshRSS"
+description = "A detailed description of my process to self-host FreshRSS on Ubuntu."
+draft = false
++++
+
+## Why RSS?
+
+After noticing that I have collected 50+ blogs as bookmarks, I decided to
+migrate back to using RSS feeds to stay up-to-date with my favorite websites.
+Using RSS allows me to read all of these posts in a single app (on both mobile &
+desktop) and allows me to be notified when new posts are available.
+
+However, I ran into one issue: syncing subscriptions and read/unread posts
+across devices. Since I want to be able to easily read on both mobile and
+desktop, I decided to look for a self-hosted RSS solution.
+
+Thus, I found [FreshRSS](https://www.freshrss.org/) and was able to successfully
+install it on my server in about 30 minutes.
+
+## Documentation
+
+While it's certainly not robust, the
+[FreshRSS documentation](https://freshrss.github.io/FreshRSS/) is helpful for
+figuring out basic information about the service.
+
+However, I wanted to install this service as a Docker container and stumbled
+across the
+[Docker README](https://github.com/FreshRSS/FreshRSS/tree/edge/Docker) within
+the GitHub repository.
+
+This README was the documentation I actually needed. However, as you'll see
+below, I still had to manually edit one file (`config.php`) to access the API
+externally via my RSS apps.
+
+## Installation
+
+### DNS
+
+The first step, as required by any external web service, was assigning a domain
+name to use. I chose to use a subdomain, like `rss.example.com`.
+
+To assign this, I created an `A` record in my DNS settings with the IPv4 address
+of the server and an `AAAA` record with the IPv6 address of the server. Note:
+assigning an IPv6 (`AAAA`) record is optional, but I like to enable IPV6 for my
+services.
+
+```config
+rss.example.com     A       xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
+rss.example.com     AAAA    xxxx:xxxx: ... :xxxx
+```
+
+### Docker
+
+I initially tried to set up a `docker-compose.yml` file with a `.env` file
+because I prefer to have a file I can look back at later to see how I initially
+started the container, but it simply wouldn't work for me. I'm not sure why, but
+I assume I wasn't telling `docker-compose` where the `.env` file was.
+
+Regardless, I chose to simply run the service with `docker run`. See the
+following command for my `docker run` configuration:
+
+```sh
+sudo docker run -d --restart unless-stopped --log-opt max-size=10m \
+  -p 8080:80 \
+  -e TZ=America/Chicago \
+  -e 'CRON_MIN=1,31' \
+  -v freshrss_data:/var/www/FreshRSS/data \
+  -v freshrss_extensions:/var/www/FreshRSS/extensions \
+  --name freshrss \
+  freshrss/freshrss
+```
+
+This started the container successfully and allowed me to visit the FreshRSS
+instance at `localhost:8080`.
+
+### Fresh RSS Set-Up
+
+I **HIGHLY** suggest that you set up your user account prior to
+exposing this service to the public. It's unlikely that someone is trying to
+access the exact domain or IP/port you're assigning here, but as soon as you
+expose this service, the first person to open the URL will be able to create the
+admin user.
+
+In order to set up your FreshRSS service, open the `localhost:8080` URL in your
+browser (you may need to use a local IP instead of `localhost` if you're
+accessing the page from a different machine on the network - e.g.,
+`192.168.1.20:8080`).
+
+Once the page loads, set up your default user with a strong username and
+password. You may also choose to configure other settings prior to exposing this
+service.
+
+### Nginx Reverse-Proxy
+
+In order to access this service outside my home, I needed to set up a
+reverse-proxy to connect `localhost:8080` to `rss.example.com`.
+
+First, I created a new Nginx configuration file:
+
+```sh
+sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/rss.example.com
+```
+
+Within the config file, I pasted the following code:
+
+```config
+upstream freshrss {
+        server 127.0.0.1:8080;
+        keepalive 64;
+}
+
+server {
+        server_name rss.example.com;
+        listen 80;
+
+        location / {
+                # The final `/` is important.
+                proxy_pass http://localhost:8080/;
+                add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
+                add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
+                proxy_redirect off;
+                proxy_buffering off;
+                proxy_set_header Host $host;
+                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
+                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
+                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
+                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
+                proxy_read_timeout 90;
+
+                # Forward the Authorization header for the Google Reader API.
+                proxy_set_header Authorization $http_authorization;
+                proxy_pass_header Authorization;
+        }
+}
+```
+
+Finally, restart Nginx and you will be able to access your service via HTTP:
+
+```sh
+sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
+```
+
+### HTTPS
+
+However, I don't want to access my RSS feeds via HTTP. I want it available only
+via HTTPS. In order to do this, I ran the [certbot](https://certbot.eff.org/)
+program to generate SSL certificates for me:
+
+```sh
+sudo certbot --nginx
+```
+
+This process will automatically generate an SSL certificate for you and modify
+the Nginx configuration file to include a redirect from HTTP to HTTPS.
+
+## Post-Installation Fixes
+
+At this point, we have a functional FreshRSS website, available from anywhere
+and secured with HTTPS. However, attempting to connect this service to an RSS
+app resulted in many errors regarding unavailable URLs and incorrect
+credentials.
+
+### API Set-Up
+
+First, you need to open your user profile in FreshRSS (`Settings` > `Profile`)
+and set an API password in the field at the bottom. This is the password you
+will need to provide to your RSS apps.
+
+Once that is set and saved, click the link below the API password field to open
+the API check tool. It should look something like `https://localhost:8080/api/`
+or `https://rss.example.com/api/`.
+
+Within this page, you _should_ see your correct external URL and "PASS" at the
+bottom of each API type.
+This would mean everything is set up correctly, and you can now move on and 
+login to any RSS apps that support self-hosted options.
+
+In my case, the URL showed an internal URL and I had a warning that the
+`base_url` variable may be misconfigured. If this is the case, see the next
+section for a fix.
+
+### Base URL Fix
+
+In order to fix the `base_url` for the API, I opened up my docker container with
+the following command:
+
+```sh
+sudo docker exec -it freshrss bash
+```
+
+Within this container, update the packages and install an editor:
+
+```sh
+apt-get update
+apt-get install nano
+```
+
+Finally, open up `config.php` in the `data` directory:
+
+```sh
+nano data/config.php
+```
+
+Within `config.php`, you will need to update the `base_url` variable and update
+it to match your external URL. In my case, I simply commented-out the incorrect
+URL with `//` and added the correct one on a new line:
+
+```php
+<?php
+    return array (
+        ...
+        //  'base_url' => 'http://localhost:8080',
+        'base_url' => 'https://rss.example.com',
+        ...
+    )
+>
+```
+
+You can now exit the file with `Ctrl + x`, press `y` to save the file, and then
+click `Enter` to keep the same file name.
+
+Finally, just exit out of the docker container:
+
+```sh
+exit
+```
+
+Next, just restart the container:
+
+```sh
+sudo docker restart freshrss
+```
+
+Voilà! Your API check should now "PASS" and you should be able to use one of the
+API URLs in your RSS apps.
+
+In my case, I use [NetNewsWire](https://netnewswire.com) on my desktop and
+phone.