This post covers installing Phoenix, Elixir and PostgreSQL on a clean installation of FreeBSD. The post assumes FreeBSD is installed and you have created an unprivileged user. FreeBSD installation instructions can be found here.

Software Versions

$ date -u "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S +0000"
2016-03-19 07:35:02 +0000
$ uname -vm
FreeBSD 11.0-CURRENT #0 r296925: Wed Mar 16 20:53:04 JST 2016     root@mirage.sennue.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/MIRAGE_KERNEL  amd64
$ psql --version
psql (PostgreSQL) 9.4.6
$ mix hex.info
Hex:    0.11.3
Elixir: 1.2.3
OTP:    18.2.4
* snip *
$ mix phoenix.new -v
Phoenix v1.1.4

Bootstrapping the system

Login as root and install portmaster. If you are using packages instead of ports, you will need to install packages instead of using portmaster.

portsnap fetch extract
(cd /usr/ports/ports-mgmt/portmaster && make config-recursive && make config-recursive && make install clean)
portmaster security/sudo

The following utilities may also be useful. Note that ftp/curl is used at the end of the post.

portmaster ports-mgmt/portupgrade devel/git shells/bash editors/vim ftp/curl ftp/wget

Installing PostgreSQL

Install databases/postgresql94-server as root. If you would rather install a different version, do that instead.

portmaster databases/postgresql94-server

Initialize the database.

service postgresql initdb

If you want to enable remote connections, add the following line to /usr/local/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf.

listen_addresses = '*'

If you want to change the port PostgreSQL listens on, add the following line to /usr/local/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf. Replace 5432 with the port you want to use.

port = 5432                            # (change requires restart)

To use password hash authentication, add the following line to /usr/local/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf. Replace 192.168.0.0/16 with your own network. Consider changing “trust” to “md5” for local and loopback IP address connections.

host    all             all             192.168.0.0/16          md5

Enable PostgreSQL in /etc/rc.conf.

echo 'postgresql_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

Start PostgreSQL.

service postgresql start

Add a PostgreSQL super-user with database and role creation privileges. Replace username with your unprivileged FreeBSD user login.

su pgsql
createuser -sdrP username

You should now be able to start psql as your non-root user.

psql

Installing Elixir and Phoenix

Install Elixir and Phoenix.

sudo portmaster lang/elixir
mix local.hex
mix archive.install https://github.com/phoenixframework/archives/raw/master/phoenix_new.ez

Optionally, install npm and brunch.

sudo portmaster www/node www/npm
sudo npm install -g brunch

Creating a Sample Project

Create a new Phoenix project.

mix phoenix.new phoenix_service --no-brunch
cd phoenix_service
mix ecto.create

Create a simple JSON memo service.

mix phoenix.gen.json Memo memos title:string body:string

Revise the web/router.ex file. The “/api” scope needs to be uncommented and the “/memos” route needs to be added.

web/router.ex file

defmodule PhoenixService.Router do
  use PhoenixService.Web, :router

  pipeline :browser do
    plug :accepts, ["html"]
    plug :fetch_session
    plug :fetch_flash
    plug :protect_from_forgery
    plug :put_secure_browser_headers
  end

  pipeline :api do
    plug :accepts, ["json"]
  end

  scope "/", PhoenixService do
    pipe_through :browser # Use the default browser stack
  
    get "/", PageController, :index
  end

  scope "/api", PhoenixService do
    pipe_through :api

    resources "/memos", MemoController, except: [:new, :edit]
  end
end

Run the migration.

mix ecto.migrate

Tests should pass.

mix test

Running the Sample Project

Start the server.

mix phoenix.server

The following curl commands can be used to interact with the running JSON API. My previous post covers a shell script for interacting with this sample app.

# POST new
curl -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -X POST -d '{"memo": {"title": "New Title", "body": "This is the new memo body."}}' http://localhost:4000/api/memos
# PATCH id 1
curl -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -X PATCH -d '{"memo": {"title": "Patched Title"}}' http://localhost:4000/api/memos/1
curl -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -X PATCH -d '{"memo": {"body": "Patched memo body."}}' http://localhost:4000/api/memos/1
# PUT id 1
curl -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -X PUT -d '{"memo": {"title": "Updated Title", "body": "Updated memo body."}}' http://localhost:4000/api/memos/1
# GET all
curl -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:4000/api/memos
# GET id 1
curl -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:4000/api/memos/1
# DELETE id 1
curl -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -X DELETE http://localhost:4000/api/memos/1

References: