Installation instructions for Debian

[HenrysCat]

I am trying to install following the instructions on this page https://github.com/civitai/civitai but find them very vague, is there better documentation anywhere?
I get stuck at point 4, where is the .env file? and point 5 gives the error - npm ERR! Missing script: "db:migrate"

[PeterNjeim]

The instructions aren't vague, it says:

Create your .env by making a copy of the contents from .env-example file.

Did you make a copy of .env-example?
You can't continue with the steps without setting up your .env file, do that first then everything else should work.

[HenrysCat]

I'm probably way out here, I'm looking in /root/.nvm
Am I even close?

[PeterNjeim]

Lol not at all, it seems you don't know what "root directory" means either lol. Cloning repositories is meant for software developers, I'm really not sure what you want to do with this repo without knowing how to code, I'm curious. You need to go to the git repository you cloned, that was step 1. It should be a folder called civitai, but then again the instructions don't tell you how to clone a repository since that's basic knowledge of software development, so maybe you didn't even clone the repository? I like to help people but I think this is a lost cause rn

[HenrysCat]

I assumed as the code was made public I could have a self hosted civitai.com, was I wrong?
Not interested in traffic or 1000's of hits, just a site I can upload my own creations to display.

[PeterNjeim]

You can indeed self-host civitai, but the code is public for others to contribute to it, not for self-hosting. Even if you follow all the steps there are some problems with the .env file that require you to use an older commit to resolve. If you want to share your works with others, upload them to civitai.com, and share your profile link with others

[HenrysCat]

OK thanks