Install Redmine on Ubuntu 22.04

What Redmine is

Redmine is a free, open-source tool for project management and issue tracking. Its main features:

1. Create, assign, track and prioritize tasks.
2. Report and resolve issues and bugs.
3. Time tracking for tasks and projects.
4. Git and Subversion integration.
5. A wiki for team documents.
6. News and announcements for each project.
7. Flexible workflows.
8. Roles and permissions for users.

Step 1: Install the dependencies

sudo apt update

sudo apt install curl git-core libapache2-mod-passenger libmysqlclient-dev libpq-dev libxml2-dev nodejs npm build-essential

Step 2: Install Apache

sudo apt install apache2

Step 3: Install MySQL

sudo apt install mysql-server

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Step 4: Install Ruby and Bundler

Redmine needs a supported Ruby version (check the Redmine requirements):

sudo apt install ruby ruby-dev
sudo gem install bundler

Step 5: Download Redmine

sudo mkdir /var/www/html/redmine
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/redmine
cd /var/www/html/redmine
sudo git clone https://github.com/redmine/redmine.git .

For a stable version, check out a release branch, for example sudo git checkout 5.1-stable.

Step 6: Configure Redmine

Create the database and the user:

sudo mysql -u root -p

CREATE DATABASE redmine CHARACTER SET utf8mb4;
CREATE USER 'redmineuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON redmine.* TO 'redmineuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Copy the example config and edit it:

cp config/database.yml.example config/database.yml
nano config/database.yml

Set the production section:

production:
  adapter: mysql2
  host: localhost
  database: redmine
  username: redmineuser
  password: yourpassword
  encoding: utf8mb4

Install the gems and prepare the database:

bundle config set --local without 'development test'
bundle install
bundle exec rake generate_secret_token
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake db:migrate
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake redmine:load_default_data

Step 7: Access Redmine

Configure Apache with Passenger to serve the public folder of Redmine, for example:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName redmine.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/redmine/public
    <Directory /var/www/html/redmine/public>
        Require all granted
        Options -MultiViews
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Enable the site and restart Apache. Open the address in your browser and log in with admin and the password admin. Change the password right away.

Use Redmine

• Create projects, set milestones and assign tasks.
• Track progress and spot risks.
• Share information in the wiki and the news.
• Use reports to decide.

Quick recap

• Install Apache, MySQL, Ruby and the libraries.
• Clone Redmine, set database.yml and run the migrations.
• Serve the public folder with Passenger.