How to Install phpBB on Void Linux

phpBB is one of the popular open-source forum software available. It is written in PHP and uses a database to store forum data. In this tutorial, we will learn how to install phpBB on Void Linux.

Prerequisites

Before we start, make sure to have the following:

  • A non-root user with sudo privileges
  • Web server (Apache or Nginx)
  • PHP version 7.1 or higher
  • MySQL or MariaDB installed

Step 1: Download phpBB

First, we need to download phpBB from their official website using the following command in the terminal:

$ cd /tmp
$ curl -LO https://download.phpbb.com/pub/release/3.3/3.3.3/phpBB-3.3.3.tar.gz

Step 2: Extract phpBB

Now that we have downloaded phpBB, we need to extract its contents. 

$ tar xzf phpBB-3.3.3.tar.gz

This will create a directory named phpBB3 in the current working directory.

Step 3: Move phpBB to web root directory

The next step is to move the extracted files to the web root directory. In this example, we will move the phpBB3 directory to /var/www/html/ which is the default web server directory in Void Linux.

$ sudo mv phpBB3 /var/www/html/

Step 4: Set Permissions

We need to set appropriate permissions on the phpBB3 directory and its contents to allow the web server to access the files. 

$ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/phpBB3/
$ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/phpBB3/

Step 5: Create a MySQL Database

Now, we need to create a database for phpBB to use. 

$ mysql -u root -p

Enter your MySQL root password when prompted. Then, create a new database named phpbb_db and a user with the same name.

mysql> CREATE DATABASE phpbb_db;
mysql> CREATE USER 'phpbb_db'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
mysql> GRANT ALL ON phpbb_db.* TO 'phpbb_db'@'localhost';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> EXIT;

Replace password with a strong password of your choice.

Step 6: Install phpBB

Finally, we can install phpBB by navigating to http://localhost/phpBB3/install/ in your web browser. Follow the prompts and enter the details for the MySQL database and user created in Step 5.

Once the installation is complete, delete the install directory from the phpBB3 directory.

$ sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/phpBB3/install/

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have learned how to install phpBB on Void Linux. Now, you can start customizing your forum and building your community.