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Developer Setup
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Developer Setup

Set up your development environment for building, running, and testing the Mattermost server.

  1. Install and configure Docker CE

    1. Follow the instructions at https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/

    2. Edit your /etc/hosts file to include the following line:

      127.0.0.1     dockerhost

  2. Download and install homebrew, using the instructions at https://brew.sh/

  3. Install Go:

    brew install go

  4. Set up your Go workspace:

    1. mkdir ~/go

    2. Add the following lines to your ~/.bash_profile file:

      export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
ulimit -n 8096

    3. source ~/.bash_profile

  5. Go to https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-server and create a fork

  6. Clone the Mattermost source code from your fork:

    1. Set up the directories:

      mkdir -p ~/go/src/github.com/mattermost
cd ~/go/src/github.com/mattermost

    2. Clone the fork, replacing {yourgithubusername} with your GitHub username:

      git clone https://github.com/{yourgithubusername}/mattermost-server.git

  7. Start up the server and test your environment:

    cd mattermost-server
make run-server
make stop-server # stop the server after it starts succesfully

  8. You can check if the server is running using the following curl command or opening the URL in your web browser:

    curl http://localhost:8065/api/v4/system/ping

    The server should return a JSON object containing "status":"OK". Notice: The server root will return a 404 Not Found status, since the web app is not configured as part of the server setup. Please refer to the Web App Developer Setup and Mobile App Developer Setup for the setup steps.

  1. Install and configure Docker CE using the instructions at https://docs.docker.com/install/linux/docker-ce/ubuntu/

    1. Edit your /etc/hosts/ file to include:

      127.0.0.1     dockerhost

    2. Add your username to the docker group, replacing {username} with your username:

      sudo gpasswd -a {username} docker

    3. Restart the Docker daemon:

      sudo service docker restart

    4. Change your current group ID to the docker group

      newgrp docker

  2. Install the build-essential package:

    sudo apt-get install build-essential

  3. Download and install Go 1.11 for Linux:

    1. Download the Go binary:

      wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go1.11.linux-amd64.tar.gz

    2. Install the Go binary:

      sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.11.linux-amd64.tar.gz

  4. Set up your Go workspace:

    1. mkdir ~/go

    2. Add the following lines to your ~/.bashrc file:

      export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
ulimit -n 8096

    3. source ~/.bashrc

  5. Go to https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-server and create a fork

  6. Clone the Mattermost source code from your fork:

    1. Set up the directories:

      mkdir -p ~/go/src/github.com/mattermost
cd ~/go/src/github.com/mattermost

    2. Clone the fork, replacing {yourgithubusername} with your GitHub username:

      git clone https://github.com/{yourgithubusername}/mattermost-server.git

  7. Start up the server and test your environment:

    cd mattermost-server
make run-server
make stop-server # stop the server after it starts succesfully

  8. You can check if the server is running using the following curl command or opening the URL in your web browser:

    curl http://localhost:8065/api/v4/system/ping

    The server should return a JSON object containing "status":"OK". Notice: The server root will return a 404 Not Found status, since the web app is not configured as part of the server setup. Please refer to the Web App Developer Setup and Mobile App Developer Setup for the setup steps.

  1. Install and setup Docker. If you are using Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise, you can use Docker for Windows:

    1. Follow the instructions at https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-windows/

    2. Add following line to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts using a text editor with administrator privileges

      127.0.0.1     dockerhost

  2. For other Windows versions, or if you prefer to use VirtualBox, use Docker Toolbox:

    1. Follow the instructions at https://docs.docker.com/toolbox/toolbox_install_windows/
    2. Run the Docker Quickstart Terminal and let it configure the default machine
    3. Run docker-machine ip default in the terminal to get the IP address for the next step

    4. Add following line using a text editor with administrator privileges:

      {Docker-IP} dockerhost to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

  3. Download and install Go from https://golang.org/dl/

  4. Go to https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-server and create a fork

  5. Set up the workspace and clone the code:

    cd ~/go
mkdir -p src/github.com/mattermost
cd src/github.com/mattermost
git clone https://github.com/{yourgithubusername}/mattermost-server.git
cd mattermost-server
git config core.eol lf
git config core.autocrlf input
git reset --hard HEAD

  6. Install and setup babun from http://babun.github.io/

  7. Setup the following environment variables (change the path accordingly):

    export PATH="/c/Program Files/go/bin":$PATH
export PATH="/c/Program Files/nodejs":$PATH
export PATH="/c/Program Files/Git/bin":$PATH
export GOROOT="c:\\Program Files\\go"
export GOPATH="c:\\User\\{user-name}\\go"
export PATH="/c/Program Files/Docker Toolbox":$PATH # change the path accordingly if you are using Docker for Windows
eval $(docker-machine env default) # skip this line if you are using Docker for Windows

  8. Start up the server and test your environment:

    cd ~/go/src/github.com/mattermost/mattermost-server
make run-server
make stop-server # stop the server after it starts succesfully

  9. You can check if the server is running opening the following URL in your web browser:

    http://localhost:8065/api/v4/system/ping

    The server should return a JSON object containing "status":"OK". Notice: The server root will return a 404 Not Found status, since the web app is not configured as part of the server setup. Please refer to the Web App Developer Setup and Mobile App Developer Setup for the setup steps.

Installing on Window 10 and the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 

This is an unofficial guide. Community testing, feedback and improvements are welcome and greatly appreciated. You can propose updates by editing the GitHub source file here. 

Set up your development environment for building, running, and testing Mattermost.

  1. Install the Windows Subsystem for Linux following https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10

  2. Install and setup Docker. If you are using Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise, you can use Docker for Windows.

    1. Install Docker for Windows https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-windows/
    2. Add the line 127.0.0.1 dockerhost to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts using a text editor with administrator privileges.

  3. Link Windows Subsystem for Linux to Docker for Windows. Refer to this blog article for more information: https://medium.com/@sebagomez/installing-the-docker-client-on-ubuntus-windows-subsystem-for-linux-612b392a44c4. You should end up with the Docker client running on Linux (WSL) sending commands to your Docker Engine daemon installed on Windows.

  4. Install the build-essential and libpng16-dev package:

    1. In bash sudo apt-get install build-essential libpng16-dev

  5. Download and install Go 1.11 for Linux:

    1. Download the Go binary. In bashwget https://dl.google.com/go/go1.11.linux-amd64.tar.gz
    2. Install the Go binary. In bashsudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.11.linux-amd64.tar.gz

  6. Set up your Go workspace:

    1. In PowerShell mkdir d:\Projects\go
    2. In bash ln -s "/mnt/d/Projects/go" /home/<Linux User>/go

    3. Add the following lines to your ~/.bashrc file in bash:

      export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
ulimit -n 8096

    4. Reload your bash configuration. source ~/.bashrc

  7. Install Node.js:

    1. Add the Node.js repository to your repository list. curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash -
    2. Install Node.js sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

  8. Fork Mattermost server on GitHub from https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-server.

  9. Fork Mattermost webapp on GitHub from https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-webapp.

  10. Download the Mattermost code from your forked repositories:

    1. Create the directory for the code. mkdir -p ~/go/src/github.com/mattermost
    2. Change to the directory that you created. cd ~/go/src/github.com/mattermost
    3. Clone your Mattermost server fork. In the following command, replace {username} with your GitHub username. git clone https://github.com/{username}/mattermost-server.git
    4. Clone your Mattermost webapp fork. In the following command, replace {username} with your GitHub username. git clone https://github.com/{username}/mattermost-webapp.git

  11. You can check if the server is running using the following curl command or opening the URL in your web browser:

    curl http://localhost:8065/api/v4/system/ping

    The server should return a JSON object containing "status":"OK". Notice: The server root will return a 404 Not Found status, since the web app is not configured as part of the server setup. Please refer to the Web App Developer Setup and Mobile App Developer Setup for the setup steps.

Troubleshooting: 

  1. If you see an error like the input device is not a TTY. If you are using mintty, try prefixing the command with 'winpty'. Reinstall git for windows and make sure you choose Use Windows' default console window instead of Use MinTTY
  2. If you see the follow message sometimes the LDAP docker container is slow to start, either increase the wait time in the make file or run make run twice in a row.
Ldap test user test.one
starting mattermost-openldap
ldap_sasl_bind(SIMPLE): Can't contact LDAP server (-1)
ldap_sasl_bind(SIMPLE): Can't contact LDAP server (-1)
ldap_sasl_bind(SIMPLE): Can't contact LDAP server (-1)
ldap_sasl_bind(SIMPLE): Can't contact LDAP server (-1)
ldap_sasl_bind(SIMPLE): Can't contact LDAP server (-1)
ldap_sasl_bind(SIMPLE): Can't contact LDAP server (-1)
Makefile:102: recipe for target 'start-docker' failed

Now that everything is set up, you are ready to compile and run Mattermost.

  1. Install and configure Docker CE:

    1. Execute the following commands:

      pacman -S docker
gpasswd -a user docker
systemctl enable docker.service
systemctl start docker.service
newgrp docker

    2. Edit your `/etc/hosts/ to include the following line:

      127.0.0.1     dockerhost

  2. Install Go:

    pacman -S go

  3. Set up you Go workspace:

    1. mkdir ~/go

    2. Add the following lines to your ~/.bashrc file:

      export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin

    3. source ~/.bashrc

  4. Edit /etc/security/limits.conf and add the following lines, replacing {username}:

    {username}  soft  nofile  8096
{username}  hard  nofile  8096

  5. Go to https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-server and create a fork

  6. Clone the Mattermost source code from your fork:

    1. Set up the directories:

      mkdir -p ~/go/src/github.com/mattermost
cd ~/go/src/github.com/mattermost

    2. Clone the fork, replacing {yourgithubusername} with your GitHub username:

      git clone https://github.com/{yourgithubusername}/mattermost-server.git

  7. Start up the server and test your environment:

    cd mattermost-server
make run-server
make stop-server # stop the server after it starts succesfully

  8. You can check if the server is running using the following curl command or opening the URL in your web browser:

    curl http://localhost:8065/api/v4/system/ping

    The server should return a JSON object containing "status":"OK". Notice: The server root will return a 404 Not Found status, since the web app is not configured as part of the server setup. Please refer to the Web App Developer Setup and Mobile App Developer Setup for the setup steps.

  1. Install and configure Docker CE:

    1. Follow the instructions at https://docs.docker.com/engine/installation/linux/docker-ce/centos/

    2. Edit your /etc/hosts file to include the following line:

      127.0.0.1     dockerhost

    3. Add your username to the docker group, replacing {username} with your username:

      sudo gpasswd -a {username} docker

    4. Restart the Docker daemon:

      sudo systemctl restart docker

    5. Change your current group ID to the docker group

      newgrp docker

  2. Install the development tools package, wget and libpng12 required by pngquant.

    sudo yum group install "Development Tools"
sudo yum install -y wget libpng12

  3. Download and install Go 1.11 for Linux:

    1. Download the Go binary:

      wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go1.11.linux-amd64.tar.gz

    2. Install the Go binary:

      sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.11.linux-amd64.tar.gz

  4. Set up your Go workspace:

    1. mkdir ~/go

    2. Add the following lines to your ~/.bashrc file:

      export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin

    3. source ~/.bashrc

    4. Edit the file sudo nano /etc/security/limits.conf to include the following lines:

      {username} soft nofile 8096
{username} hard nofile 10000

    5. Log out and back in to pick up the changes

  5. Go to https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-server and create a fork

  6. Clone the Mattermost source code from your fork:

    1. Set up the directories:

      mkdir -p ~/go/src/github.com/mattermost
cd ~/go/src/github.com/mattermost

    2. Clone the fork, replacing {yourgithubusername} with your GitHub username:

      git clone https://github.com/{yourgithubusername}/mattermost-server.git

  7. Start up the server and test your environment:

    cd mattermost-server
make run-server
make stop-server # stop the server after it starts succesfully

  8. You can check if the server is running using the following curl command or opening the URL in your web browser:

    curl http://localhost:8065/api/v4/system/ping

    The server should return a JSON object containing "status":"OK". Notice: The server root will return a 404 Not Found status, since the web app is not configured as part of the server setup. Please refer to the Web App Developer Setup and Mobile App Developer Setup for the setup steps.