How to Install OpenCart on POP! OS

OpenCart is a popular, free and open-source e-commerce platform for setting up online stores. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing OpenCart on POP! OS, a Linux-based operating system.

Step 1: Install LAMP stack

OpenCart requires a web server, database server, and PHP to function properly. We can install all these components using LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). To install LAMP stack on POP! OS, run the following commands in your terminal:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2 mysql-server php7.4 php7.4-mysql libapache2-mod-php7.4

Once the installation is complete, start the Apache and MySQL services and enable them to start at boot time:

sudo systemctl start apache2
sudo systemctl start mysql
sudo systemctl enable apache2
sudo systemctl enable mysql

Step 2: Download and extract OpenCart

Visit the OpenCart website and download the latest version of OpenCart. You can download the archive from the official website https://www.opencart.com.

After downloading the OpenCart archive, extract it to the Apache web root directory "/var/www/html/":

sudo unzip opencart.zip -d /var/www/html/
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/opencart/

Step 3: Create a MySQL Database

OpenCart requires a MySQL database to store its data. To create a new database in MySQL, follow these steps:

  1. Login to MySQL as the root user:
sudo mysql -u root -p
  1. Create a new database for OpenCart:
CREATE DATABASE opencart;
  1. Create a new user and grant it privileges on the new database:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON opencart.* TO 'opencartuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Note: Replace "opencartuser" and "password" with your desired username and password. Make sure to remember these details as you will need them in the next step to configure OpenCart.

  1. Exit MySQL:
exit

Step 4: Configure OpenCart

OpenCart needs to be configured with the database details and other settings before it can be used. To configure OpenCart, follow these steps:

  1. Rename the OpenCart configuration file:
sudo mv /var/www/html/opencart/upload/config-dist.php /var/www/html/opencart/upload/config.php
  1. Edit the configuration file using a text editor:
sudo nano /var/www/html/opencart/upload/config.php
  1. Replace the following Database variables with your details:
// DB
define('DB_DRIVER', 'mysqli');
define('DB_HOSTNAME', 'localhost');
define('DB_USERNAME', 'opencartuser');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password');
define('DB_DATABASE', 'opencart');
define('DB_PORT', '3306');

Note: Replace "opencartuser" and "password" with the values you set in Step 3.

  1. Save and close the file.

  2. Set the correct permissions for OpenCart files:

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

Step 5: Access OpenCart Web Installer

Now that OpenCart is configured, you can access the OpenCart web installer by visiting the URL http:///opencart/upload/install in your web browser.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation process.

Once you have completed the installation process, you can access your OpenCart store by visiting the URL http:///opencart/ in your web browser.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed OpenCart on your POP! OS.