Setting up the On-Premises Edition of axe DevTools Linter

The on-premises edition of axe DevTools Linter is a 64-bit x86 Linux binary that allows your organization to use axe DevTools Linter locally. This guide shows how to set up this software.

To install the on-premises axe DevTools Linter, you'll need the binary, which is available for 64-bit x86 Linux. You'll also need NGINX if you want to set up a reverse proxy instance (to use encrypted requests because axe DevTools Linter doesn't recognize encrypted connections). See Using axe DevTools Linter with a Reverse Proxy for more information.

You will also need a license key to use the on-premises edition of axe DevTools Linter. Contact Deque's help desk to obtain your license key.

Installation

You can extract the installation files by typing the following:

tar xvfz axe_Linter_installer.tar.gz

The files will be extracted to the current directory.

Before you can run the installer, you need to set the execute flag on the file by typing the following:

chmod +x installer

You can now run the installer. You need to run it as root by typing the following:

sudo ./installer --license-key your-license-key

The installer will create a new user axe if it does not already exist (but will not create a home directory). It will also create the /opt/deque directory if it does not exist.

For more information about command-line options accepted by the installer, see Installer Options below.

Setting the Service to Run Automatically

The first step to running axe DevTools Linter at boot time is to edit the service's configuration as root:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/axe-linter.service

Add the following lines to the bottom of the file if it is not there already:

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

(It's unlikely that you'll need to add this.)

Now you need to enable the service by typing:

sudo systemctl enable axe-linter

You should now reboot the machine to see if the axe DevTools Linter service starts automatically. The next section shows how to obtain the service's status.

Obtaining the Service's Status

You can use the systemctl command to check the status of the running service as shown below:

systemctl status axe-linter

The following shows an example of output from the running service:

● axe-linter.service - Axe Linter Service
   Loaded: loaded (/opt/deque/service/axe-linter.service; linked; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2021-11-24 12:34:11 PST; 6 days ago
     Docs: https://deque.com/axe
 Main PID: 4401 (axe-linter-serv)
    Tasks: 10 (limit: 2108)
   CGroup: /system.slice/axe-linter.service
           └─4401 /opt/deque/axe-linter-service

Nov 24 12:34:11 galliumos systemd[1]: Started Axe Linter Service.

If the service is not running you will see output similar to the following:

● axe-linter.service - Axe Linter Service
   Loaded: loaded (/opt/deque/service/axe-linter.service; linked; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: inactive (dead)
     Docs: https://deque.com/axe

Installer Options

The on-premises installer recognizes several command-line options:

• --axe-user username

  The username that will own the running axe-linter service. If this user does not exist, it will be created. The default is axe.

• --license-key your-license-key

  The license key that will be used by the axe-linter service. This parameter is required. Contact Deque's help desk for more information about your license key.

• --log-level selected-log-level

  The log level that will be used by the installed axe DevTools Linter service. The default is error. Values are: error, warn, info, verbose, and debug.

• --port your-port

  The port the axe-linter service will listen on for requests. The default is port 3000.