Install Parvula CMS on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 | 18.10 with Apache2 and PHP 7.2

Parvula is an open source, simple, flat-file content management system (CMS) that’s extensible and do not require a database…. It helps you create personal or business websites in minutes just by uploading its content to your web server…. Parvula CMS offers features that may not be available to other PHP based CMS, like WordPress Joomla or Drupal…

For one, it doesn’t need a database server, all its data is simply stored in the file system (file-based, flat file CMS)…. It also provides native mark down WYSIWYG support, SEO friendly, flexible CSS framework with no installation required…

For more about Parvula, please check it homepage…

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install Parvula on Ubuntu 16.04 / 18.10 / 18.04 LTS with Apache2 and PHP 7.2 support….

To get started with installing Parvula, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Install Apache2 HTTP Server

Parvula CMS 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.

Step 2: Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules

Parvula CMS 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-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-gd 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

You should see PHP default test page.

Step 3: Download Parvula Latest Release

To get Parvula latest release you may want to get it from Github. Use Composer and git to download the latest version.

sudo apt install curl git
curl -sS  | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

After installing curl and Composer above, change into the Apache2 root directory and download Parvula packages from Github…

cd /var/www/html
sudo composer create-project bafs/parvula parvula
cd /var/www/html/parvula/
sudo composer install

Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Parvula root directory and give Apache2 control.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/parvula/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/parvula/

Step 4: Configure Apache2

Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for Parvula. This file will control how users access Parvula content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called parvula.conf

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/parvula.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/html/parvula
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/html/parvula/>
          Options FollowSymlinks
          AllowOverride All
          Require all granted
     </Directory>

     ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
     CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
    
     <Directory /var/www/html/parvula/>
            RewriteEngine on
            RewriteBase /
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
            RewriteRule ^(.*) index.php [PT,L]
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Save the file and exit.

Step 5: Enable the Parvula and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below

sudo a2ensite parvula.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see Parvula setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

You should then see Parvula default home page.

To logon to the backend portal, type:

The username and password can be found in this file.

cat /var/www/html/parvula/data/users/users.php

Congratulation! You have successfully installed Parvula CMS on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 and 18.10.

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