WordPress is a content management system originally developed for blogging, but has been greatly expanded through widgets, themes and plugins. Complete the following steps to install WordPress on a Ubuntu 12.04 workstation (“server”) so that you can try different plugins and theme, before you get your blog online.
1. Pre-reqs (Apache, PHP, and MySQL)
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apache2 php5 php5-mysql mysql-server
When MySQL is installed, it will ask for a password for the MySQL root user.
You may now test if your Apache server is working using a web browser – just type in your IP address.
2. Test if PHP scripting module is loaded in Apache.
sudo sh -c ‘echo “<?php phpinfo(); ?>” >/var/www/phptest.php’
This command creates a new file called phptest.php in the /var/www/ directory. This file tell PHP to create an information page for diagnostic purpose. To visit it in a browser by typing http://ipaddress/phptest.php or on the local computer itself by http://localhost/phptest.php.
3. Go to http://www.wordpress.org and download the latest zip file. Do NOT install the WordPress in the Ubuntu repository, like below.
sudo apt-get install wordpress
Put the zip file in your home directory and unzip it.
4. Create the WordPress Database and MySQL User
Log into the MySQL Shell and create a new MySQL directory for WordPress.
mysql -u root –p
After logging in using you’re MySQL root password, create a WordPress database:
Note : Keep in mind that all MySQL commands must end with semi-colon.
(For example, we will use the database name WordPressdb.)
CREATE DATABASE wpdatabase;
Create the new user. You can replace the database, name, and password, with whatever you prefer:
CREATE USER wpuser@localhost;
Set the password for your new user:
SET PASSWORD FOR wpuser@localhost=PASSWORD(“wp_password“);
Grant all privileges to the new user. Without this command, the wordpress installer will not be able to start up:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wpdatabase.* TO wpuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY “wp_password“;
Refresh MySQL:
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Exit out of the MySQL shell:
exit
Configure WordPress
Copy the sample wordpress configuration file from the wordpress directory, into a new file. Edit the new file to create a new usable wordpress config file:
cp ~/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php ~/wordpress/wp-config.php
Open the wordpress config:
sudo gedit ~/wordpress/wp-config.php
Find the section that contains the field below and substitute in the correct name for your database, username, and password:
// ** MySQL settings – You can get this info from your web host ** // /** The name of the database for WordPress */ define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘wpdatabase‘);
/** MySQL database username */ define(‘DB_USER’, ‘wpuser‘); /** MySQL database password */ define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘wp_password‘);
Save and Exit.
Copy the Files
Transfer the unzipped WordPress files to the website’s root directory (/var/www/wordpress/).
sudo rsync -avP ~/wordpress/ /var/www/wordpress/
or copy the WordPress directory into /usr/share/wordpress/
sudo rsync -avP ~/wordpress/ /usr/share/wordpress/
And, then create a link in /var/www/
sudo ln -s /usr/share/wordpress /var/www/wordpress
Set the permissions on the installation. First, switch in to the web directory:
cd /var/www/
5. Give ownership of the directory to the Apache user.
sudo chown [USERNAME]:www-data /var/www -R
sudo chmod g+w /var/www -R
Install the following php module on your server, to enable the WordPress installation form online. Download and install php-gd:
sudo apt-get install php5-gd
Make sure the group is www-data on ‘/var/www’.
sudo chgrp www-data /var/www
Make ‘/var/www’ writable for the group.
sudo chmod 775 /var/www
Set the GID for www-data for all sub-folders.
sudo chmod g+s /var/www
Your directory should look like this on an ‘ls -l’ output.
drwxrwsr-x
Last, add your user name to the www-data group (secondary group).
(For a new user)
sudo useradd -G www-data [USERNAME]
(For an existing user)
sudo usermod -a -G www-data [USERNAME]
(Change file owner and group)
sudo chown [USERNAME] /var/www/
chown www-data:www-data /path/to/wp-content/ -R
Add define(‘FS_METHOD’,’direct’); to wp-config.php and it will work on localhost.
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