4 We've tried very hard to ensure that Friendika will run on commodity hosting
5 platforms - such as those used to host Wordpress blogs and Drupal websites.
6 But be aware that Friendika is more than a simple web application. It is a
7 complex communications system which more closely resembles an email server
8 than a web server. For reliability and performance, messages are delivered in
9 the background and are queued for later delivery when sites are down. This
10 kind of functionality requires a bit more of the host system than the typical
11 blog. Not every PHP/MySQL hosting provider will be able to support Friendika.
12 Many will. But please review the requirements and confirm these with your
13 hosting provider prior to installation.
15 Before you begin: Choose a domain name or subdomain name for your server.
16 Put some thought into this - because changing it is currently not-supported.
17 Things will break, and some of your friends may have difficulty communicating
18 with you. We plan to address this limitation in a future release.
22 - Apache with mod-rewrite enabled and "Options All" so you can use a
25 - PHP 5.2+. The later the better. You'll need 5.3 for encryption of key
26 exchange conversations
28 - PHP *command line* access with register_argc_argv set to true in the
30 - curl, gd, mysql, and openssl extensions
31 - some form of email server or email gateway such that PHP mail() works
32 - mcrypt (optional; used for end-to-end message encryption)
36 - ability to schedule jobs with cron (Linux/Mac) or Scheduled Tasks
37 (Windows) [Note: other options are presented in Section 7 of this document]
39 - Installation into a top-level domain or sub-domain (without a
40 directory/path component in the URL) is preferred. Directory paths will
41 not be as convenient to use and have not been thoroughly tested.
43 [Dreamhost.com offers all of the necessary hosting features at a
44 reasonable price. If your hosting provider doesn't allow Unix shell access,
45 you might have trouble getting everything to work.]
47 2. Unpack the Friendika files into the root of your web server document area.
49 - If you copy the directory tree to your webserver, make sure
50 that you also copy .htaccess - as "dot" files are often hidden
51 and aren't normally copied.
53 3. Create an empty database and note the access details (hostname, username,
54 password, database name).
56 4. Visit your website with a web browser and follow the instructions. Please
57 note any error messages and correct these before continuing.
59 5. *If* the automated installation fails for any reason, check the following:
61 - ".htconfig.php" exists
62 If not, edit htconfig.php and change system settings. Rename
64 - Database is populated.
65 If not, import the contents of "database.sql" with phpmyadmin
68 6. At this point visit your website again, and register your personal account.
69 Registration errors should all be recoverable automatically.
70 If you get any *critical* failure at this point, it generally indicates the
71 database was not installed correctly. You might wish to move/rename
72 .htconfig.php to another name and empty (called 'dropping') the database
73 tables, so that you can start fresh.
75 ****************************************************************************
76 ****************************************************************************
77 ******** THIS NEXT STEP IS IMPORTANT!!!! ***********
78 ****************************************************************************
79 ****************************************************************************
81 7. Set up a cron job or scheduled task to run the poller once every 5-10
82 minutes to pick up the recent "public" postings of your friends. Example:
84 cd /base/directory; /path/to/php include/poller.php
86 Change "/base/directory", and "/path/to/php" as appropriate for your situation.
88 If you are using a Linux server, run "crontab -e" and add a line like the
89 one shown, substituting for your unique paths and settings:
91 */10 * * * * cd /home/myname/mywebsite; /usr/bin/php include/poller.php
93 You can generally find the location of PHP by executing "which php". If you
94 have troubles with this section please contact your hosting provider for
95 assistance. Friendika will not work correctly if you cannot perform this step.
97 Alternative: You may be able to use the 'poormancron' plugin to perform this
98 step if you are using a recent Friendika release. To do this, edit the file
99 ".htconfig.php" and look for a line describing your plugins. On a fresh
100 installation, it will look like
102 $a->config['system']['addon'] = 'js_upload';
104 This indicates the "js_upload" addon module is enabled. You may add additional
105 addons/plugins using this same line in the configuration file. Change it to
108 $a->config['system']['addon'] = 'js_upload,poormancron';
110 and save your changes.