Install Textpattern on Ubuntu 20.04

Introduction

Textpattern is an open-source Content Management System for LAMP and LEMP systems, written in PHP with a MySQL or MariaDB backend. This guide explains how to install Textpattern with a LAMP stack on Ubuntu 20.04 server.

Prerequisites

To complete this Textpattern installation guide, you need:

• An Ubuntu 20.04 server

• A non-root user

• A LAMP Stack

Optionally, you could deploy a Vultr One-Click LAMP server.

1. Install Dependencies

1. Connect to your server via SSH.

2. Update the package information list.

   $ sudo apt update
   

3. Install the PHP module for Apache.

   $ sudo apt install -y libapache2-mod-php
   

4. Enable mod_rewrite module, which Textpattern needs to make simplified URLs.

   $ sudo a2enmod rewrite
   

5. Restart Apache to load the new modules.

   $ sudo systemctl restart apache2
   

6. Install the unzip package, which you need to extract the installation file.

   $ sudo apt-get -y install unzip
   

2. Set Up a Database and a User Account

Textpattern uses either MySQL or MariaDB as the database server.

1. Log in to your database server as root.

   $ sudo mysql -u root -p
   

2. Create a new database and user account. Replace EXAMPLE_PASSWORD with a strong password.

   If you use MySQL:

   mysql> CREATE DATABASE text_pattern;
   
          CREATE USER 'text_pattern_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'EXAMPLE_PASSWORD';
   
          GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON text_pattern.* TO 'text_pattern_user'@'localhost';           
   
          FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
   

   If you use MariaDB:

   MariaDB> CREATE DATABASE text_pattern;
   
            GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES on text_pattern.* TO 'text_pattern_user'@'localhost' identified by 'EXAMPLE_PASSWORD';
   
            FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
   

3. Log out of the database server.

   mysql> EXIT;
   

3. Download Textpattern

1. Create a new directory under the web root.

   $ sudo mkdir -p /var/www/text_pattern
   

2. Take ownership of the new directory.

   $ sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/text_pattern
   

3. Switch to the new directory.

   $ cd /var/www/text_pattern
   

4. Visit the official Textpattern repository and copy the download link of the latest stable version.

5. Download the installation file.

   $ sudo wget https://textpattern.com/file_download/113/textpattern-4.8.7.zip
   

6. Extract the file you've downloaded.

   $ sudo unzip textpattern-4.8.7.zip
   

7. Move the files you've extracted to the /var/www/text_pattern directory.

   $ sudo mv textpattern-4.8.7/* /var/www/text_pattern
   

8. Give the Apache user ownership of the /var/www/text_pattern directory.

   $ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/text_pattern
   

4. Create a Virtual Host File

Apache maintains virtual hosts configurations under the /etc/apache2/sites-available directory.

1. Disable the default virtual host configuration file.

   $ sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf
   

2. Open a new text_pattern.conf file.

   $ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/text_pattern.conf
   

3. Copy and paste the following information into the text_pattern.conf file. Replace example.com with your server's domain name or public IP address.

   <VirtualHost *:80>
   
   
   
       ServerName example.com
   
   
   
       DocumentRoot "/var/www/text_pattern"
   
   
   
       <Directory "/var/www/text_pattern">
   
           Require all granted
   
           Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks
   
           AllowOverride All
   
           Order allow,deny
   
           Allow from all
   
       </Directory>
   
   
   
      ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
   
      CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
   
   
   
   </VirtualHost>
   

4. Save and close the file.

5. Enable the new configuration file.

   $ sudo a2ensite text_pattern.conf
   

6. Restart Apache to load the new virtual host.

   $ sudo systemctl restart apache2
   

5. Finish the Installation

1. In your web browser, visit your server's public IP address or domain name and append /textpattern/setup/ to the URL. For example, if your domain name is example.com, visit the URL:

   http://example.com/textpattern/setup/
   

2. Follow the browser-based wizard and enter your database credentials.

3. Create a base configuration file for the Textpattern package.

   $ sudo nano /var/www/text_pattern/textpattern/config.php
   

4. Paste the following information into the file. Replace EXAMPLE_PASSWORD with the strong password you created for text_pattern_user.

   <?php
   
       $txpcfg['db'] = 'text_pattern';
   
       $txpcfg['user'] = 'text_pattern_user';
   
       $txpcfg['pass'] = 'EXAMPLE_PASSWORD';
   
       $txpcfg['host'] = 'localhost';
   
       $txpcfg['table_prefix'] = '';
   
       $txpcfg['txpath'] = '/var/www/text_pattern/textpattern';
   
       $txpcfg['dbcharset'] = 'utf8mb4';
   

5. Save and close the file.

6. Delete the setup directory for security purposes.

   $ sudo rm -rf /var/www/text_pattern/textpattern/setup
   

7. Visit http://example.com/textpattern/index.php to access your Textpattern dashboard. Replace example.com with your domain name or server's public IP address.

More Information

See "Get started with Textpattern" for more information.