aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/INSTALL.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'INSTALL.txt')
-rw-r--r--INSTALL.txt173
1 files changed, 113 insertions, 60 deletions
diff --git a/INSTALL.txt b/INSTALL.txt
index 447defbee..f4ecbffe1 100644
--- a/INSTALL.txt
+++ b/INSTALL.txt
@@ -1,60 +1,113 @@
-
-Elgg 1.0 installation
-
-This is a placeholder file, and will be rewritten before the official
-launch. However, here are some basic instructions. Commercial
-support is available for Elgg; email info@elgg.com for more details.
-
-
-CORE REQUIREMENTS
-
- * Apache web server with the following modules:
- o mod_rewrite
- o PHP (see below)
- * MySQL 5+
- * PHP 5.2+ as an Apache mod (not in CGI mode or safe mode)
- with the following libraries:
- o GD
- o JSON
-
-It is recommended that you increase the memory available to PHP
-threads beyond the standard 8 or 12M, and increase the maximum
-uploaded filesize (which defaults to 2M). In both cases, this
-can be found in your php.ini.
-
-INSTRUCTIONS
-
-1. Upload Elgg
-
-Upload Elgg to your site's document root. Create a folder for
-Elgg to store files, preferably underneath the document root.
-Make sure that the folder has the proper permissions, for example:
-
-chmod 777 /home/mysite/data
-Create a database
-
-Create a database for Elgg to store its data. Because of Elgg's
-ability to host multiple sites you will only have to do this once.
-
-2. Setup
-
-Once you've completed the previous step, point your browser to your
-site. You'll be greeted by the Elgg installer. Once it's set up a
-few essential files, the installer will ask for the database details
-(database username, password, database name and table prefix) if not
-already set up in the previous step, and some basic details for
-setting up your first (primary) Elgg site, where Elgg will already
-have guessed some initial values:
-
- * The name of your site
- * The site URL
- * The full path to your site root on your disk
- * The full path to the directory where uploaded files will be
- stored (the data folder you created earlier)
- * The default language code for your site
- * The type of default view (leave as default for now)
-
-After this step you will be prompted to create an initial user. This
-user will be the first system administrator. This is the last step,
-and you'll be ready to start working with your new Elgg site.
- \ No newline at end of file
+The latest version of the installation instructions is available at:
+[http://docs.elgg.org/wiki/Installation]
+
+Installation Troubleshooting is available at:
+[http://docs.elgg.org/wiki/Troubleshooting]
+
+
+ELGG INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
+
+TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
+
+Elgg runs on a combination of the Apache web server, MySQL database
+system and the PHP interpreted scripting language. This is the most
+popular web server environment in the world. (Elgg can also run on
+other web servers such a nginx and IIS, but requires further configuration).
+
+Due to Elgg's advanced functionality, there are some extra
+configuration requirements:
+
+ * The Apache web server needs to be installed with the following
+ modules:
+ o mod_rewrite
+ o PHP
+ * MySQL 5+.
+ * PHP 5.2+ needs to be installed as an Apache module
+ with the following libraries:
+ o GD (for graphics processing such as avatar cropping)
+ o Multibyte String support (for internationalization)
+
+It is recommended that you increase the memory available to PHP
+threads beyond the standard 8 or 12M, and increase the maximum
+uploaded filesize (which defaults to 2M). In both cases, this can be
+found in your php.ini.
+
+
+INSTALLING ELGG
+
+Before you begin, make sure you have read Elgg's technical
+requirements. If you discover problems after following these
+instructions, check out the troubleshooting page at
+[http://docs.elgg.org/wiki/Troubleshooting].
+
+
+1. Upload Elgg
+
+Unzip Elgg and upload it to your site's document root.
+
+
+2. Create a data folder
+
+Elgg needs a special folder to store uploaded files, including
+profile icons and photos. You will need to create this for it.
+
+We recommend that this folder is called data, and is stored outside
+of your document root. For example, if Elgg is installed in
+/home/elgg/html/, you might create it in /home/elgg/data.
+
+Once this folder has been created, you'll need to make sure that your
+web server has permission to write to it. This shouldn't be a problem
+on Windows-based servers, but if your server runs Linux or a UNIX variant,
+you'll need to figure out what user Apache runs under. For Debian-based
+distros, it is usually www-data and for RedHat, it is often apache. If you
+cannot figure out what the ownership and permissions should be, you can
+set the permissions for world access (though not recommended):
+
+chmod 777 /home/elgg/data/
+
+If you use a graphical client to upload files, you can usually set
+this by right or shift-clicking on the folder and selecting
+'properties'.
+
+
+3. Create a database
+
+Using your database administration tool of choice (if you're unsure
+about this, ask your system administrator), create a new database for
+Elgg. Make sure you know the username and password necessary to
+access this.
+
+
+4. Visit your Elgg site
+
+Once you've performed these steps, visit your Elgg site in your web
+browser. Elgg will take you through the rest of the installation
+process from there.
+
+
+A note on settings.php and .htaccess
+
+The Elgg installer will try and create two files for you:
+
+ * engine/settings.php, which contains the database settings for
+ your installation
+ * .htaccess, which allows Elgg to generate dynamic URLs
+
+If your web server does not have permission to create these files, you
+will need to either
+
+1. Change the permissions on the directory where you are installing
+ Elgg and the engine directory and try again. Remember to change the
+ permissions back to the original values after installation is complete.
+
+2. Copy engine/settings.example.php to engine/settings.php, open
+ it up in a text editor and fill in your database details. Then
+ copy /htaccess_dist to /.htaccess
+
+
+
+The latest version of this document is available at:
+[http://docs.elgg.org/wiki/Installation]
+
+Installation Troubleshooting is available at:
+[http://docs.elgg.org/wiki/Troubleshooting]