How to Install Odoo 18 on Ubuntu 24.04

Odoo 18 is an open-source suite of business applications that provides a complete ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution for organizations of various sizes. It offers a wide range of integrated tools and modules to help manage all aspects of a business, such as finance, sales, inventory, human resources, and more.

The open-source community edition is free, making it accessible to small businesses and developers. The enterprise edition, on the other hand, offers additional features, services, and support.

Odoo is highly customizable. Businesses can tailor modules to meet their specific needs, create custom workflows, or build entirely new apps using Odoo’s development framework.

In summary, Odoo is a versatile business management software that can streamline operations and provide real-time insights, making it an ideal solution for companies looking to optimize their business processes.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Odoo 18 on a Ubuntu 24.04 OS.

Step 1: Update Operating System

Update your Ubuntu 24.04 operating system to make sure all existing packages are up to date:

# apt update && apt upgrade

Then install all the required packages for the Odoo 18 setup on the Ubuntu 24.04 OS.

# apt install python3-minimal python3-dev python3-pip python3-venv python3-setuptools build-essential libzip-dev libxslt1-dev libldap2-dev python3-wheel libsasl2-dev node-less libjpeg-dev xfonts-utils libpq-dev libffi-dev fontconfig git wget

Step 2: Install PostgreSQL

Odoo uses PostgreSQL as a database backend, so you will need to install PostgreSQL on your server.

Follow these steps to install and configure PostgreSQL server:

# apt-get install postgresql

After the successful installation, start the PostgreSQL service and enable it to start after the system reboot:

# systemctl start postgresql
# systemctl enable postgresql

Verify that is active and running on your server:

# systemctl status postgresql

Output
● postgresql.service - PostgreSQL RDBMS
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/postgresql.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (exited)
   Main PID: 19754 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
        CPU: 2ms

Now create an Odoo user in PostgreSQL:

# su - postgres -c "createuser -s odoo" 

This will add a new role odoo in the PostgreSQL server.

Step 3: Install Node.js

To install Node.js and npm on your Ubuntu 24.04 OS use the following command:

# apt install nodejs npm

Also, install the following module to enable RTL support:

# npm install -g rtlcss

Step 4: Installation of wkhtmltopdf

To generate PDF reports successfully, wkhtmltopdf is necessary. PDF reports are a crucial component of any organization.

First install the xfonts dependency before installing wkhtmltopdf:

# apt-get install xfonts-75dpi xfonts-base

Now download and install wkhtmltopdf using the following commands:

# wget  http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/w/wkhtmltopdf/wkhtmltopdf_0.12.6-2build2_amd64.deb
# dpkg -i wkhtmltopdf_0.12.6-2build2_amd64.deb

Verify if the wkhtmltopdf installation is successful by checking the version:

# wkhtmltopdf --version
wkhtmltopdf 0.12.6

Step 5: Create an Odoo User

Create a new system user for managing the Odoo processes on the Odoo server.

# adduser --system --group --home=/opt/odoo --shell=/bin/bash odoo

Step 6: Install Odoo 18

Switch to the user that you have created before to avoid encountering issues related to access rights.

# su - odoo

Now, download the Odoo 17 source code from the git repository and install it:

# git clone https://www.github.com/odoo/odoo --depth 1 --branch 18.0 /opt/odoo/odoo

Next run the following command to generate a new Python virtual environment.

# python3 -m venv odoo-env

Activate the virtual environment with the following command:

# source odoo-env/bin/activate

Then install the required Python packages:

(odoo-env) $ pip3 install wheel
(odoo-env) $ pip3 install -r odoo/requirements.txt

After completing the process of installing all requirements to deactivate the virtual environment run the following command:

(odoo-env) $ deactivate

Execute the following command to create a directory for custom addons:

# mkdir /opt/odoo/custom-addons

Next exit from the Odoo user:

# exit

Create an Odoo log directory and provide it the required write permissions.

# mkdir /var/log/odoo18
# chown odoo:odoo /var/log/odoo18

Step 7: Create Odoo Configuration File

Create the Odoo configuration file.

# nano /etc/odoo.conf

Then paste the following configuration into it.

[options]
admin_passwd = Strong_admin_Password
db_host = False
db_port = False
db_user = odoo
db_password = False
logfile = /var/log/odoo18/odoo-server.log
addons_path = /opt/odoo/odoo/addons,/opt/odoo/custom-addons
xmlrpc_port = 8069

Remember to update the value of the “Strong_admin_Password” key above with a more secure password.

Step 8: Create a Systemd Service File

Create a systemd service file to manage the Odoo service:

# nano /etc/systemd/system/odoo.service

Paste the following content into the odoo.service file:

[Unit]
Description=Odoo
Requires=postgresql.service
After=network.target postgresql.service

[Service]
Type=simple
SyslogIdentifier=odoo
PermissionsStartOnly=true
User=odoo
Group=odoo
ExecStart=/opt/odoo/odoo-env/bin/python3 /opt/odoo/odoo/odoo-bin -c /etc/odoo.conf
StandardOutput=journal+console

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload system daemon and start the service:

# systemctl daemon-reload
# systemctl start odoo
# systemctl enable odoo

To confirm everything is working normally, check the status of service:

# systemctl status odoo

Output:

● odoo.service - Odoo
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/odoo.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running)
   Main PID: 21764 (python3)
      Tasks: 4 (limit: 2218)
     Memory: 73.3M (peak: 73.5M)
        CPU: 973ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/odoo.service
             └─21764 /opt/odoo/odoo-env/bin/python3 /opt/odoo/odoo/odoo-bin -c /etc/odoo.conf

Step 9: Access Odoo 18 server

Open your web browser and type http://your-IP-address:8069 and you will see the following screen:

Comments and Conclusion

That’s it. You have successfully installed Community version of Odoo 18 on Ubuntu 24.04.

For additional help or useful information, we recommend you to check  the official Odoo 18 documentation.

If you have any questions please leave a comment below.