Install BlogoText CMS on Ubuntu 20.04

Introduction

BlogoText is an open-source, lightweight blog engine for creating small blogs and websites. Some of its significant features are:

• Blog with comments and RSS feeds.
• Links sharing.
• RSS Reader.
• Images/Files uploading and sharing.
• JSON/ZIP/HTML import-export.
• Support for add-ons.

This article explains how to install BlogoText CMS on Ubuntu 20.04 server.

Prerequisites

• Deploy a fully updated Vultr Ubuntu 20.04 Server.
• Create a non-root user with sudo access.
• PHP > 5.5.
• SQLite or MySQL with PDO support.

1. Install Required Packages

1. SSH to your server as a non-root user with sudo access.

2. Update the system package list to update all packages to the latest available versions.

    $ sudo apt update

3. Install PHP 7.4 and more modules.

    $ sudo apt install apache2 mysql-server php7.4 libapache2-mod-php7.4 php7.4-json php7.4-common php7.4-gmp php7.4-curl php7.4-mysql php7.4-intl php7.4-sqlite3 php7.4-mbstring php7.4-xmlrpc php7.4-gd php7.4-cli php7.4-xml php7.4-zip php7.4-imap wget unzip -y

4. List available time zones and choose your preference.

    $ sudo timedatectl list-timezones

5. Edit the PHP configuration file.

    $ sudo nano /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini

   Change the following values, and replace Africa/Nairobi with your timezone save and close the file. To search for a specific line, use Control+W, enter search phrase then press Enter.

    max_execution_time = 360
    memory_limit = 256M
    upload_max_filesize = 100M
    date.timezone = Africa/Nairobi

6. Restart Apache2 service for all changes made to take effect.

    $ sudo systemctl restart apache2

2. Create BlogoText Database

1. Log in to MySQL shell. At the password prompt, just press Enter to continue.

    $ sudo mysql -u root -p

2. Create a database called blogotext.

    CREATE DATABASE blogotext;

3. Create a database user called blogotextuser with a password StrongPassword.

    CREATE USER 'blogotextuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPassword';

4. Grant the user full access to the database.

    GRANT ALL ON blogotext.* TO 'blogotextuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

5. Save the changes made to the database.

    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

6. Exit MySQL shell.

    exit;

3. Install BlogoText

1. Download the latest version of BlogoText. Get the latest version from the official releases page.

    $ wget https://github.com/BlogoText/blogotext/archive/3.7.6.zip

2. Unzip the downloaded files.

    $ sudo unzip 3.7.6.zip

3. Crate the installation directory /var/www/html/blogotext.

    $ sudo mkdir /var/www/html/blogotext

4. Move the extracted files into the installation directory.

    $ sudo mv blogotext-3.7.6/* /var/www/html/blogotext

5. Change ownership of the installation directory.

    $ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/blogotext

6. Change access permissions for the directory.

    $ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/blogotext

4. Configure Apache2

1. Create a new Apache configuration file called blogotext.conf.

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

   Copy and paste the code below to the file. Then, save and exit the file.

    <VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerAdmin admin@example.com
        DocumentRoot /var/www/html/blogotext
        ServerName example.com
   
        <Directory /var/www/html/blogotext/>
            Options FollowSymlinks
            AllowOverride All
            Require all granted
        </Directory>
   
        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
    </VirtualHost>

2. Disable Apache default configuration file.

    $ sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf

3. Enable BlogoText Apache configuration file.

    $ sudo a2ensite blogotext.conf

4. Enable Apache rewrite mode.

    $ sudo a2enmod rewrite

5. Restart Apache service.

    $ sudo systemctl restart apache2

5. Access BlogoText Web Interface

To access the BlogoText Web Interface, go to your browser and visit http://Server_IP/. For example:

http://192.0.2.10/

Conclusion

You have installed BlogoText on your server. Access the installation page and complete the process by creating an administrator account and connecting your database.