Install Init Uploader on Ubuntu 24.04 (LEMP: Nginx + PHP)

1) Install Nginx and PHP 8.3

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install nginx -y

# PHP 8.3 + common extensions (GD or Imagick, Fileinfo, cURL, Zip, XML, MBString)
sudo apt install php8.3-fpm php8.3-cli php8.3-common \
  php8.3-gd php-imagick php8.3-mbstring php8.3-xml php8.3-zip php8.3-curl php8.3-fileinfo unzip -y

php -v

2) Create app directory

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/init-uploader
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/init-uploader

3) Download and extract Init Uploader (no SFTP)

Use the official ZIP URL to install directly on the server.

cd /var/www/init-uploader
sudo wget -O init-uploader.zip "https://inithtml.com/releases/tools/init-uploader.zip?v=1.0.1"
sudo unzip -o init-uploader.zip

After extraction, the structure should be:

/var/www/init-uploader/
├─ init-uploader.php
└─ uploads/

4) Configure Init Uploader (CONFIGURATION section)

Edit constants in init-uploader.php to match your domain and security preferences.

sudo nano /var/www/init-uploader/init-uploader.php

Recommended demo settings:

// Authentication
define('API_KEY',          'supersecretapikey123');
define('SECRET_KEY',       'supersecrethmackey456');
define('USE_HMAC_AUTH',    false);
define('HMAC_TIME_WINDOW', 300);

// Paths
define('UPLOAD_DIR',       __DIR__ . '/uploads');
define('BASE_URL',         'https://cdn.example.com');

// Upload limits
define('MAX_FILE_SIZE',    200 * 1024 * 1024); // 200MB
define('ALLOWED_EXTENSIONS', ['jpg','jpeg','png','gif','webp']);

// Image validation
define('STRICT_IMAGE_VALIDATION', false);

// System
define('ENABLE_LOGGING', true);
define('REQUIRE_HTTPS',  true);

5) Set ownership and permissions

Grant the web user (www-data) access to serve and write uploads.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/init-uploader
sudo find /var/www/init-uploader -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/init-uploader -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

6) Tune PHP 8.3 for large uploads

sudo nano /etc/php/8.3/fpm/php.ini

Set generous limits:

upload_max_filesize  = 512M
post_max_size        = 512M
max_execution_time   = 600
max_input_time       = 600
memory_limit         = 1024M

sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

7) Nginx server block for cdn.example.com

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/cdn.example.com

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name cdn.example.com;

    root /var/www/init-uploader;
    index init-uploader.php index.php;

    # Generous limits and timeouts for uploads
    client_max_body_size 512M;
    sendfile on;
    tcp_nopush on;
    tcp_nodelay on;
    keepalive_timeout 65;

    access_log /var/log/nginx/init-uploader.access.log;
    error_log  /var/log/nginx/init-uploader.error.log;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /init-uploader.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_read_timeout 600;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/cdn.example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

8) Enable HTTPS with Certbot

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
sudo certbot --nginx -d cdn.example.com
sudo systemctl enable certbot.timer
sudo systemctl start certbot.timer

9) Verify the endpoint

Visit https://cdn.example.com. A JSON error like “No files uploaded” confirms the endpoint is active.

Test upload via API key:

curl -X POST "https://cdn.example.com" \
  -H "X-API-Key: supersecretapikey123" \
  -F "file=@/path/to/test.jpg" \
  -F "path=manga/demo"

10) Maintenance recommendations

• Rotate or clean /var/www/init-uploader/upload.log regularly.
• Keep /var/www/init-uploader/uploads owned by www-data.
• Switch USE_HMAC_AUTH to true for stronger authentication in production.
• Place a CDN in front of /uploads for faster delivery and caching.