Installation via package managers (Debian/Ubuntu)

Ferron 3 has official packages available for Debian, Ubuntu, and derivatives. Below are the instructions on how to install Ferron 3 on Debian or Ubuntu via a package manager.

Installation steps

1. Add Ferron’s repository

To add Ferron’s repository, run the following commands (applicable for Debian and Ubuntu, if you’re using a derivative, replace $(lsb_release -cs) with the closest matching Debian or Ubuntu version codename):

# Install packages required for adding a new repository
sudo apt install curl gnupg2 ca-certificates lsb-release debian-archive-keyring

# Add the public PGP key
curl https://deb.ferron.sh/signing.pgp | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/ferron-keyring.gpg >/dev/null

# Add a new Debian package repository
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/ferron-keyring.gpg] https://deb.ferron.sh $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ferron.list

# Fetch the package lists
sudo apt update

2. Install Ferron

To install Ferron 3, run the following command:

sudo apt install ferron3

Tip

Keep Ferron up to date by running sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade ferron3.

3. Access the web server

By default, Ferron serves content from the /var/www/ferron directory. Open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost to check if the server is running and serving the default index.html file.

If you see a “Ferron is installed successfully!” message on the page, the web server is installed successfully and is up and running.

Tip

If you cannot access the server from another machine, ensure your firewall allows incoming connections on port 80 (or whichever port you configured). If port 80 is already in use, change the listen port in /etc/ferron/ferron.conf and reload the service.

File structure

Ferron 3 installed via the package for Debian/Ubuntu has the following file structure:

/usr/sbin/ferron - Ferron web server
/usr/sbin/ferron-kdl2ferron - Ferron configuration conversion tool
/usr/sbin/ferron-passwd - Ferron user password generation tool
/usr/sbin/ferron-precompress - Ferron static files precompression tool
/usr/sbin/ferron-serve - Ferron zero-configuration static file serving
/var/log/ferron/access.log - Ferron access log in Combined Log Format
/var/log/ferron/error.log - Ferron error log
/var/www/ferron - Ferron’s web root
/etc/ferron/ferron.conf - Ferron configuration

Managing the Ferron service

Stopping the service

To stop the Ferron service, run:

sudo systemctl stop ferron

Restarting the service

To restart the service:

sudo systemctl restart ferron

Reloading the configuration

To reload the configuration without restarting the service:

sudo systemctl reload ferron