October is a CMS (Content Management System) that aims to make the work process as simple and basic as possible. Its development is in PHP using the Laravel framework and is built from scratch to ensure the correction of problems present in other CMS. So, in this post, I will show you how to install October on Debian 9.

Let’s start.

0. Prerequisites

The installation is quite simple and should not take many minutes, however, for everything to go well, it is necessary to take a few things into account.

• First of all, to install October, you need to have access to the server using ssh.
• Second, you need to run commands as root.
• Finally, although the post will be very thorough, it is recommended that you have some prior knowledge in the use of the terminal.

With this in mind, you can start.

1. Upgrade the system

Before you start installing on your Debian server. So, it is recommended that you upgrade the system first.

:~$ su
:~# apt update && apt upgrade

Doing this ensures you have the latest security patches on your system.

2. Install Apache Web Server

The next step is to install a web server. For this tutorial, I will use the Apache web server which is very easy to manipulate and is also free.

:~# apt install apache2

Then, enable and start it.

:~# systemctl enable apache2
:~# systemctl start apache2

So, Apache web server is ready.

3. Install PHP

Now it’s PHP’s turn. To do this, run the following command.

:~# apt install php php-cli php-mysql php-zip php-json php-gd libapache2-mod-php php-mbstring php-curl php-xml php-pear php-bcmath php-pdo openssl

And that’s it.

4. Install MariaDB

October requires a database manager, for convenience and efficiency, I will use MariaDB.

:~# apt install mariadb-server

Once the installation has finished, it is necessary to define a root key. You can also configure other things using the mysql_secure_installation script.

First, enable and start the service.

:~# systemctl enable mariadb
:~# systemctl start mariadb

Now, run the script.

:~# mysql_secure_installation

After defining the password, you will be asked other questions regarding the configuration of MariaDB. You can answer as you like because it’s up to you, I answered like this: Y, N, Y, Y.

The next step is to create a database and a specific user for October.

:~# mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE octoberdb;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON octoberdb.* TO 'octoberuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'octoberpss';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;

5. Install October CMS

It’s finally time to install October. Download it first.

:~# wget http://octobercms.com/download -O octobercms.zip

Then, decompress it.

:~# unzip octobercms.zip

Next, move the folder to /var/www/html and change the owner and set the right permissions to the folder.

:~# mv install-master/ /var/www/html/october
:~# chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/october/
:~# chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/october/

Finally, enable the rewrite module on Apache.

:~# a2enmod rewrite
:~# systemctl restart apache2

And now you can complete the installation from the web interface.

6.- Complete the installation from the web interface

The last step is to open the web browser and access this address http://IP_SERVER/october/install.php and complete the installation process.

The installer will check if anything is missed.

Scroll down and click on Continue button.

The next step is to configure the database parameters.

Next, configure the admin account.

If everything worked out correctly, clicking on Continue you will see the three options to start on your website.

I will start from a theme. You can choose one of the many beautiful themes.

And that’s it.

Conclusion

October CMS is an interesting alternative to giants like WordPress or Blogger that monopolize almost the entire market. However, here we find an easy and versatile solution for our needs.

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