Manual

Get ATXbbs running on a fresh Ubuntu droplet in about an hour. v0.1, last updated 2026-04-19.

Prerequisites

• A Linux server (Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 tested). $6/mo droplet is enough.
• A domain pointed at the server's IP via A records (apex + www).
• A Resend account (free tier) for outbound email. Verified domain takes 10 min via DNS records.
• A ForwardEmail.net account (free) for inbound email. Catch-all forwarding via 2 MX records.
• A Backblaze B2 bucket for backups. Free up to 10GB.

Step 1 — System packages

apt update && apt install -y python3 python3-venv python3-pip nginx \
    sqlite3 certbot python3-certbot-nginx rclone git ufw

ufw allow OpenSSH && ufw allow "Nginx Full" && ufw enable

Step 2 — Application directory

mkdir -p /opt/springbbs
cd /opt/springbbs
python3 -m venv venv
venv/bin/pip install --upgrade pip
venv/bin/pip install flask gunicorn werkzeug markdown bleach

Step 3 — Drop in the application files

Copy these from a release tarball (or current austinspring.com source):

/opt/springbbs/
├ app.py                  # main Flask app (~1,500 lines)
├ templates/
│  ├ base.html            # outer chrome, nav, flash messages
│  ├ conference.html      # live conference view
│  ├ thread.html          # live thread + reply form
│  ├ new_thread.html      # start-a-topic form
│  ├ signup.html / login.html / welcome.html
│  ├ settings.html / forgot.html / reset.html
│  ├ search.html / recent.html / members.html
│  ├ profile.html / admin.html
│  └ conference_welcome.html  # host-editable welcome (planned)
├ static/
│  └ spring.css           # phosphor CRT theme
├ .env                    # secrets (see Step 4)
└ venv/

Step 4 — Configure environment

Create /opt/springbbs/.env (chmod 600):

SPRINGBBS_SECRET=<generate with: python3 -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(48))">
SPRINGBBS_SECURE=1                  # set to 1 in production for SECURE cookies

# Resend HTTPS API for outbound mail (DigitalOcean blocks SMTP)
RESEND_API_KEY=re_xxxxxxxxxxxxx
RESEND_FROM='Sysop <terry@yourdomain.com>'
RESEND_REPLY_TO=terry@yourdomain.com

Step 5 — Initialize the database

cd /opt/springbbs
venv/bin/python3 -c "from app import init_db; init_db()"

# Create your sysop account (in-DB; can also be done via signup then promote):
sqlite3 spring.db "
  INSERT INTO users (username, password_hash, joined_at, last_seen, is_admin)
  VALUES ('terry', '<hash>', datetime('now'), datetime('now'), 1);
"
# Generate the password hash:
venv/bin/python3 -c "from werkzeug.security import generate_password_hash; print(generate_password_hash('your-password-here'))"

Step 6 — systemd unit for gunicorn

cat > /etc/systemd/system/springbbs.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=ATXbbs gunicorn
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=/opt/springbbs
EnvironmentFile=/opt/springbbs/.env
ExecStart=/opt/springbbs/venv/bin/gunicorn \
    --workers 1 --threads 4 --max-requests 200 \
    --bind 127.0.0.1:8920 \
    --access-logfile /var/log/springbbs-access.log \
    --error-logfile /var/log/springbbs-error.log \
    app:app
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

systemctl daemon-reload && systemctl enable --now springbbs

Step 7 — nginx vhost

cat > /etc/nginx/sites-available/yourdomain.com << 'EOF'
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;
    root /var/www/yourdomain.com;
    index index.html;

    location /bbs/live/ {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8920/;
        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;
    }

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ $uri.html =404;
    }
}
EOF
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/yourdomain.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

Step 8 — SSL via Let's Encrypt

certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com --redirect

Step 9 — Backups

# Configure rclone for B2:
rclone config  # follow prompts; create remote named "b2"

# Set up nightly cron jobs:
cat > /etc/cron.d/atxbbs-backup << 'EOF'
15 3 * * * root rclone sync /var/www/yourdomain.com/ b2:yourbucket/yourdomain.com/
20 3 * * * root rclone copy /opt/springbbs/ b2:yourbucket/springbbs/ --exclude 'venv/**'
EOF

Step 10 (optional) — Reconstruct from Wayback

If you're reviving an old yapp BBS from Wayback Machine archives:

# 1. Discover all archived thread URLs
python3 wayback-gather.py --domain spring.net > cdx.json

# 2. Fetch each thread at its latest captured timestamp
python3 fetch-from-wayback.py --cdx cdx.json --out /opt/atxbbs-tools/archive/threads/

# 3. Synthesize conference indexes from cached threads
python3 synthesize-conf-indexes.py /opt/atxbbs-tools/archive/threads/

# 4. Render to static HTML
python3 build-thread-pages.py --all
python3 build-conference-pages.py

Day-to-day operations

Restart the app

systemctl restart springbbs
journalctl -u springbbs -n 50

Add a new conference

# 1. Add to CONFERENCES dict in /opt/springbbs/app.py
# 2. Add to CONFERENCES dict in build-conference-pages.py
# 3. Create empty index in conferences-union/<slug>.html
# 4. Run build-conference-pages.py to render the static landing
# 5. Restart Flask

Promote a user to admin

sqlite3 /opt/springbbs/spring.db \
  "UPDATE users SET is_admin=1 WHERE username='handle';"

Soft-delete a spam comment

Sysop opens https://yourdomain.com/bbs/live/admin, finds the row, fills in a reason, clicks delete. Posts hide from public views; data preserved for undo. (Or via SQL: UPDATE archive_comments SET deleted_at=datetime('now'), deleted_reason='spam' WHERE id=?;)

Restore from B2

# Restore live HTML
rclone sync b2:yourbucket/yourdomain.com/ /var/www/yourdomain.com/

# Restore Flask app + DB
rclone copy b2:yourbucket/springbbs/ /opt/springbbs/

# Or restore from a dated snapshot
rclone lsd b2:yourbucket-snapshots/  # list available dates
rclone copy b2:yourbucket-snapshots/atxbbs-2026-04-15/ /tmp/restore/

Troubleshooting