Install XCart on Debian 10

As we know, Internet commerce is a fundamental part of any business. Fortunately, there are open source solutions that allow you to deploy an online store. In addition to the deployment, other more complex features are offered. There are many solutions of this type, but today we will show you how to install XCart on Debian 10.

Introducing XCart

Xcart is an open-source application that allows you to intuitively create an online store. Not only creating it but also managing it. Xcart has a free version that is quite basic but can serve as an instruction to the application or if the store is quite small; it also has paid versions with many more advantages.

Thanks to Xcart you can create and manage an online store quickly. It was the first application of this type and the initial version is from 2000. This indicates the experience and maturity of the project and a well-earned reputation.

With Xcart you have all the features you need to achieve your goals, with a carefully designed interface, integration with multiple providers, themes to customize the store and a panel to manage it.

So let’s start installing XCart on Debian 10.

Install XCart on Debian 10

As with the vast majority of content site generators such as WordPress or prestashop, Xcart is built with web technologies. This means that you have to install a web server and PHP. In addition, for data manipulation, it requires MariaDB or a similar database manager.

So, you have to install LAMP.

How to install LAMP on Debian 10?

Also, you have to include the following PHP modules:

php php-cli libapache2-mod-php php-common php-mbstring php-curl php-mysql php-json php-xml php-phar php-pdo php-gd

Then you can continue.

Create a new database for MariaDB

The next step is to create a new database for Xcart to store the generated data.

:~$ sudo mysql -u root -p
> CREATE YOUR DATABASE xcartdb;
> GRANT ALL ON xcartdb.* TO 'xcartuser' IDENTIFIED BY 'xcartpss';
> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
> exit;

So, continue.

Download XCart on Debian 10

Now we can really start the XCart download. To do this, use the wget command and do it from the /tmp folder

:~$ cd /tmp/
:~$ wget -c http://img.x-cart.com/software/a/2f8a9fdc-c1c8-4f4f-814e-bb7a3e4d3b72/x-cart-5.4.0.10-en.tgz

When the download is finished, you have to decompress the downloaded file but we will do it in the Apache root folder.

:~$ sudo tar xvzf x-cart-5.4.0.10-en.tgz -C /var/www/html/

It then assigns the appropriate permissions to the folder so that the server can run it correctly.

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

Then, create a new Virtualhost for the XCart site.

:~$ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/xcart.conf

And add the following:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin admin@your_domain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/xcart
    ServerName shop.osradar.lan

    <Directory /var/www/html/xcart>
         Options FollowSymlinks
         AllowOverride All
         Require all granted
    </Directory>       
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/shop.osradar.lan_error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/shop.osradar.lan_error.log
</VirtualHost>

Remember to change the value of ServerName to your own.

Then, enable the new VirtualHost and enable Apache’s rewrite module. Finally, restart the Apache service.

:~$ sudo ln -s /etc/apache2/sites-available/xcart.conf /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/xcart.conf
:~$ sudo a2enmod rewrite
:~$ sudo systemctl restart apache2

We will now complete the installation from the XCart web interface.

Install XCart on Debian 10

The next step is to open your favorite web browser and go to the server to complete the installation. In this case, it is shop.osradar.lan

You’ll see what follows:

Click on the Yes button to start the installation.

Then, you will see the license terms. Accept them to continue.

Then, create the administrator user account.

Next, the installer will verify all the requirements needed to perform the installation.

Then you have to enter the credentials of the database you have created.

Then, the installation will begin and you will see that everything has gone well.

For security reasons, execute the commands that the installer proposes.

:~$ chmod 755 /var/www/html/xcart/
:~$ chmod 755 /var/www/html/xcart/etc/
:~$ chmod 644 /var/www/html/xcart/etc/config.php

Then go to the administration panel but log in first.

And finally, you will see the dashboard.

So, that is it.

Conclusion

Deploying an online store can be very difficult but thanks to tools like Xcart it can be made a little easier. Something as easy as installing it on Debian 10 that you now know.

It remains for you to take advantage of the tool and learn more.

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