Dotclear Installation on Ubuntu 20.04 with LAMP Stack

Dotclear is a freely available, open-source solution designed for publishing content on the web. It functions seamlessly on LAMP-based systems. This article walks you through deploying Dotclear on a cloud server operating on Ubuntu 20.04.

Prerequisites

Ensure the following requirements are fulfilled before proceeding with the setup:

• An instance running Ubuntu 20.04 is up and running.
• A non-root user is created and assigned sudo rights.
• A full LAMP stack is installed and configured.

Alternatively, you may utilize pre-configured LAMP image for Ubuntu 20.04 available via their Marketplace.

Step 1: Installing Required Packages

Begin by establishing an SSH connection to your server and refreshing your local package index:

$ sudo apt update

Next, install the necessary PHP module to support Apache:

$ sudo apt install libapache2-mod-php

To activate the changes, restart the Apache service:

$ sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 2: Create the Database and Associated User

Begin by accessing the database service on your server using root privileges:

$ sudo mysql -u root -p

Establish a new database named dot_clear and create a user account dot_clear_user with a secure password, replacing EXAMPLE_PASSWORD with your actual strong password.

If Using MySQL

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

If Using MariaDB

MariaDB> CREATE DATABASE dot_clear;
         GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES on dot_clear.* TO 'dot_clear_user'@'localhost' identified by 'EXAMPLE_PASSWORD';

Once completed, exit the database interface:

mysql> QUIT;

Step 3: Set Up the Directory Structure

Begin by creating a new folder named dot_clear inside your web server’s root directory:

$ sudo mkdir -p /var/www/dot_clear

Assign ownership of the directory to your current user account:

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

Navigate into the newly created folder:

$ cd /var/www/dot_clear

Download the Dotclear installer script using the following command:

$ wget https://download.dotclear.org/loader/dotclear-loader.php

Lastly, adjust the directory ownership so it belongs to the Apache user, typically www-data:

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

Step 4: Configure a Virtual Host File

Begin by disabling Apache’s default site configuration to avoid conflicts:

$ sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf

Create a new configuration file specifically for Dotclear:

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

Copy the following content into the file. Make sure to substitute example.com with your domain or public IP address:

<VirtualHost *:80>

    ServerName example.com

    DocumentRoot "/var/www/dot_clear"

    <Directory "/var/www/dot_clear">
        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>

Save your changes and close the file editor.

Then, activate the new Dotclear virtual host configuration:

$ sudo a2ensite dot_clear.conf

Finally, reload Apache so it recognizes and uses the updated host settings:

$ sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 5: Verify the Installation

Open your web browser and visit the following address, replacing example.com with either your domain name or server’s public IP:

http://example.com/dotclear-loader.php

A welcome screen titled Dotclear NetInstall should appear.

Click the button labeled Retrieve and unzip Dotclear to move forward with the setup.

Fill in your database information in the respective fields and then click Continue.

On the next screen, still under Dotclear NetInstall, create an administrator account and click Save to proceed.

Once completed, head to this URL to view your freshly installed website:

http://example.com/dotclear/index.php

The installer will still refer to this as Dotclear NetInstall.

To access the administrative dashboard, visit the following link and log in with the credentials you just created:

http://example.com/dotclear/admin/

You have now successfully completed the Dotclear installation.

Conclusion

By completing these steps, you have successfully configured the essential environment required to run Dotclear on Ubuntu 20.04 cloud instance. With the system dependencies installed and the database setup finalized, your server is now ready for the Dotclear application deployment process. Continue with the remaining setup steps in the Dotclear documentation to finish your blog or content management platform installation.