Talk:Step-by-step Installation Guide for Ubuntu

I hope this shows how easy it is to setup an Ubuntu Moodle test server. I'll be adding more to this page as time progresses.

Mikel Stous 00:01, 24 January 2007 (CST)

I just spent 2 days trying to make moodle work with edubuntu gutsy. The package comes on the install CD, but after installing from synaptic all I got at the http://localhost/moodle/admin screen was a blank page. The secret is, after installing edubuntu, to configure a standard LAMP server. I did it like this:

launch aptitude

sudo aptitude

from a command line. Use the navigation arrows to tasks, hit enter, navigate to LAMP server, hit + g g .

It will download a whole lot of extra packages and when you go to http://localhost/moodle/admin all will be well. --Quinton Reissmann 04:42, 16 November 2007 (CST)

---

There might be some problems here.

They are pretty out of date. If you are using Gutsy, run "sudo tasksel" to install the LAMP server stuff.

Also, I think people should make a mysql user and database just for moodle instead of using the root mysql password. Your instructions also grant access to the moodle database for all mysql users. Really it's just easiest to use phpmyadmin to configure mysql.

In phpmyadmin, just click on Privileges, then create a new user with a name like 'moodledatabase', and check 'create a database with the same name.'

Also, the instructions say "replace /var/www/ with /var/www/moodle/" in the apache conf files. That's only necessary if you want moodle to be the default homepage for your website.

The easiest way to have the correct php settings is to run this command:

sudo cp /usr/share/doc/php5-common/examples/php.ini-recommended /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

People using the moodle package from ubuntu realize it is months out of date and may have bugs. For example, the current package doesn't include php5-ldap when you install it.

Also the instructions here forget about the configuring part, and the part about setting up Cron, see: https://docs.moodle.org/en/Installation_Quickstart https://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_Moodle https://docs.moodle.org/en/Cron

"

1. Go to http://yourserver/install.php or http://yourserver/subfolders/install.php to start the installation
2. Download the config.php file from your webserver and place in the moodle root if prompted "

"

Lastly, there's no mention in the docs, but you either need to install a mail server, or go to Site Administration->Server->Email and put in info about an outside smtp server to use, otherwise no one will be able to login to your site (if you have email-based registration).

Instead of command line mysql administration you could phpmyadmin. I will write a guide in the followink days how to install and configure phpmyadmin and create a moodle db.(KOS), March. 20, 2008 - Moodlerooms Assignment)

On 2.6 Install Moodle

It says to edit lines five and ten. Lines five and ten in what file? My best guess is httpd.conf, but shouldn't it say so? --Richard Enison 14:59, 6 May 2008 (CDT)

Easier Way

You know now you can just do

sudo apt-get install moodle

and it will install moodle and take care of all the dependencies for you. --David Somers-Harris 07:31, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Easier Way - really?

I expect it is true that a simple Moodle installation will deal with the SQL and Apache dependencies, but since I am already almost through these instructions, it is a bit late to discover i need not have bothered. I expect if I now run 'sudo apt-get install moodle' I will get loads of unable to create database responses caused by the arrangements I have already setup. Is there no way of giving your comment higher profile.

I am going to try 'sudo apt-get install moodle' and see what chaos it now causes!!

Well I have done it and it worked very well so the process appears to have overwritten everything I had mistakenly done.

Comments

- I opted for postgresql as the db, because I hear it is a more stable system, for which the installation used v7 not the 8.3 I had been trying to use earlier. Perhaps that was a source of earlier difficulties.

- the process could not write config.php to the Moodle directory which is /var/www/moodle, so the process, which is prepared for this eventuality ,provides a download which can be then sudo copied into the moodle directory. If sudo has the rights to write the remaining contents of the moodle directory why cannot it not create the config.php file?

However, congratulations to the authors, it works beautifully. Now can we get this process promoted to the highest level on the support pages. --Steve Horsfield 15:08, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Easier Way? There is no Royal Road to running a webapp

There is a page, describing sudo apt-get install moodle. See https://docs.moodle.org/en/Step-by-step_Install_Guide_for_Ubuntu_using_apt-get.

However, I don't recommend at all to promote this way of installation to the highest level on the support pages. It's fine for a testinstallation, not for production from my point of view.

I see several problems. One problem is that by installing Moodle from packages, a sysadmin doesn't learn anything about how Moodle is installed, what is necessary to run and maintain it and therefore has no knowledge of how to fix things when things go wrong or how to have a proactive policy against being hacked.

Even more problemtic is that the packages, installed with apt-get, are not always patched with the latest security updates and hackers work fast!

Another problem I see is that the administrator has to be happy with the choices made by the package maintainer.

For all these reasons I would say that installing Moodle from packages is good for a test site or a local installation without internet access, but not for a production site on the internet.

There is no Royal easy way to install and maintain a webapp. It requires knowledge and maintenance or your site will be hacked one day.

--Koen roggemans 17:18, 28 October 2009 (UTC)