* Download the [Composer](https://getcomposer.org/download/) PHP package manager inside the project folder.
* Run `./build.sh 1.0.0`, replacing the version with the version number you are going to build (the version number is only used for the generated dist file).
After that, you will have a `shlink_x.x.x_dist.zip` dist file inside the `build` directory, that you need to decompress in the location fo your choice.
> This is the process used when releasing new shlink versions. After tagging the new version with git, the Github release is automatically created by [travis](https://travis-ci.org/shlinkio/shlink), attaching the generated dist file to it.
* Setup the application by running the `bin/install` script. It is a command line tool that will guide you through the installation process. **Take into account that this tool has to be run directly on the server where you plan to host Shlink. Do not run it before uploading/moving it there.**
Once Shlink is configured, you need to expose it to the web, either by using a traditional web server + fast CGI approach, or by using a [swoole](https://www.swoole.co.uk/) non-blocking server.
For example, assuming your domain is doma.in and shlink is in the `/path/to/shlink` folder, these would be the basic configurations for Nginx and Apache.
First you need to install the swoole PHP extension with [pecl](https://pecl.php.net/package/swoole), `pecl install swoole`.
Once installed, it's actually pretty easy to get shlink up and running with swoole. Run `./vendor/bin/zend-expressive-swoole start -d` and you will get shlink running on port 8080.
However, by doing it this way, you are loosing all the access logs, and the service won't be automatically run if the server has to be restarted.
For that reason, you should create a daemon script, in `/etc/init.d/shlink_swoole`, like this one, replacing `/path/to/shlink` by the path to your shlink installation:
if [[ -f "$PIDFILE" ]] && kill -0 $(cat "$PIDFILE"); then
echo 'Shlink with swoole already running' >&2
return 1
fi
echo 'Starting shlink with swoole' >&2
mkdir -p "$LOGDIR"
touch "$LOGFILE"
local CMD="$SCRIPT &> \"$LOGFILE\" & echo \$!"
su -c "$CMD" $RUNAS > "$PIDFILE"
echo 'Shlink started' >&2
}
stop() {
if [[ ! -f "$PIDFILE" ]] || ! kill -0 $(cat "$PIDFILE"); then
echo 'Shlink with swoole not running' >&2
return 1
fi
echo 'Stopping shlink with swoole' >&2
kill -15 $(cat "$PIDFILE") && rm -f "$PIDFILE"
echo 'Shlink stopped' >&2
}
case "$1" in
start)
start
;;
stop)
stop
;;
restart)
stop
start
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"
esac
```
Then run these commands to enable the service and start it:
*`sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/shlink_swoole`
*`sudo update-rc.d shlink_swoole defaults`
*`sudo update-rc.d shlink_swoole enable`
*`/etc/init.d/shlink_swoole start`
Now again, you can access shlink on port 8080, but this time the service will be automatically run at system start-up, and all access logs will be written in `/var/log/shlink/shlink_swoole.log` (you will probably want to [rotate those logs](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-manage-logfiles-with-logrotate-on-ubuntu-16-04). You can find an example logrotate config file [here](data/infra/examples/shlink-daemon-logrotate.conf)).
Finally access to [https://app.shlink.io](https://app.shlink.io) and configure your server to start creating short URLs.
### Bonus
Depending on the shlink version you installed and how you serve it, there are a couple of time-consuming tasks that shlink expects you to do manually, or at least it is recommended, since it will improve runtime performance.
Those tasks can be performed using shlink's CLI tool, so it should be easy to schedule them to be run in the background (for example, using cron jobs):
* **For shlink older than 1.18.0 or not using swoole to serve it**: Resolve IP address locations: `/path/to/shlink/bin/cli visit:locate`
> If you serve Shlink with swoole and use v1.18.0 at least, visit location is automatically scheduled by Shlink just after the visit occurs, using swoole's task system.
When shlink is installed it downloads a fresh [GeoLite2](https://dev.maxmind.com/geoip/geoip2/geolite2/) db file. Running this command will update this file.
> You don't need this if you use Shlink v1.17.0 or newer, since now it downloads/updates the geolocation database automatically just before trying to use it.
2. Download and extract the new version of Shlink, and set the directory name to that of the old version (ie. `shlink`).
3. Run the `bin/update` script in the new version's directory to migrate your configuration over. You will be asked to provide the path to the old instance (ie. `shlink-old`).
The `bin/update` will use the location from previous shlink version to import the configuration. It will then update the database and generate some assets shlink needs to work.
**Important!** It is recommended that you don't skip any version when using this process. The update tool gets better on every version, but older versions might make assumptions.
* **The REST API**. The complete docs on how to use the API can be found [here](https://shlink.io/api-docs), and a sandbox which also documents every endpoint can be found in the [API Spec](https://api-spec.shlink.io/) portal.
However, you probably don't want to consume the raw API yourself. That's why a nice [web client](https://github.com/shlinkio/shlink-web-client) is provided that can be directly used from [https://app.shlink.io](https://app.shlink.io), or you can host it yourself too.
