This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install and configure CuteNews CMS on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 with Apache2 HTTP server.
CuteNews is a flat-file content management system (CMS) based on PHP that is easy to install and setup. No database, just PHP — plain and simple!
It also comes with search function, file upload management, backup & restore, IP banning, permission levels supporting, flood protection and many more.
If you are looking for a solution to edit your website live and with ease and don’t want to fiddle with SQL, then CuteNews is a great place to start. It comes with easy plugin system, widget support and easy backup because there’s only one directory.
This CMS platform is designed for ease of use to allow webmasters to collaborate and automate engaging experiences with users across multiple devices, including mobile.
For more about CuteNews, please check their Homepage
To get started with installing CuteNews, follow the steps below:
Install Apache2 HTTP Server
CuteNews requires a web server and Apache2 HTTP server is the most popular open source web server available today. To install Apache2 server, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install apache2
After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop apache2.service sudo systemctl start apache2.service sudo systemctl enable apache2.service
Now that Apache2 is installed. to test whether the web server is working, open your browser and browse to the URL below.
If you see the page above, then Apache2 is successfully installed.
Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules
CuteNews is a PHP based CMS and PHP is required. However, PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. To run PHP 7.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 and previous, you may need to run the commands below:
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2
sudo apt update
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-sqlite3 php7.2-mysql php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-gd php7.2-bcmath php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip
After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open PHP default configuration file for Apache2.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini
The lines below is a good settings for most PHP based CMS. Update the configuration file with these and save.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
Everytime you make changes to PHP configuration file, you should also restart Apache2 web server. To do so, run the commands below:
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Now that PHP is installed, to test whether it’s functioning, create a test file called phpinfo.php in Apache2 default root directory. ( /var/www/html/)
sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
Then type the content below and save the file.
<?php phpinfo( ); ?>
Next, open your browser and browse to the server’s hostname or IP address followed by phpinfo.php
/phpinfo.php
You should see PHP default test page.
Download CuteNews Latest Release
After installing the server and packages above, go do CuteNews download page and get the latest. Or use the commands below to download version 1.1 from its Github site.
cd /tmp wget unzip master.zip sudo mv cutenews-2.0-master /var/www/cutenews
Next, created these folders by running the commands below:
sudo mkdir /var/www/cutenews/cdata
sudo mkdir /var/www/cutenews/plugins
sudo mkdir /var/www/cutenews/cdata/{news,users,plugins,btree,backup,log}
Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for CuteNews root directory and give Apache2 control.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/cutenews/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/cutenews/
Configure Apache2
Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for CuteNews. This file will control how users access CuteNews content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called cutenews.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/cutenews.conf
Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin [email protected]
DocumentRoot /var/www/cutenews
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
<Directory /var/www/html/cutenews/>
Options FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Save the file and exit.
Enable the CuteNews
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
sudo a2ensite cutenews.conf sudo a2enmod rewrite sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see CuteNews setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.
Then follow the on-screen instruction.
Since no database, just create an admin account and continue.
After that, the site should be created and ready to use.
Congratulation! You have successfully installed CuteNews CMS on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 and 18.10.
