29 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
29 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: "Setting up riseup.net as an email provider for Mastodon"
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date: 2023-01-31T12:51:43-08:00
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draft: false
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tags:
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- riseup
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- mastodon
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- tutorial
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---
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Heyo! It's been a while, but I managed to do something quite neat if you're on a budget and want to start a Mastodon instance. As a de-facto requirement for a Mastodon instance, you'll need to have an email server hooked up. This can get [pricey](https://www.mailgun.com/pricing/), so an alternative is an ideal way to save money long-term. This is where [riseup](https://riseup.net/) comes in. They provide an email service for activists for free (as long as you have an [invite](https://riseup.net/en/email#other-nice-features-from-your-riseup-account)) Unfortunately, you cannot use a custom domain with riseup [yet](https://support.riseup.net/en/topics/11584-custom-domain/posts), so when emails are sent to users of your Mastodon server, it'll be an `@riseup.net` address. This article details the steps you'll need to take to configure riseup for your very own Mastodon server.
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## Getting a Riseup email
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You'll need an invite to join riseup, so I suggest asking your radical friends for an invite (please don't bug me for an invite code, I will not give one to you unless I know you). Once you have that, you can [create a new account](https://account.riseup.net/user/new) with the username being related to the name of your new Mastodon instance (e.g. emeraldsocial is the riseup username for my own instance). Congrats! You've got a riseup email now! The address will be `[username]@riseup.net`.
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## Connecting your email to Mastodon
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The next step is to actually connect [SMTP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Mail_Transfer_Protocol) endpoints to Mastodon's `.env.production`, located in the root folder of your live installation. Really, any text editor will work, but I decided to use `vim` because I'm used to it (***editor wars intensifies***). In the `Sending mail` section of `.env.production`, add the following lines:
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```
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# Sending mail
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# ------------
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SMTP_SERVER=mail.riseup.net
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SMTP_PORT=587
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SMTP_LOGIN=[username]
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SMTP_PASSWORD=[averysecurepassword]
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SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS=[username]@riseup.net
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SMTP_AUTH_METHOD=plain
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```
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Then you can save and exit that file (on `vim`, this is `:wq`) and finally test it out by logging into a new session on your Mastodon account from an unknown IP address, resetting your password, or any other action which triggers an email notification. Now you've got a functional email setup for your Mastodon server at no cost to you! I hope you enjoyed this article and will share it across the world.
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