How to Install Elgg on MXLinux Latest

Elgg is a free and open-source social networking platform that allows individuals and organizations to create their own social networking websites. In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to install Elgg on MXLinux Latest.

Prerequisites

Before we proceed with the installation process, make sure that you have the following prerequisites in place:

  • A running instance of MXLinux Latest.
  • A user account with sudo privileges.
  • A web server (Apache or Nginx) and PHP 7.2 or later installed and configured.

Step 1 - Download Elgg Package

To begin with, we need to download the Elgg package from their official website. You can download it using the following command:

$ wget https://elgg.org/about/getelgg?forward=elgg-3.3.7.zip -O elgg-3.3.7.zip

Once the download completes, unzip the package using the following command:

$ unzip elgg-3.3.7.zip

Step 2 - Move Elgg Files

Move the extracted Elgg files to the web server root directory using the following command:

$ sudo mv elgg-3.3.7/ /var/www/html/elgg

Step 3 - Set Directory Permissions

For the web server to access Elgg files, we need to set the right directory permissions. Run the following command to set directory permissions:

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

Step 4 - Create a MySQL Database for Elgg

Elgg requires a MySQL database to store its data. You can create a new MySQL database using the following command:

$ sudo mysql -u root -p

You will be prompted for the MySQL root password. Enter the password and hit enter. Once you are logged in, create a new database and user for Elgg using the following commands:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE elggdb;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON elggdb.* TO 'elgguser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> exit

Make sure to replace elggdb, elgguser, and password with your preferred names and password.

Step 5 - Configure Elgg

Now we need to configure Elgg by creating a new configuration file. Copy the default configuration file using the following command:

$ cd /var/www/html/elgg
$ cp htaccess_dist .htaccess
$ cp engine/settings.example.php engine/settings.php

Then edit the engine/settings.php file using the following command:

$ sudo nano engine/settings.php

Update the following variables:

$CONFIG->dataroot = '/var/www/html/elggdata';
$CONFIG->dbuser = 'elgguser';
$CONFIG->dbpass = 'password';
$CONFIG->dbname = 'elggdb';
$CONFIG->dbhost = 'localhost';

Save and exit the file.

Step 6 - Access Elgg

Finally, access Elgg from a web browser by navigating to http://localhost/elgg in your web browser. Follow the on-screen instructions to install Elgg.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Elgg on MXLinux Latest.