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https://github.com/ferg1e/comment-castles

Lightweight internet forum
https://github.com/ferg1e/comment-castles

comment-system internet-forum link-aggregator node oauth2 postgres pug reddit-clone server-side-rendering

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Lightweight internet forum

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README 

        
# Comment Castles



Comment Castles is an internet forum project. Users write posts, nested comments, user profiles and sub descriptions. Each post is assigned to a sub. There is a site-wide moderator and each sub has a moderator. There is an instance running at [commentcastles.org](https://www.commentcastles.org)!



Other Features:



* OAuth 2 JSON API

* inbox for direct comments you receive

* [help page](https://www.commentcastles.org/help)

* light mode and dark mode



## Install



Install one of the [tagged releases](https://github.com/ferg1e/comment-castles/releases), preferably the most recent.



Create a PostgreSQL 11 database and execute all the code in `sql/structure.sql`. This will create all the database tables, triggers, etc. PostgreSQL 11+ is probably fine.



Install Redis. This is only for the session store. Redis versions 2 and 6 worked for us, so most versions are probably fine.



Make sure you have Node.js installed. I am using v20.10.0 locally and the live site uses v20.12.1.



Run `npm install` to download all the Node.js dependencies that are listed in `package.json`.



Set the following environment variables:



* `PGHOST`: PostgreSQL host (usually `localhost`)

* `PGUSER`: PostgreSQL username

* `PGDATABASE`: PostgreSQL database name

* `PGPASSWORD`: PostgreSQL password

* `PGPORT`: PostgreSQL port

* `HTTP_PORT`: Port this app will use

* `REDIS_PORT`: Redis port

* `IS_PROD`: This is a redundant production flag (there's already the built-in `NODE_ENV`) that must be set. If `NODE_ENV` is `"production"` then set this flag to `1`, otherwise use `0`.

* `SESSION_NAME`: `express-session` `name`

* `SESSION_SECRET`: `express-session` `secret`

* `NODE_ENV`: built-in node environment flag



On Windows you can use a `.env` and `npm start` to set the environment variables. Here's a sample `.env`:



```

PGHOST=localhost

PGUSER=postgres

PGDATABASE=mydb

PGPASSWORD=123abc

PGPORT=5432

HTTP_PORT=80

REDIS_PORT=6379

IS_PROD=1

SESSION_NAME=mysesh

SESSION_SECRET=wOgw3oQpmbYbie7V

NODE_ENV=production

```



On Linux we used an `ecosystem.config.js` and `pm2 start ecosystem.config.js` to set the environment variables. Here is a sample `ecosystem.config.js`:



```

module.exports = {

    apps : [{

        name: "myappid",

        script: "./app.js",

        env: {

            PGHOST: "localhost",

            PGUSER: "postgres",

            PGDATABASE: "mydb",

            PGPASSWORD: "123abc",

            PGPORT: 5432,

            HTTP_PORT: 80,

            REDIS_PORT: 6379,

            IS_PROD: 1,

            SESSION_NAME: "mysesh",

            SESSION_SECRET: "wOgw3oQpmbYbie7V",

            NODE_ENV: "production",

        }

    }]

}

```



On the [API page](https://www.commentcastles.org/api), a post ID and comment ID are used in URLs on the page. If you want these links to work, you must create a post and comment and then set their IDs to match the ones used on the page.



## Config

The configuration file is located at `src/config/index.js`. The `adminUserId` config value indicates the `user_id` of the site moderator. The site moderator can delete any post or comment. This `user_id` is from the `tuser` database table.



## Update

When you deploy new commits to your instance of this app that is already running, make sure to also execute any new commands that are in `sql/migrations.sql`.



If you deployed your instance before commit [46d52bff7765b250317ee297d570800447cb4afa](https://github.com/ferg1e/comment-castles/commit/46d52bff7765b250317ee297d570800447cb4afa), then you need to run `scripts/gen-user-public-ids.js` in order to generate public IDs for users that are already in the database.



If you deployed your instance before commit [c88bb90499aa616cd4f1d2b777d21e9a90d470c4](https://github.com/ferg1e/comment-castles/commit/c88bb90499aa616cd4f1d2b777d21e9a90d470c4), then you need to run `scripts/populate-domain-names.js`.



If you deployed your instance before commit [90b98831eeb5785391b371cf46712f1a0b4a0e47](https://github.com/ferg1e/comment-castles/commit/90b98831eeb5785391b371cf46712f1a0b4a0e47), then you need to run `scripts/set-last-comment-times.js`.