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   1  
   2  CONTENTS OF THIS FILE
   3  ---------------------
   4  
   5   * Requirements
   6   * Optional requirements
   7   * Installation
   8   * Drupal administration
   9   * Customizing your theme(s)
  10   * Multisite Configuration
  11   * More Information
  12  
  13  REQUIREMENTS
  14  ------------
  15  
  16  Drupal requires a web server, PHP 4 (4.3.5 or greater) or PHP 5
  17  (http://www.php.net/) and either MySQL (http://www.mysql.com/) or PostgreSQL
  18  (http://www.postgresql.org/). The Apache web server and MySQL database are
  19  recommended; other web server and database combinations such as IIS and
  20  PostgreSQL have been tested to a lesser extent. When using MySQL, version 4.1.1
  21  or greater is recommended to assure you can safely transfer the database.
  22  
  23  For more detailed information about Drupal requirements, see "Requirements"
  24  (http://drupal.org/requirements) in the Drupal handbook.
  25  
  26  For detailed information on how to configure a test server environment using
  27  a variety of operating systems and web servers, see "Local server setup"
  28  (http://drupal.org/node/157602) in the Drupal handbook.
  29  
  30  OPTIONAL TASKS
  31  --------------
  32  
  33  - To use XML-based services such as the Blogger API and RSS syndication,
  34    you will need PHP's XML extension. This extension is enabled by default.
  35  
  36  - To use Drupal's "Clean URLs" feature on an Apache web server, you will need
  37    the mod_rewrite module and the ability to use local .htaccess files. For
  38    Clean URLs support on IIS, see "Using Clean URLs with IIS"
  39    (http://drupal.org/node/3854) in the Drupal handbook.
  40  
  41  - Various Drupal features require that the web server process (for
  42    example, httpd) be able to initiate outbound connections. This is usually
  43    possible, but some hosting providers or server configurations forbid such
  44    connections. The features that depend on this functionality include the
  45    integrated "Update status" module (which downloads information about
  46    available updates of Drupal core and any installed contributed modules and
  47    themes), the ability to log in via OpenID, fetching aggregator feeds, or
  48    other network-dependent services.
  49  
  50  
  51  INSTALLATION
  52  ------------
  53  
  54  1. DOWNLOAD DRUPAL AND OPTIONALLY A TRANSLATION
  55  
  56     You can obtain the latest Drupal release from http://drupal.org/. The files
  57     are in .tar.gz format and can be extracted using most compression tools. On a
  58     typical Unix command line, use:
  59  
  60       wget http://drupal.org/files/projects/drupal-x.x.tar.gz
  61       tar -zxvf drupal-x.x.tar.gz
  62  
  63     This will create a new directory drupal-x.x/ containing all Drupal files
  64     and directories. Move the contents of that directory into a directory within
  65     your web server's document root or your public HTML directory:
  66  
  67       mv drupal-x.x/* drupal-x.x/.htaccess /var/www/html
  68  
  69     If you would like to have the default English interface translated to a
  70     different language, we have good news. You can install and use Drupal in
  71     other languages from the start. Check whether a released package of the
  72     language desired is available for this Drupal version at
  73     http://localize.drupal.org and download the package. Extract
  74     the contents to the same directory where you extracted Drupal into.
  75  
  76  2. CREATE THE CONFIGURATION FILE AND GRANT WRITE PERMISSIONS
  77  
  78     Drupal comes with a default.settings.php file in the sites/default
  79     directory. The installer uses this file as a template to create your
  80     settings file using the details you provide through the install process.
  81     To avoid problems when upgrading, Drupal is not packaged with an actual
  82     settings file. You must create a file named settings.php. You may do so
  83     by making a copy of default.settings.php (or create an empty file with
  84     this name in the same directory). For example, (from the installation
  85     directory) make a copy of the default.settings.php file with the command:
  86  
  87       cp sites/default/default.settings.php sites/default/settings.php
  88  
  89     Next, give the web server write privileges to the sites/default/settings.php
  90     file with the command (from the installation directory):
  91  
  92       chmod o+w sites/default/settings.php
  93  
  94    So that the files directory can be created automatically, give the web server
  95    write privileges to the sites/default directory with the command (from the
  96    installation directory):
  97  
  98       chmod o+w sites/default
  99  
 100  3. CREATE THE DRUPAL DATABASE
 101  
 102     Drupal requires access to a database in order to be installed. Your database
 103     user will need sufficient privileges to run Drupal. Additional information
 104     about privileges, and instructions to create a database using the command
 105     line are available in INSTALL.mysql.txt (for MySQL) or INSTALL.pgsql.txt
 106     (for PostgreSQL).
 107  
 108     To create a database using PHPMyAdmin or a web-based control panel consult
 109     the documentation or ask your webhost service provider.
 110  
 111     Take note of the username, password, database name and hostname as you
 112     create the database. You will enter these items in the install script.
 113  
 114  4. RUN THE INSTALL SCRIPT
 115  
 116     To run the install script point your browser to the base URL of your website
 117     (e.g., http://www.example.com).
 118  
 119     You will be guided through several screens to set up the database,
 120     create tables, add the first user account and provide basic web
 121     site settings.
 122  
 123     The install script will attempt to create a files storage directory
 124     in the default location at sites/default/files (the location of the
 125     files directory may be changed after Drupal is installed). In some
 126     cases, you may need to create the directory and modify its permissions
 127     manually. Use the following commands (from the installation directory)
 128     to create the files directory and grant the web server write privileges to it:
 129  
 130       mkdir sites/default/files
 131       chmod o+w sites/default/files
 132  
 133     The install script will attempt to write-protect the settings.php file and
 134     the sites/default directory after saving your configuration. However, you
 135     may need to manually write-protect them using the commands (from the
 136     installation directory):
 137  
 138       chmod a-w sites/default/settings.php
 139       chmod a-w sites/default
 140  
 141     If you make manual changes to the file later, be sure to protect it again
 142     after making your modifications. Failure to remove write permissions to that
 143     file is a security risk. Although the default location for the settings.php
 144     file is at sites/default/settings.php, it may be in another location
 145     if you use the multi-site setup, as explained below.
 146  
 147  5. CONFIGURE DRUPAL
 148  
 149     When the install script succeeds, you will be directed to the "Welcome"
 150     page, and you will be logged in as the administrator already. Proceed with
 151     the initial configuration steps suggested on the "Welcome" page.
 152  
 153     If the default Drupal theme is not displaying properly and links on the page
 154     result in "Page Not Found" errors, try manually setting the $base_url variable
 155     in the settings.php file if not already set. It's currently known that servers
 156     running FastCGI can run into problems if the $base_url variable is left
 157     commented out (see http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=19656).
 158  
 159  6. REVIEW FILE SYSTEM STORAGE SETTINGS AND FILE PERMISSIONS
 160  
 161     The files directory created in step 4 is the default file system path used
 162     to store all uploaded files, as well as some temporary files created by Drupal.
 163     After installation, the settings for the file system path may be modified
 164     to store uploaded files in a different location.
 165  
 166     It is not necessary to modify this path, but you may wish to change it if:
 167  
 168       * your site runs multiple Drupal installations from a single codebase
 169         (modify the file system path of each installation to a different
 170         directory so that uploads do not overlap between installations); or,
 171  
 172       * your site runs a number of web server front-ends behind a load
 173         balancer or reverse proxy (modify the file system path on each
 174         server to point to a shared file repository).
 175  
 176     To modify the file system path:
 177  
 178       * Ensure that the new location for the path exists or create it if
 179         necessary. To create a new directory named uploads, for example,
 180         use the following command from a shell or system prompt (while in
 181         the installation directory):
 182  
 183             mkdir uploads
 184  
 185       * Ensure that the new location for the path is writable by the web
 186         server process. To grant write permissions for a directory named
 187         uploads, you may need to use the following command from a shell
 188         or system prompt (while in the installation directory):
 189  
 190             chmod o+w uploads
 191  
 192       * Access the file system path settings in Drupal by selecting these
 193         menu items from the Navigation menu:
 194  
 195             Administer > Site configuration > File system
 196  
 197         Enter the path to the new location (e.g.: uploads) at the File
 198         System Path prompt.
 199  
 200     Changing the file system path after files have been uploaded may cause
 201     unexpected problems on an existing site. If you modify the file system path
 202     on an existing site, remember to copy all files from the original location
 203     to the new location.
 204  
 205     Some administrators suggest making the documentation files, especially
 206     CHANGELOG.txt, non-readable so that the exact version of Drupal you are
 207     running is slightly more difficult to determine. If you wish to implement
 208     this optional security measure, use the following command from a shell or
 209     system prompt (while in the installation directory):
 210  
 211            chmod a-r CHANGELOG.txt
 212  
 213     Note that the example only affects CHANGELOG.txt. To completely hide
 214     all documentation files from public view, repeat this command for each of
 215     the Drupal documentation files in the installation directory, substituting the
 216     name of each file for CHANGELOG.txt in the example.
 217  
 218     For more information on setting file permissions, see "Modifying Linux, Unix,
 219     and Mac file permissions" (http://drupal.org/node/202483) or "Modifying
 220     Windows file permissions" (http://drupal.org/node/202491) in the online
 221     handbook.
 222  
 223  7. CRON MAINTENANCE TASKS
 224  
 225     Many Drupal modules have periodic tasks that must be triggered by a cron
 226     maintenance task, including search module (to build and update the index
 227     used for keyword searching), aggregator module (to retrieve feeds from other
 228     sites), ping module (to notify other sites about new or updated content), and
 229     system module (to perform routine maintenance and pruning on system tables).
 230     To activate these tasks, call the cron page by visiting
 231     http://www.example.com/cron.php, which, in turn, executes tasks on behalf
 232     of installed modules.
 233  
 234     Most systems support the crontab utility for scheduling tasks like this. The
 235     following example crontab line will activate the cron tasks automatically on
 236     the hour:
 237  
 238     0   *   *   *   *   wget -O - -q -t 1 http://www.example.com/cron.php
 239  
 240     More information about cron maintenance tasks are available in the help pages
 241     and in Drupal's online handbook at http://drupal.org/cron. Example scripts can
 242     be found in the scripts/ directory.
 243  
 244  DRUPAL ADMINISTRATION
 245  ---------------------
 246  
 247  A new installation of Drupal defaults to a very basic configuration with only a
 248  few active modules and minimal user access rights.
 249  
 250  Use your administration panel to enable and configure services. For example:
 251  
 252  General Settings       Administer > Site configuration > Site information
 253  Enable Modules         Administer > Site building > Modules
 254  Configure Themes       Administer > Site building > Themes
 255  Set User Permissions   Administer > User management > Permissions
 256  
 257  For more information on configuration options, read the instructions which
 258  accompany the different configuration settings and consult the various help
 259  pages available in the administration panel.
 260  
 261  Community-contributed modules and themes are available at http://drupal.org/.
 262  
 263  CUSTOMIZING YOUR THEME(S)
 264  -------------------------
 265  
 266  Now that your installation is running, you will want to customize the look of
 267  your site. Several sample themes are included and more can be downloaded from
 268  drupal.org.
 269  
 270  Simple customization of your theme can be done using only CSS. Further changes
 271  require understanding the phptemplate engine that is part of Drupal. See
 272  http://drupal.org/handbook/customization to find out more.
 273  
 274  MULTISITE CONFIGURATION
 275  -----------------------
 276  
 277  A single Drupal installation can host several Drupal-powered sites, each with
 278  its own individual configuration.
 279  
 280  Additional site configurations are created in subdirectories within the 'sites'
 281  directory. Each subdirectory must have a 'settings.php' file which specifies the
 282  configuration settings. The easiest way to create additional sites is to copy
 283  the 'default' directory and modify the 'settings.php' file as appropriate. The
 284  new directory name is constructed from the site's URL. The configuration for
 285  www.example.com could be in 'sites/example.com/settings.php' (note that 'www.'
 286  should be omitted if users can access your site at http://example.com/).
 287  
 288  Sites do not have to have a different domain. You can also use subdomains and
 289  subdirectories for Drupal sites. For example, example.com, sub.example.com,
 290  and sub.example.com/site3 can all be defined as independent Drupal sites. The
 291  setup for a configuration such as this would look like the following:
 292  
 293    sites/default/settings.php
 294    sites/example.com/settings.php
 295    sites/sub.example.com/settings.php
 296    sites/sub.example.com.site3/settings.php
 297  
 298  When searching for a site configuration (for example www.sub.example.com/site3),
 299  Drupal will search for configuration files in the following order, using the
 300  first configuration it finds:
 301  
 302    sites/www.sub.example.com.site3/settings.php
 303    sites/sub.example.com.site3/settings.php
 304    sites/example.com.site3/settings.php
 305    sites/www.sub.example.com/settings.php
 306    sites/sub.example.com/settings.php
 307    sites/example.com/settings.php
 308    sites/default/settings.php
 309  
 310  If you are installing on a non-standard port, the port number is treated as the
 311  deepest subdomain. For example: http://www.example.com:8080/ could be loaded
 312  from sites/8080.www.example.com/. The port number will be removed according to
 313  the pattern above if no port-specific configuration is found, just like a real
 314  subdomain.
 315  
 316  Each site configuration can have its own site-specific modules and themes in
 317  addition to those installed in the standard 'modules' and 'themes' directories.
 318  To use site-specific modules or themes, simply create a 'modules' or 'themes'
 319  directory within the site configuration directory. For example, if
 320  sub.example.com has a custom theme and a custom module that should not be
 321  accessible to other sites, the setup would look like this:
 322  
 323    sites/sub.example.com/:
 324    settings.php
 325    themes/custom_theme
 326    modules/custom_module
 327  
 328  NOTE: for more information about multiple virtual hosts or the configuration
 329  settings, consult the Drupal handbook at drupal.org.
 330  
 331  For more information on configuring Drupal's file system path in a multi-site
 332  configuration, see step 6 above.
 333  
 334  MORE INFORMATION
 335  ----------------
 336  
 337  - For additional documentation, see the online Drupal handbook at
 338    http://drupal.org/handbook.
 339  
 340  - For a list of security announcements, see the "Security announcements" page
 341    at http://drupal.org/security (available as an RSS feed). This page also
 342    describes how to subscribe to these announcements via e-mail.
 343  
 344  - For information about the Drupal security process, or to find out how to report
 345    a potential security issue to the Drupal security team, see the "Security team"
 346    page at http://drupal.org/security-team.
 347  
 348  - For information about the wide range of available support options, see the
 349    "Support" page at http://drupal.org/support.