# Installing Soapbox FE on a subdomain If you would like to retain Pleroma FE on your Pleroma server, but install Soapbox FE alongside it on a subdomain, you can do so by following these steps. ## 1. Download the build Create a directory on your system for Soapbox FE. ```sh mkdir -p /opt/soapbox ``` Fetch the build. ```sh curl -L https://gitlab.com/soapbox-pub/soapbox-fe/-/jobs/artifacts/v1.3.0/download?job=build-production -o /tmp/soapbox-fe.zip ``` Unzip the build. ```sh busybox unzip /tmp/soapbox-fe.zip -o -d /opt/soapbox ``` ## 2. Configure Nginx You will need to add an Nginx vhost for the subdomain. Create a new file in `/etc/nginx/sites-available/soapbox.nginx` with the following content: ```nginx server { server_name soapbox.example.com; listen 80; listen [::]:80; # Uncomment this if you need to use the 'webroot' method with certbot. Make sure # that the directory exists and that it is accessible by the webserver. If you followed # the guide, you already ran 'mkdir -p /var/lib/letsencrypt' to create the folder. # You may need to load this file with the ssl server block commented out, run certbot # to get the certificate, and then uncomment it. # location ~ /\.well-known/acme-challenge { root /var/lib/letsencrypt/; } location / { return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri; } } # Enable SSL session caching for improved performance ssl_session_cache shared:ssl_session_cache:10m; server { server_name soapbox.example.com; listen 443 ssl http2; listen [::]:443 ssl http2; ssl_session_timeout 5m; ssl_trusted_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/soapbox.example.com/chain.pem; ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/soapbox.example.com/fullchain.pem; ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/soapbox.example.com/privkey.pem; # Add TLSv1.0 to support older devices ssl_protocols TLSv1.2; # Uncomment line below if you want to support older devices (Before Android 4.4.2, IE 8, etc.) # ssl_ciphers "HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5 or HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5:!3DES"; ssl_ciphers "ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:!aNULL:!eNULL:!EXPORT:!DES:!MD5:!PSK:!RC4"; ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on; # In case of an old server with an OpenSSL version of 1.0.2 or below, # leave only prime256v1 or comment out the following line. ssl_ecdh_curve X25519:prime256v1:secp384r1:secp521r1; ssl_stapling on; ssl_stapling_verify on; #brotli on; #brotli_static on; #brotli_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript application/activity+json application/atom+xml; gzip_vary on; gzip_proxied any; gzip_comp_level 6; gzip_buffers 16 8k; gzip_http_version 1.1; gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript application/activity+json application/atom+xml; # the nginx default is 1m, not enough for large media uploads client_max_body_size 40m; root /opt/soapbox/static/; location / { try_files $uri /index.html; } location = /index.html { expires 30s; } # here goes long list of what we will use from real instance location ~ ^/(api|.well-known|nodeinfo|proxy|media|emoji|oauth|favicon.*) { proxy_pass $scheme://127.0.0.1$request_uri; # proxy_redirect $scheme://example.com$request_uri $scheme://soapbox.example.com$request_uri; proxy_set_header Host example.com; proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; # doesn't work with some browsers # return 308 $scheme://example.com$request_uri; } access_log /var/log/nginx/access.soapbox.log; error_log /var/log/nginx/error.soapbox.log; } ``` Replace `soapbox.example.com` with your desired subdomain and save the file. You should also adjust `client_max_body_size` to your instance file size limit. Replace `example.com` to your original domain. Additionally, activate the vhost file: ```sh sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/soapbox.nginx /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/soapbox.nginx ``` ## 3. Configure HTTPS support TODO ## 4. Reload Nginx Finally, test that your new configuration is valid: ```sh nginx -t ``` If that passed, reload Nginx: ```sh systemctl reload nginx ``` If all is well, you should be able to visit the subdomain in your browser and access Soapbox FE! --- Thank you to [@a1batross@expired.mentality.rip](https://expired.mentality.rip/users/a1batross) for originally discovering and authoring this method.