By robclay on

I am running Drupal on a Nitix box right now. Nitix seems to be very stable and pretty easy for a windows guy (such as me) to administer. And, Boy, they have made it really secure... (How secure is it???) It is so secure, they do not let you change any of the operating parameters! Anyway... It's a good box, but I don't think it fits the bill as far as Drupal is concerned. Simple items such as Clean Urls are not and WILL NOT be allowed.

So that being said: I am building a brand new Linux Box.

I plan to use Debian unless there is a reason that i should use a different flavor. (Please respond if yoou think I am making a mistake.)

Is there a howto written for someone that wants to be able to install Drupal on a linux box and best practices for what I should install? i.e. has anyone written a step-by-step? Install apache 1st, then GD, then mysql, then phpmyadmin, set A = Yes, B = No , etc. etc. etc.

Thanks for any input.

Comments

iowamf’s picture

iowamf commented

That type of question can start minor wars ... but I think Mandrake is fine.

However, I'm using Fedora core 3 w/ both CivicSpace & Drupal and I know it works. (Don't attempt the Fedora core 4 test 1 yet though!).

Fedora is at fedora.redhat.com and I got CivicSpace running with zero additional software (had to turn on mysqld & httpd via System Systems -> Server Settings -> Services though).

I only have logs for installing CivicSpace on fc3 - perhaps they'll help:

/* untarred everything to /var/www/html */
mysqladmin -u cc_dba -p create civicspace
mysql -u cc_dba -p
mysql
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGS on civicspace.* to 'cc_dba'@'localhost' INDENTIFIED by 'password' ;
mysql> flush privileges
mysql> \q
mysql -u cc_dba -p civicspace < database/civicspace.mysql
mysql -u cc_dba -p civicspace < database/zipcodes.mysql

Then vi'ed /etc/php.ini and changed session_save_handler to "user" & changed memory_limit from 8M to 24M.

Last, http://hostname/install.php and answered the questions.

There were 2 or 3 file permission issues, but a chmod ugo+w on the files referenced solved it.

I've got some nitix boxes as well - I'd like to try it on those. What ver of Nitix do you have it installed on and do you have any install hints for Nitix?

robclay’s picture

robclay commented

This is just a note to anyone that has tried to suffer with Drupal installation on a NITIX box...

Make a php.ini file and put it in the website team's home directory... i.e. same directory as WW and CGI-BIN.

Contents of php.ini:

register_globals = On
include_path = ".:/usr/local/php/share/pear"
track_vars = On
short_open_tag = On
magic_quotes_gpc = Off
magic_quotes_runtime = Off
magic_quotes_sybase = Off
arg_separator.output = "&"
session.cache_expire = 200000
session.gc_maxlifetime = 200000
session.cookie_lifetime = 2000000
session.auto_start = Off
session.save_handler = user
session.cache_limiter = none
allow_call_time_pass_reference =

I hope this saves someone some time.

iowamf’s picture

iowamf commented

Update - I got the latest drupal cvs (4.6RC) version running on fedora core 4 test 1 machine.

I don't think any earlier version of drupal will run on fedora core 4 due to php5

[root@localhost drupal]# php -v
PHP 5.0.3 (cgi) (built: Mar 2 2005 03:40:23)
Copyright (c) 1997-2004 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.0.3, Copyright (c) 1998-2004 Zend Technologies

[root@localhost drupal]# uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.11-1.1177_FC4smp #1 SMP Tue Mar 8 17:49:09 EST 2005 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
[root@localhost drupal]#

Uwe Hermann’s picture

Uwe Hermann commented

If you decide for Debian, there's a package for Drupal, so 

apt-get install drupal

is all you need to install it. But it basically doesn't matter which distribution you use...

Uwe.
--
hermann-uwe.de | crazy-hacks.org | unmaintained-free-software.org

kbahey’s picture

kbahey commented

The distro you use is really irrelevant as far as Drupal is concerned. Anything that runs Apache, MySQL and PHP will run, whether it is Linux, BSD, OS/X or Windows.

So use what you are comfortable with, and what you can get assistance for.

For me, I use Mandrake 10.x at home. It is a very good distro, and I have been using it for years. I have used Red Hat in the past, and it was good as well.

Drupal runs fine on it.

--
Consulting: 2bits.com
Personal: Baheyeldin.com

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Personal blog: Ba

killes@www.drop.org’s picture

killes@www.drop.org commented

There could be a problem with Debian: Drupal 4.6 will require PHP 4.3 for its search function. Debian stable still only provides PHP 4.1. Our Debian packager might be able to backport a package, though.
--
If you have troubles with a particular contrib project, please consider filing a support request. Thanks. And, by the way, Drupal 4.6 will support PHP 5.

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styro’s picture

styro commented

Yep, being a Debain user I'm a little concerned about the PHP version requirements for 4.6 as well. One thing that may mitigate that though - apparently the security patching infrastructure for Debian Sarge is just about ready now (or may already be?). Once that is up, I'll have no problems switching to Sarge for a production server.

Uwe Hermann’s picture

Uwe Hermann commented

Ok, that might be a problem. Unstable has a recent PHP 4.3, though (and yes, I run unstable on several production boxes).

Uwe.
--
hermann-uwe.de | crazy-hacks.org | unmaintained-free-software.org

owen barton’s picture

owen barton commented

I run Drupal 4.5 on Debian testing with no problems. Clean URLs needed a few tweaks to the Drupal .htaccess:

  # Rewrite URLs of the form 'index.php?q=x':
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [L,QSA]

You will need to add 'AllowOverride All' to the httpd.conf declaration for the site.

Apart from that there should be no problems. I wouldn't worry about the 'testing' tag unless you anticipate extreme hacking attempts! It will become the stable distribution 'any time now' anyway, and drupal in general is very security oriented.

- Grugnog

robclay’s picture

robclay commented

I haven't spent enough time with this yet... but I went ahead and started on a debian install... and then was stopped by the failure of the install to detect my CD. (Although it boots from it!) Anyway... before I spend time troubleshooting - I may switch to Mandrake if there may be problems with PHP and debian for Drupal 4.6.

Thanks again for the input!

robclay’s picture

robclay commented

After reading this thread - I ALMOST finished the debian install - but it didn't like my Ethernet card - D-Link DFE-530TX. For kicks and because of the possible incompatibility with Stable Debia's version of PHP - I downloaded and installed Mandrake. Things have come a long way for both packages as far as installation is concerned! Mandrake Install was nice - recognized everything and is up and running... now I need to familiarize myself with it. For starters I tried to install Firefox - and have had no luck - but that will be my first test and familiarization.

Question - Will I use KDE for installing drupal or will I be dropping to a terminal window? (I am still Dos 3.1 fan - so Command Lines are my friends!)

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

The basic instructions use cmd line. The tools you use however is really up to you and what makes it more comfortable to have fun.

-sp
---------
Test site...always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

Toe’s picture

Toe commented

Mepis Linux uses Drupal for their website, why not consider them? :)

(Though I see they've given up on using Drupal's shitty search function on their site. Can't say I blame them...)

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

Thank you for your detailed and informative critique on the built in search. I look forward to your contribution of an improved search function to Drupal. Will it be ready in time for 4.6 core or will you be contributing a module?

As a seperate note, please remember you can pay someone to improve aspects of an open source project you feel need attention if you are unable to constructively contribute yourself. This may be an unexplored avenue you might not have considered before.

In the meantime, I will continue to succesfully use Drupal and benefit from the thousands of hours of unpaid contributions.

-sp
---------
Test site...always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

Toe’s picture

Toe commented

Thank you for your detailed and informative critique on a small sidenote of my post. I look forward to your policing of the forums. Will you be removing the stick from your ass yourself or does it require surgery?

The fact that one of the largest Drupal communities out there abandoned Drupal's built-in search should say enough here.

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

You're 'aside' (which looks to be a signature line) was less then helpful and quite frankly offensive.

You don't like the built in search? Please present code or a constructive critique on how you think it could be better. I posted a polite and I hoped informative method that you could participate in improving a feature that a volunteer worked on. A volunteer I shall point out that answered one of your posted questions.

Search has improved since 4.4. Can it still be improved on? Sure. Could others help? You bet. Help is welcome. Failing that, you can still hook in to Google in a custom block without name calling and profanity.

From your comment you seemed new to Open Source. You do not seem very active in Drupal (http://drupal.org/user/10587/track) I was trying to be helpful and suggest ways that you could help. What did I say to offend you that your first resort is to insult me? Besides, I hardly see mepis as on eof the largest Drupal sites out there.

As to your other question, we are called site-maintainers (http://drupal.org/site-maintainers) not forum police.

-sp
---------
Test site...always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

Carlos Miranda Levy’s picture

Carlos Miranda Levy commented

I'm hiring a new Linux box because I just got tired of problems at my old Linux hosting provider.

The new provider gives me 2 choices for Linux flavors:

CentOS 3 Enterprise Linux
Fedora Linux Core 3

Any preference or recommendation on which to choose?

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Con paciencia y calma,
sube un burro a una palma