How to install GlitchTip without Docker

You like the error tracking sentry.io provides, you want to self-host it, but the setup takes up too many resources? Then https://glitchtip.com/ might be something for you. It is a FOSS reimplementation of the sentry backend with most important features. You can install it using docker following their guide, but if you like me like to install things from stretch without docker, then this guide might be for you.

# Prerequisites

• Python3
• poetry
• Systemd (or something else to start services with
• gunicorn (or something similar)
• nginx (or another webserver)
• PostgreSQL
• Redis

While I am using gunicorn and systemd services, there are many other ways to deploy a django application and this guide might still help as an inspiration.

This whole guide is more of a documentation of the way I set it up than a definitive guide on the one way to set up GlitchTip.

This guide was tested on 29-01-2021 on Debian stable using git hash 7d9de2949a5a38a8d1f98eeac0774db09be06e66

# Basic Setup

# Download Code

• create an empty directory for glitchtip somewhere (e.g. /srv/server/glitchtip)
• clone backend code: git clone git@gitlab.com:glitchtip/glitchtip-backend.git code

# Create a Virtualenv

If you use virtualenvwrapper something like mkvirtualenv --python=python3 glitchtip might work, otherwise you can create it with something like python3 -m venv /path/to/new/virtual/environment. Activate it (workon glitchtip or source /path/to/new/virtual/environment/bin/activate).

# Install dependencies

$ cd code
$ poetry install
$ poetry remove uWSGI
$ poetry add gunicorn

# Create Linux user

$ sudo adduser glitchtip --disabled-login

# Create PostgreSQL user and database

$ sudo -u postgres createuser glitchtip
$ sudo -u postgres createdb -O glitchtip glitchtip

# Create runtime directory

(this is just a directory where the glitchtip user has write permission and can place all kinds of files)

$ cd /srv/server/glitchtip
$ mkdir runtime

# Set up backend

# Create environment variable file

$ cd /srv/server/glitchtip
$ nano env

DATABASE_URL="postgres://glitchtip@/glitchtip?host=/var/run/postgresql"
SECRET_KEY="some_randomly_generated_string"
REDIS_HOST=localhost
REDIS_DATABASE=13
EMAIL_URL="smtp://glitchtip@localhost"
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL="glitchtip@example.com"
GLITCHTIP_DOMAIN="https://bugs.example.com"

Don’t forget to set the SECRET_KEY to a secret random string. This example assumes you have an SMTP server running on localhost and want to use Redis table 13.

Check glitchtip.com/documentation/install#configuration for more information about these options.

# Database migration

All of the following commands assume they are run as glitchtip user, using the python binary from the virtualenv (/path/to/new/virtual/environment/bin/python) and have the above environment variables loaded.

One way to do this is to run

$ sudo -u glitchtip bash
$ export $(cat ../env | xargs) # repeat after editing env
$ /srv/venv/glitchtip/bin/python manage.py THECOMMAND`

For the database migration run

$ python manage.py migrate

If you get any connection errors, check the DATABASE_URL above and if your PostgreSQL user exists.

# Set up Frontend

# Compile frontend

$ cd /srv/server/glitchtip
$ git clone https://gitlab.com/glitchtip/glitchtip-frontend.git frontend
$ cd frontend
$ npm install
$ npm run build-prod

This should create a dist directory with the frontend.

Now go back to the backend and create a symlink:

$ cd ../code
$ ln -s ../frontend/dist/glitchtip-frontend/ dist

Afterwards create a code/static and code/media directory and change the owner to glitchtip. Finally run

$ python manage.py collectstatic

# Quick test

You should now be able to run

$ python manage.py runserver

And access glitchtip using the returned URL (assuming there is no firewall blocking that port. When in doubt forward the port using SSH.

# Set up Gunicorn

# Create a config file

$ cd /srv/server/glitchtip
$ nano gunicorn.py

pidfile = "/srv/server/glitchtip/runtime/pid"
bind = "unix:/srv/server/glitchtip/runtime/socket"
proc_name = "glitchtip"
worker_tmp_dir = "/dev/shm"
workers = 3

Check the gunicorn docs for more options and recommendations about the amount of workers.

# Create a gunicorn service

$ sudoedit /etc/systemd/system/glitchtip.service

[Unit]
Description=glitchtip daemon
After=network.target

[Service]
PIDFile=/srv/server/glitchtip/runtime/pidfile
EnvironmentFile=/srv/server/glitchtip/env
User=glitchtip
Group=glitchtip
RuntimeDirectory=glitchtip
WorkingDirectory=/srv/server/glitchtip/code
ExecStart=/srv/venv/glitchtip/bin/gunicorn glitchtip.wsgi --config /srv/server/glitchtip/gunicorn.py
ExecReload=/bin/kill -s HUP $MAINPID
ExecStop=/bin/kill -s TERM $MAINPID
PrivateTmp=true
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo systemctl start glitchtip
$ sudo journalctl -u glitchtip
$ sudo systemctl enable glitchtip

# Set up Nginx

This depends a lot on your general Nginx setup, but there should be nothing special about this config file apart from redirecting API requests to gunicorn and static files to the /static/ directory.

$ sudoedit /etc/nginx/sites-available/glitchtip

server {
        listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
        listen 443 ssl http2;
        server_name bugs.example.com;
        access_log /var/log/nginx/bugs.example.com.access.log;
        error_log /var/log/nginx/bugs.example.com.error.log;

        ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/bugs.example.com/fullchain.pem;
        ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/bugs.example.com/privkey.pem;

        add_header Strict-Transport-Security max-age=15768000;

        location ~ /\.git {
                deny all;
        }

        location / {
                alias /srv/server/glitchtip/code/static/;
                try_files $uri $uri/index.html /index.html;
                expires 1h;
                add_header Pragma public;
                add_header Cache-Control "public";
        }
        location /media/ {
                alias /srv/server/glitchtip/code/media/;
        }

        location ~ ^/(api|admin|_health|rest-auth)/ {
                proxy_pass         http://unix:/srv/server/glitchtip/runtime/socket;
                proxy_redirect     off;
                proxy_set_header   Host                 $host;
                proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP            $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For      $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Proto    $scheme;
        }
}

$ cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
$ sudo ln -s ../sites-available/glitchtip
$ sudo nginx -t && sudo service nginx reload

Now you should be able to use GlitchTip without issues in your browser (create a user and afterwards log in). But to complete the setup we also need to set up celery.

# Set up Celery

# Set up Beat

$ sudoedit /etc/systemd/system/glitchtip-celery-beat.service

[Unit]
Description=glitchtip celery beat
After=network.target

[Service]
EnvironmentFile=/srv/server/glitchtip/env
User=glitchtip
Group=glitchtip
RuntimeDirectory=glitchtip
WorkingDirectory=/srv/server/glitchtip/code
ExecStart=/srv/venv/glitchtip/bin/celery -A glitchtip beat -l info --pidfile=/srv/server/glitchtip/    runtime/celery-beat-pid --logfile=/srv/server/glitchtip/runtime/beat.log -s /srv/server/glitchtip/     runtime/celerybeat-schedule
PrivateTmp=true
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

# Set up one Worker

$ sudoedit /etc/systemd/system/glitchtip-celery-worker.service

[Unit]
Description=glitchtip celery worker
After=network.target

[Service]
EnvironmentFile=/srv/server/glitchtip/env
User=glitchtip
Group=glitchtip
RuntimeDirectory=glitchtip
WorkingDirectory=/srv/server/glitchtip/code
ExecStart=/srv/venv/glitchtip/bin/celery -A glitchtip worker -l info --pidfile=/srv/server/glitchtip/  runtime/celery-worker-pid --logfile=/srv/server/glitchtip/runtime/worker.log
PrivateTmp=true
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

# start services

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo systemctl start glitchtip-celery-worker.service
$ sudo journalctl -u glitchtip-celery-worker
$ sudo systemctl start glitchtip-celery-beat.service
$ sudo journalctl -u glitchtip-celery-beat

$ sudo systemctl enable glitchtip-celery-worker.service
$ sudo systemctl enable glitchtip-celery-beat.service