Isso Install Not Working?

[leadplasticmold]

Hello,
I'm trying to install isso-comments.de on my vps and am fighting for my life. I see there were some other threads about installing it but they unfortunately don't answer my question in a way I can understand as I am still in the process of learning.

I'm following the instructions at https://isso-comments.de/docs/reference/installation/

I create a directory named isso under home/protected so it looks like

> /home/protected/isso/

then from the isso directory I run the following commands one after the other

virtualenv --download /home/protected/isso/
source /home/protected/isso/bin/activate

the guide says to run

install python3-dev python3-virtualenv sqlite3 build-essential

in the virtualenv, however I ran the following commands in order

python3 --version
sqlite3 --version

and both appeared to be installed already, so I proceeded. I ran

pip install isso

and it installed successfully. I then created
isso.cfg
comments.db
isso.log

in the isso directory.

I used the isso.cfg provided athttps://github.com/isso-comments/isso/blob/master/isso/isso.cfg

editing
line 8 to

dbpath = home/protected/isso/comments.db

line 27 to

host = https://www.mysite.com/

line 52 to

log-file = home/protected/isso/isso.log

after saving and closing I started isso with

isso -c /home/protected/isso/isso.cfg run

it started successfully, and checking the log file it connected to my site successfully. Then, in the index.html file I inserted the following code where I wanted the comment section to be.

<script data-isso="https://www.mysite.com/"
        src="https://www.mysite.com/js/embed.min.js"></script>

<section id="isso-thread">
    <noscript>Javascript needs to be activated to view comments.</noscript>
</section>

However, the only noticeable change is an empty div I can see when inspecting the webpage. There is also an error that says the embed.min.js resource could not be located. For the life of me I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong and I would greatly, greatly appreciate help, please.

[ismaildasci]

the embed.min.js 404 error means isso is not serving the static files properly. your isso server runs the api but the js files need to be served too.

here is what you need to fix:

1. your dbpath is wrong - missing leading slash:

# wrong
dbpath = home/protected/isso/comments.db
# correct
dbpath = /home/protected/isso/comments.db

same for log-file:

log-file = /home/protected/isso/isso.log

2. the embed script url should point to isso server, not your main site:

<script data-isso="//isso.yourdomain.com/"
        src="//isso.yourdomain.com/js/embed.min.js"></script>

you need isso running on a subdomain or different port and proxied properly.

3. setup nginx or apache to proxy isso. example nginx config:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name isso.yourdomain.com;
    
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080/;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

4. update isso.cfg:

[server]
listen = http://127.0.0.1:8080

[general]
dbpath = /home/protected/isso/comments.db
host = https://www.mysite.com/
log-file = /home/protected/isso/isso.log

5. then your html becomes:

<script data-isso="https://isso.yourdomain.com/"
        src="https://isso.yourdomain.com/js/embed.min.js"></script>

the key point is isso needs to be accessible from a url that can serve both the api and the js files. running it locally and pointing to your main site wont work because your main site doesnt have the isso js files.

[leadplasticmold]

Thank you very much for your helpful reply. I've set up isso on a subdomain now, but am having trouble figure out what parts of the example FreeBSD run script I need to configure to get it working. Are you able to assist?