
# tl;dr

    ./configure && make && make install


# Prerequisites

 - make or gmake
 - C compiler
 - user with access to kernel interface statistics
   - usually available by default but may be restricted by security settings
 - databases/sqlite3
 - graphics/gd       (optional, image output)
 - devel/check       (optional, test suite)
 - devel/pkg-config  (optional, for check detection)
 - devel/autotools   (optional, for recreating configure and makefiles)


# Compiling the binaries

This source package contains the required source files for vnStat including
the daemon (`vnstatd`) and image output (`vnstati`). Executing

    ./configure && make

will compile `vnstat` and `vnstatd` without requiring additional libraries.
The optional image output capable binary `vnstati` will also be compiled if
the required additional libgd2 library is found to be available and
`--disable-image-output` isn't given as parameter for `./configure`.

An example cgi (`vnstat.cgi`) to be used with a http server with the image
output support has been provided in the `examples` directory. Configuration
options for the cgi are in the beginning of the file. Additional examples
for using the json output or providing a Prometheus compatible metrics endpoint
are also available in the same directory.

For executing the optional test suite, see the appendix at the end of this
file.


# Installing as root

Login as root and run the following command:

    make install

If there were no errors, vnStat binaries, man pages and a configuration
file should now be installed. The configuration file will be upgraded using
previously configured values if it is found already to exist. A backup
of the previous configuration file will be named as `vnstat.conf.old` in the
current directory.

The configuration file `/usr/local/etc/vnstat.conf` should be checked at
this point. See the `vnstat.conf` man page for documentation about available
options.

Finally make vnStat monitor the selected interface(s). Configure init
scripts so that the following command is executed once during system
startup:

    /usr/local/sbin/vnstatd --daemon

One suitable place is for example `/etc/rc.local`.

During first startup, the daemon (`vnstatd`) should list and add all
available interfaces for monitoring. The command can also be executed
manually at this point in order to avoid having to reboot the system
Depending on configuration, it may take some minutes for the `vnstat`
command to begin showing results as the entries in the database aren't
updated constantly.

Monitoring of unwanted interfaces can be stopped with:

    vnstat --remove -i ethunwanted


# Installing without root access

Copy all needed binaries to some directory included in your PATH
(`~/bin/` is used here as an example) and create the database directory.

    cp -v vnstat vnstatd vnstati ~/bin/
    cp -v cfg/vnstat.conf ~/.vnstatrc
    mkdir ~/.vnstat

Next open the configuration file `~/.vnstatrc` with your favorite text editor
and locate the following line:

    DatabaseDir "/var/lib/vnstat"

and replace it with

    DatabaseDir "/pathtomyhomedir/.vnstat"

Next, locate the following lines:

    UseLogging 2
    LogFile "/var/log/vnstat/vnstat.log"
    PidFile "/var/run/vnstat/vnstat.pid"

and replace them with

    UseLogging 1
    LogFile "/pathtomyhomedir/.vnstat/.log"
    PidFile "/pathtomyhomedir/.vnstat/.pid"

Finally, save the file. If you are unsure about your home directory path, execute

    cd ; pwd

The output should tell your home directory.

Now it's time to add a crontab entry for vnStat. Do that by executing the
command `crontab -e` and add the following line (without leading spaces,
remember to change the path):

    @reboot ~/bin/vnstatd --daemon

If you found yourself using a strange editor then `man vi` may help.

Make sure the configuration file (`~/.vnstatrc`) has the log option either
disabled or set to a file that is located in a place where you have write
permissions, such as your home dir. Then try starting the daemon with

    vnstatd --daemon

After that wait for (or generate) at least 1 byte of network traffic
(and 5 min for the next database file save).

    vnstat

Now you should get some statistics about your network usage. See the config
file `~/.vnstatrc` for interface and other settings.


# Appendix: Running the test suite

This step isn't mandatory for using vnStat.

The source package includes a test suite for validating many of the
functionalities provided and used by the executables. The test suite requires
the Check unit testing framework ( https://libcheck.github.io/check/ ) to
be installed and available (usually `devel/check` in ports). The configure
script also assumes that the `pkg-config` command is installed. That command
is usually part of the `devel/pkgconf` package. After the `./configure` script
has been executed the test suite can be executed with:

    make check

The output should show a non-zero number of tests executed if all the
necessary packages were available. A more detailed list of executed tests
can be seen from the `check_vnstat.log` file after execution.
