Tome of Finite Knowledge

Self-hosting Overleaf CE+

4 min read

Overleaf CE+, or Community Edition Plus, is an open-source fork of Overleaf CE with additional features added which bring functionality much closer to the licensed Overleaf Pro self-hosted edition.

See also

The main repo for Overleaf CEP is here: https://github.com/yu-i-i/overleaf-cep

I’m doing this because a long, long time ago I was a Sharelatex member before they were absorbed into Overleaf, and am not happy with how much Overleaf is starting to lock behind a paywall even for members who’ve been a member longer than Overleaf has owned the online editor.

Installation

Docker Compose approach

Notes on using a straight docker compose approach instead of the Overleaf toolkit.

  • Mongodb must be v8.0 or newer
  • Needs a redis container

See also

Overleaf container

services:
  overleaf-cep:
    container_name: overleaf-cep
    image: overleafcep/sharelatex:6.1.2-ext-v4.1
    restart: unless-stopped
    env_file:
      - overleafcep.env
    ports:
      - 8091:80
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - /opt/docker/overleaf/data:/var/lib/overleaf
      - /opt/docker/overleaf/logs:/var/log/overleaf

In the overleafcep.env file:

# This URL should be comprised of:
# 1. mongodb://
# 2. `user`: your mongodb username
# 3. `password`: your mongodb password
# 4. `mongo`: the hostname of the database server
# 5. `overleaf`: the name of the database in the server
OVERLEAF_MONGO_URL=mongodb://user:password@mongo/overleaf

# redis host.  Seems you have to set it twice, dunno why
OVERLEAF_REDIS_HOTS=olcep-redis
REDIS_HOST=olcep-redis

# settings for latex compilation
# *default* image to use for sandboxed compiles
TEX_LIVE_DOCKER_IMAGE=texlive/texlive:latest
# all available options for users to pick from for compile envs
ALL_TEX_LIVE_DOCKER_IMAGES=texlive/texlive:latest, texlive/textlive:latest-full
# what names should be displayed in the UI for those images
ALL_TEX_LIVE_DOCKER_IMAGE_NAMES=TexLive, TexLive Full

# enable sandboxed compiles
SERVER_PRO=true
DOCKER_RUNNER=true
SANDBOXED_COMPILES=true
SIBLING_CONTAINERS_ENABLED=true
SANDBOXED_COMPILES_SIBLING_CONTAINERS=true
SANDBOXED_COMPILES_HOST_DIR="/opt/docker/overleaf/sandboxed/compiles"

See also

https://github.com/yu-i-i/overleaf-cep/wiki/Extended-CE:-Sandboxed-Compiles

Setting username, password, and database

See the MongoDB setup section where you set/get these three points from.

Pulling docker images

For sandboxed compiles, it appears that you have to manually pull the docker images you set in ALL_TEX_LIVE_DOCKER_IMAGES before you start the service. For example, sudo docker pull texlive/texlive:latest-full.

Redis setup

Compose:

services:
  redis:
    container_name: olcep-redis
    image: redis:6.2
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ./redis_data:/data

That’s all — no environs here! Just make sure the container_name value is set in the REDIS_HOST and OVERLEAF_REDIS_HOST environs for both MongoDB and Overleaf containers.

MongoDB setup

Compose:

services:
  mongo:
    container_name: mongo
    image: mongo:8.0
    restart: unless-stopped
    env_file:
      - mongo.env
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - ./config:/etc/mongo
      - /opt/docker/ol-mongo/data:/data/db
      - /opt/docker/ol-mongo/log:/var/log/mongodb
    command: --replSet rs0 --auth --bind_ip_all --keyFile /etc/mongo/keyfile
    healthcheck:
      test: echo 'db.stats().ok' | mongosh localhost:27017/test --quiet
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 5

In the associated mongo.env:

MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE=overleaf
MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME=admin
MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD=password

Not these credentials!

The username and password you set here are NOT the ones you want to use in the mongodb URL for Overleaf! Those will come later. This is, however, the right database name to use.

Ensure the mongodb compose maps /etc/mongo to a local directly. In that directory, create:

config/
    keyfile
    mongod.conf

To generate keyfile:

openssl rand -base64 756 > keyfile

In mongod.conf:

replication:
  replSetName: "rs0"

Set permissions:

$ chown 999:999 keyfile
$ chmod 600 keyfile

Once you start the container for the first time, you’ll need to log in and configure the database and user for Overleaf.

$ sudo docker exec -it mongo bash
# use the MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME and _PASSWORD creds here
$ mongosh admin --username admin --password password
# "rs0" needs to match the replSetName in your mongod.conf; `mongo:27017` needs to match your db server hostname and port
admin> rs.initiate({ _id: "rs0", members: [ { _id: 0, host: "mongo:27017" } ] })
admin> use overleaf
# the 'user' and 'password' here VVV are the ones to use for the mongodb url in overleaf
admin> db.createUser({ user: 'user', pwd: 'password', roles: [ { role: "dbOwner", db: "overleaf" } ] })

Tip

The user created on the last step in that snippet has the credentials to use for the OVERLEAF_MONGO_URL env (in this example, it would be mongodb://user:password@mongo/overleaf).

First-time setup

Admin account creation

Once the service is running, browse to overleaf-server.example.com/launchpad and you should be prompted to set up the first admin account. Once complete, you’ll be redirected to the login page; log in, and you should land on the admin panel.

See also

https://docs.overleaf.com/on-premises/user-and-project-management/user-management#administrators

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