Compile and Install ejabberd

View Source

This document explains how to compile and install ejabberd from source code.

For a more detailed explanation, please check the ejabberd Docs: Source Code Installation.

Requirements

To compile ejabberd you need:

  • GNU Make
  • GCC
  • Libexpat ≥ 1.95
  • Libyaml ≥ 0.1.4
  • Erlang/OTP ≥ 25.0
  • OpenSSL ≥ 1.0.0

Other optional libraries are:

  • Zlib ≥ 1.2.3, for Stream Compression support (XEP-0138)
  • PAM library, for Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM)
  • ImageMagick's Convert program and Ghostscript fonts, for CAPTCHA challenges
  • Elixir ≥ 1.10.3, for Elixir support. It is recommended Elixir 1.14.0 or higher

If your system splits packages in libraries and development headers, install the development packages too.

Download Source Code

There are several ways to obtain the ejabberd source code:

Compile

The general instructions to compile ejabberd are:

./configure
make

If the source code doesn't contain a configure script, first of all install autoconf and run this to generate it:

./autogen.sh

To configure the compilation, features, install paths...

./configure --help

The build tool automatically downloads and compiles the erlang libraries that ejabberd depends on.

Install in the System

To install ejabberd in the system, run this with system administrator rights (root user):

sudo make install

This will:

  • Install the configuration files in /etc/ejabberd/
  • Install ejabberd binary, header and runtime files in /lib/ejabberd/
  • Install the administration script: /sbin/ejabberdctl
  • Install ejabberd documentation in /share/doc/ejabberd/
  • Create a spool directory: /var/lib/ejabberd/
  • Create a directory for log files: /var/log/ejabberd/

Build an OTP Release

Instead of installing ejabberd in the system, you can build an OTP release that includes all necessary to run ejabberd in a subdirectory:

./configure
make prod

Check the full list of targets:

make help

Start ejabberd

You can use the ejabberdctl command line administration script to start and stop ejabberd. Some examples, depending on your installation method:

  • When installed in the system:

    ejabberdctl start
/sbin/ejabberdctl start

  • When built an OTP production release:

    _build/prod/rel/ejabberd/bin/ejabberdctl start
_build/prod/rel/ejabberd/bin/ejabberdctl live

  • Start interactively without installing or building OTP release:

    make relive