OldInstallationGuide

Installing DornCMS

The installation should be pretty straight forward. It involves downloading the files and editing two of them.

Software Requirements

• PHP 5
• Apache 2.2 with mod_rewrite enabled

Step 1: Download the files

Grab the latest files from svn and upload them to your server.

There is also a zip archive available in the downloads section that is updated regularly.

Step 2: Configure DornCMS to work with the server

You need to edit two files on the server to make DornCMS work.

Edit .htaccess

Change RewriteBase to the installed directory.

If you uploaded the files to /mysite, the line would read:

RewriteBase /mysite


If you uploaded the files to the root of your server, the line would read:

RewriteBase /


On some web hosts, you may need to add additional commands in this file. For example, on 1and1, you need to explicitly tell the server to use PHP5 instead of PHP4. For 1and1, you would add the following line to the end of the file (or uncomment it if it is already there):

AddType x-mapp-php5 .php


Edit /server/server.php

This file defines several constants about the server. The only thing you absolutely need to change is $site_root. If you are going to be using forms in your site, you need to set all of the email properties as well.

The $site_root variable is pre-pended to all relative links in the site. If you uploaded the files to /mysite, you would set $site_root to the following:

$site_root = '/mysite/';


If you uploaded the files to the root of your server, set $site_root to this:

$site_root = '/';


Step 3: Verify installation

The CMS should be installed and working correctly. To verify the installation, visit the site in a browser.

If you installed the site to the folder 'mysite', go to http://domain.com/mysite/ for the front-end site and http://domain.com/mysite/cms/ for the CMS.

If you installed the site to the server root, go to http://domain.com/ for the front-end and http://domain.com/cms/ for the CMS.

If you are using version 1.3, the default username is admin. Previous versions only have a password field.

The default password for is password

It is recommended that you change the username and/or password as soon as possible to protect your site.

If it looks like a style sheet is not being applied, you probably set $site_root to the wrong value in Step 2.

If you are getting 404 errors or you aren't getting the expected page, RewriteBase is probably incorrect in the .htaccess file.

Step 4: Set File Permissions

Since DornCMS is entirely file-based, it needs write permissions for several directories to function properly. On some servers, you may need to manually set these permissions. Verify that there are write permissions for the following directories and specific files:

• /uploadedimages/
• /files/
• /backups/
• /includes/header.php (version 1.2 and lower only)
• /includes/footer.php (version 1.2 and lower only)
• /site/cms/page_content/
• /site/cms/page_descriptions/
• /site/cms/pages/
• /site/cms/revisions/ (version 1.3 only)