Installing Joomla 1.5 RC4
So with PHP, MySQL and phpMyAdmin in place I could now actually get of with the process on installing
Joomla.
To do this first I needed to create an empty database for the Joomla install to set up and configure. I did this very easily using phpMyAdmin and then created a new user and granted that user all privileges on the new database.
When setting up Joomla it needs to be given a MySQL user to use when it configures the database I had created. It seemed to make more sense to set up a user specifically for this rather than using a user with privileges to other databases as well.
So at last I could actually install Joomla.
First I had choose which build of Joomla 1.5 to download. Joomla 1.5 is at RC4 but you can also download nightly builds. I decided as RC4 is pretty recent that this is what I would look at as its likely to be more stable than the nightly build even though the nightly build may have fixed some bugs in RC4.
Once the single zip file was downloaded , I unpacked it in the ~/Sites folder then renamed the new unpacked folder to Joomla. It turned out the Joomla directory unpacks with no privilages for anyone other than its owner so I had to use “Get Info” to allow others read access before I could install.
I then created a blank file called configuration.php saved it and made sure it had write permissions.
With all this in place installing Joomla was actually very simple. I simply navigated to my Joomla folder in Safari (http://127.0.0.1/~Scotty/Joomla/) and it recognized itself as a new install and began the installation process.
First I was asked to choose a language before Joomla did a pre-instaltion check to make sure everything was in place for a successful install.
The checks made where for
PHP Version >= 4.3.10,
Zlib Compression Support,
XML Support,
MySQL Support,
MB Language is Default,
String Overload Off
configuration.php Writable.
Joomla also checked my setting and advised on if they matched Joomlas recommend settings which are
Safe Mode: Off
Display Errors: On
File Uploads: On
Magic Quotes Runtime: Off
Register Globals: Off
Output Buffering: Off
Session Auto Start: Off
With this done I had to read the license and accept it before Joomla asked me for my database settings.
It wanted to know the database type (MySql), the hostname (in my case localhost), the MySql username and password Joomla should use to set up the database, and which database it should configure. (Remember Joomla wont create a database only configure one , which is why we created one earlier).
Once Joomla has the database details you have the option of supplying it with some FTP details and enabling its FTP Layer.
In use Joomla needs to upload data ,images, files etc. Running as the default web user it is unlikely to have all the privileges its need to do this (or if it does the site wont be very secure). So by giving Joomla and FTP user and password details it can use for these uploads you can configure your system to give that use the required permissions while leaving the web exposed stuff secure. As this is a test installation on my local machine I will just set the folder privileges to allow joomla to work.
Next Joomla required a site name, an email address for the site administrator and an admin password. At this point you also get the option to install some sample data. If you don’t know much about Joomla I highly recommend you do this as a blank Joomla install is quite a daunting experience.
And thats it, Joomla was installed. Before I could use it properly Joomla required me to delete (or rename) the Installation folder found in its home directory as a security measure.
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