Background:

I wrote this documentation as the process serves as a good template for downloading, compiling from source, installing, configuring, and finally creating a systemd style script that will start a service at boot.

Process:

Download source from their website: http://www.ptokax.org/files/0.5.2.1-nix-src.tgz

wget http://www.ptokax.org/files/0.5.2.1-nix-src.tgz

Install the dependencies:

sudo apt install make g++ zlib1g-dev libtinyxml-dev liblua5.3-dev -y

Expand the archive and change into the directory:

tar -xf 0.5.2.1-nix-src.tgz;cd PtokaX

Compile the program (I’m compiling without database support):

make clean
make
sudo make install

Create a new system user to run the process:

sudo adduser --system --group --no-create-home --disabled-login ptokax

Create the directory in etc for the configuration files:

sudo mkdir /etc/ptokax

Run the initial config and configure according to your tastes, give the ptokax user access.

sudo PtokaX -m -c /etc/ptokax
sudo chown ptokax:ptokax -R /etc/ptokax/*

Create a new file in the directory: /lib/systemd/system/ called ptokax.service with the following in it:

[Unit]
Description=PtokaX Direct Connect Hub
After=network.target
#Requires=apache2.service

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/PtokaX -d -c /etc/ptokax
User=ptokax
Group=ptokax

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload, enable and start the process.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable ptokax.service
sudo systemctl start ptokax.service

Test the connection:

Final Notes:

If you want to make configuration changes, stop the service first, then either run the Ptokax program as sudo with the -m -c /etc/ptokax flags to configure it, or manually edit it’s configuration files.

Further Reading:

http://wiki.ptokax.org/doku.php?id=guides:debian_bugbuntu
http://patrakov.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/writing-systemd-service-files.html