Podcast Server 🚀

A lightweight, professional-grade podcast hosting and management platform designed for churches and small organizations. Built with PHP 8 and MySQL, this system provides a seamless way to host audio content, track analytics, and engage listeners via push notifications.

Developed and tested on Ubuntu 20.04 using the standard LAMP stack.

✨ Features

• Episode Management: Easy upload of audio files and cover art.
• Admin Dashboard: Comprehensive control panel for managing episodes, settings, and users.
• Role-Based Access (RBAC): Supports 'Administrator' and 'Editor' roles for secure collaboration.
• Real-time Analytics: Track episode plays and listening duration.
• Push Notifications: Integrated subscription system for listener engagement.
• RSS Feed Generation: Fully compatible feed for platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.
• PWA Ready: Offline capabilities and "Add to Home Screen" support via Service Workers.
• Automated Setup: Built-in installation wizard for easy deployment.
• Backup & Restore: Simple system utilities for data safety using tar.

🛠️ Requirements

The software has been tested and verified on the following environment:

• OS: Ubuntu 20.04 (LTS)
• Web Server: Apache2
• PHP: 8.0 or higher
• Database: MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB
• PHP Extensions: pdo_mysql, mbstring, gd, curl
• System Utilities: tar (required for backup/restore features)

🚀 Installation

1. Clone the Repository

Clone this project into your web root directory (e.g., /var/www/html/podcast):

cd /var/www/html
sudo git clone https://git.linology.tech/michael/Podcast-server podcast

2. Set Permissions

The web server needs write access to specific directories for uploads and configuration:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/podcast
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/podcast

3. PHP Configuration (Recommended)

Podcast audio files can be large. Ensure your php.ini (usually /etc/php/8.0/apache2/php.ini) allows large uploads:

upload_max_filesize = 100M
post_max_size = 110M
memory_limit = 256M

After editing, restart Apache:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

4. Run the Setup Wizard

Open your browser and navigate to: http://your-server-ip/podcast/setup.php

The setup script will:

• Verify folder permissions and PHP settings.
• Create the MySQL database and tables automatically.
• Initialize the first Administrator account.
• Generate your includes/config.php file.

📂 Project Structure

• /admin: Administrative interface and management scripts.
• /assets: CSS, JS, and default assets. Uploaded media is stored here.
• /includes: Core logic, database connection, and utility functions.
• /sql: Database schema files.
• feed.php: Automatically generated RSS feed for podcast players.
• setup.php: The automated installation script.

🔒 Security & Git

• Configuration: The includes/config.php file is excluded from Git via .gitignore to protect your database credentials.
• Uploads: Audio and image uploads are excluded from Git to keep the repository lightweight.
• Setup: After a successful installation, it is recommended to delete setup.php or move it outside the web root.

🤝 Contributing

Feel free to fork this project and submit pull requests to the Linology Git instance.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.