Install Grav CMS on FreeBSD 13

Introduction

Grav is an open-source Content Management System (CMS) used for creating and managing website content. It's based on PHP and uses a flat-file database for storing its data. It focuses majorly on performance, speed, and simplicity. Some features are:

• Content creation using a markdown editor.
• One-click installs for extensions and themes.
• Search Engine Optimization friendly through configuration.
• Content filtering uses unlimited taxonomies such as tags, categories, etc.
• Multi-language support.
• Backups and restores of your data when changing hosts.
• Dynamic image manipulation.
• Theme customization.
• Version control support.

You can read more on the available features.

This article explains how to install Grav CMS on FreeBSD 13.0 server.

Prerequisites

Perform the following steps first:

• Deploy a Vultr FreeBSD 13.0 Server.
• SSH into the server you deployed.
• Create a non-root user with sudo access.

Step 1. Install Required Packages

Update the system package list.

$ pkg update

Install required packages.

$ pkg install -y sudo nano unzip wget bash

Install PHP 7.4 and more modules.

$ sudo pkg install -y apache24 mysql80-server mod_php74 php74 php74-session php74-curl php74-xml php74-zip php74-mbstring php74-ctype php74-imap php74-simplexml php74-tokenizer php74-xmlreader php74-xmlwriter php74-pear php74-fileinfo php74-json php74-phar php74-exif php74-iconv php74-mysqli php74-pdo_mysql php74-dom php74-filter php74-intl php74-openssl php74-intl php74-opcache php74-gd php74-zlib php74-openssl

Enable PHP-FPM service.

$ sudo sysrc php_fpm_enable=yes

Start PHP-FPM service.

$ sudo service php-fpm start

Copy the sample PHP configuration file.

$ sudo cp /usr/local/etc/php.ini-production /usr/local/etc/php.ini

Step 2. Install Grav CMS

Download the latest version of Grav CMS. Please visit official release page to find the latest releases.

$ wget -O grav.zip https://getgrav.org/download/core/grav-admin/1.7.30

Unzip the downloaded zip files.

$ sudo unzip grav.zip

Rename the extracted directory.

$ sudo mv grav-admin grav

Move the renamed directory to the web root.

$ sudo mv grav /usr/local/www/apache24/data/

Delete the downloaded zip files after unzipping it.

$ sudo rm grav.zip

Change ownership of the installation directory.

$ sudo chown -R www:www /usr/local/www/apache24/data/grav

Change access permissions for the directory.

$ sudo chmod -R 755 /usr/local/www/apache24/data/grav

Step 3. Configure Apache2

Enable Apache service to start on system boot.

$ sudo sysrc apache24_enable=yes

Start Apache service.

$ sudo service apache24 start

Create a configuration file to allow Apache to work with PHP.

$ sudo nano /usr/local/etc/apache24/modules.d/001_mod-php.conf

Add the following lines of code to the file. Then, save and close the file.

<IfModule dir_module>
    DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
    <FilesMatch "\.php$">
        SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
    </FilesMatch>
    <FilesMatch "\.phps$">
        SetHandler application/x-httpd-php-source
    </FilesMatch>
</IfModule>

Create Apache configuration file for Grav CMS named grav.conf.

$ sudo nano /usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/grav.conf

Add the below code to the file. Save and close the file.

<VirtualHost *:80>

    ServerAdmin admin@example.com
    DocumentRoot /usr/local/www/apache24/data/grav
    ServerName example.com

    <Directory /usr/local/www/apache24/data/grav/>
        Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

</VirtualHost>

Test the configuration.

$ sudo apachectl configtest

Enable mod_rewrite by editing the apache configuration file.

$ sudo nano /usr/local/etc/apache24/httpd.conf

Comment out the following line. Then, save and close the file:

LoadModule rewrite_module libexec/apache24/mod_rewrite.so

Restart Apache service.

$ sudo service apache24 restart

Step 4. Access Grav CMS

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

http://192.0.2.11/

Conclusion

You have installed Grav CMS on your FreeBSD 13.0 server. Access the installation page, and follow the wizard to set up the administrator account. You can now check the official documentation to learn more about using Grav CMS.