Installing xampp 1.7.1 and Joomla in Ubuntu Linux 9.04

Installing xampp
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1: Download xampp 1.7.1 for Linux to your desktop. NB: IT MUST BE XAMPP 1.7.1 Download from here - http://sourceforge.net/projects/xampp/files/XAMPP Linux/

2: Extract to /opt folder in your system files area. The best method of doing this is to do it through the console. You seem to get more permission problems when you dont do it through the console. (I tried it a thousand times from the desktop without complete success. It will extract but will not run without errors).

Use the following command - sudo tar xvfz xamp-linux-1.7.1.tar.gz -C /opt

3: To start the server do the following in your console. sudo /opt/lampp/lampp start

4: All services should start.
-To stop the server running sudo /opt/lampp/lampp stop
-or to restart if its already running sudo /opt/lampp/lampp restart

5: To check your installation open browser window and type http://localhost (If the installation was successful you should see xampp main page. Choose your language. Check to see all is working correctly. Check to see that you can enter the myphpadmin section of xampp and create a database without any errors. Hopefully success!


Installing vsftpd (ftp server)
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I know ftphd comes with xampp. But I found it easier to configure vsftpd (as I am a novice)
1: Open System > Administrator > Symantic packet manager and search for and install vsftphd
2: To configure vsftpd open the following file /etc/vsftpd.conf to change the default settings.

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When you open the file just remove the hash symbol from infront of the following commands
#Local_enable=yes (by uncommenting this you will be able to log into ftp using your linux username and password)
#write_enable=yes (will allow you to download and upload files)
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The configuration file consists of many configuration parameters. The information about each parameter is available in the configuration file. Alternatively, you can refer to the man page, man 5 vsftpd.conf for details of each parameter.

To run the vsftpd daemon use the following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/vsftpd start

Hopefully success.


Installing Joomla
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1: Download latest version of Joomla from joomla.org

2: The Joomla archive you just downloaded will have to be extracted to the /opt/lampp/htdocs/ folder. Open up console window and type sudo nautilus. Now go to the opt/lampp/lampp/htdocs and Create a folder called myjoomlasite. Right click on folder and set permissions OWNER ROOT CREATE AND DELETE FILES, GROUP ROOT CREATE AND DELETE FILES Allowing executing - NO. If you are not able to extract to this folder after changing the permissions. Open the sharing tab and SHARE the folder. You should now be able to extract the archives contents to Myjoomlasite.

3: To see if your installation was successful so far, open browser window and type http://localhost/myjoomlasite and press return. Hopefully you will be brought to the index.php page and be able to start setting up your joomla site. NB: Make sure no sql errors are displayed at the top of the page.

4: Before proceeding anymore open your xampp server http://localhost/xampp, click on myphpadmin and create a mysql database to use with your site. setup a user name for the database under the privileges section and grant all privileges click go. Your database should now be setup.

5: Go back to your joomla setup and continue with the following steps

- select language >next
- pre installation check (this checks if all the minimum system requirements are met) >next
- Licence >next
- Database (enter database details)
Database type: MYSQL
Host:Localhost
Database Username:
Password:
Database Name: (what u called your joomla database)
>next.
- FTP LAYER has to be setup if you wish to add components to joomla under linux. We have already setup vsftpd so this should be a breeze. You will be required to enter a USERNAME,PASSWORD AND FTP PATH. Username is your linux username:**** password is your linux username password) In order to get the ftp path click Auto find path. Hopefully your path will have being found eg /myjoomlasite
>next

- CONFIGURATION - by default the username is admin. And the password is the password you set. The rest is self explanatory
>next

- Before you do anything else you must remove the installation directory from your myjoomlasite folder. Go to /opt/lampp/lampp/htdocs/myjoomlasite and delete the installation directory.

*you should now be able to login into your sites administrator section.* To view your site go to http://localhost/myjoomlasite

Hope this tutorial has being of use.