---
title: Install LibreTranslate on a VM
summary: >
  Summarized how I finally got LibreTranslate installed on my Archlinux based
  local mastodon test-instance.
  <small>I am not affiliated with LibreTranslate -- this post reflects
  my own use case. The thumbnail is a trademark of
  [LibreTranslate](https://github.com/LibreTranslate/LibreTranslate/blob/main/TRADEMARK.md).</small>
date: 2024-12-07T07:22:28+01:00
lastmod: 2025-01-06T15:16:13+0000
categories:
  - computerstuff
tags:
  - Archlinux
  - command-line
  - Linux
  - Mastodon
  - selfhost
  - server
  - Unraid
---

I usually run the mastodon instance on a <abbr title="virtual machine">VM</abbr>
with two cores and 4GB of RAM. That is plenty of power for the simple tasks a
single-user instance has to do.

## Preface / preparations

But for the installation of LibreTranslate I enhanced (after powering off the VM)
the cores to 4 and the RAM to 10GB.

While installing the needed python packages I ran out of space on the <kbd>/tmp</kbd>
filesystem (which was just a <kbd>tmpfs</kbd> filesystem).

### Modify <kbd>/etc/fstab</kbd> and increase <kbd>/tmp</kbd>

To increase <kbd>/tmp</kbd> we log into the VM and modify the file <kbd>/etc/fstab</kbd>.

```fstab
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs size=10G 0 0
```

Alternatively you can use another directory with more space as tmp storage:

```console
$ TMPDIR=/var/lib/libretranslate/tmp pip install --prefer-binary libretranslate
```

### Install some needed packages

I had much prepared/installed already, but `cmake` was still missing.

```console
$ paru -S cmake
```

## The installation of LibreTranslate

### Create a dedicated user for the service

```console
$ sudo useradd --create-home --home-dir /var/lib/libretranslate libretranslate
```

Change to the new user and install libretranslate in a virtual environment:

(I had problems with Python 3.12 so I'll stick with 3.11 for now)

```console
$ sudo su - libretranslate
$ python3.11 -m venv venv
$ source venv/bin/activate
$ pip install --prefer-binary libretranslate
$ argospm update
```

**Update:** You get an error similar to this one?

```console
(venv) [libretranslate@mastodon ~]$ pip install --prefer binary libretranslate
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/var/lib/libretranslate/venv/bin/pip", line 5, in <module>
    from pip._internal.cli.main import main
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pip'
```

Most of the time this is because symlinks of python got updated and you haven't
installed all the modules on the new versions venv.
I solved this with a new installation on the new version, there might be easier
ways but I haven't found the time to look into that yet.

So I install pip again and repeat the installation within the new python versions venv.

```console
$ python -m ensurepip
```

### Install every language possible

```console
$ for lang in $(argospm search | cut -d: -f1 ); do echo argospm install $lang;done
```

Remove `echo` from that command to actually install them (the command above prints the commands
needed to install the languages; you can only install one at a time).

#### If you only want to translate to English, use this instead

```console
$ for lang in $(argospm search | grep -E "^translate-.._en.*"| awk '{ print $2 }' | xargs); do echo argospm install translate-${lang}_en; done
```

Also remove `echo` to actually install these translation packages.

### Let mastodon know of the LibreTranslate installation

```console
$ cd /var/lib/mastodon
```

Add to .env.production:

```env
ALLOWED_PRIVATE_ADDRESSES=127.0.0.1
LIBRE_TRANSLATE_ENDPOINT=http://127.0.0.1:5000
```

### Create a systemd unit file to automatically start LibreTranslate

File: <kbd>/etc/systemd/system/libretranslate.service</kbd>

```systemd
[Unit]
Description=LibreTranslate
After=network.target

[Service]
User=libretranslate
Group=libretranslate
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/libretranslate/
ExecStart=/var/lib/libretranslate/venv/bin/python /var/lib/libretranslate/venv/bin/libretranslate --host 0.0.0.0 --port 5000 --suggestions --req-limit 20 --update-models
Restart=always
#CPUQuota=50%

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```

### Start LibreTranslate

First, tell systemd of the new unit file:

```console
$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
```

Enable and start the service:

```console
$ sudo systemctl enable --now libretranslate.service
```

## Restart Mastodon to let it know of the translation service

```console
$ sudo systemctl restart mastodon-web.service
```

## Remove the extra space from <kbd>/tmp</kbd>

Comment or remove the line in <kbd>/etc/fstab</kbd>

```fstab
#tmpfs /tmp tmpfs size=10G 0 0
```

## Reduce the VMs specs back to normal

I set the VM back to two cores and 4GB of RAM. Poweroff the VM
with `sudo poweroff` or `sudo systemctl poweroff` and change the values
back to normal. Start the VM again and all services should come online.