This page will guide you through the steps to install Elefant on your workstation or web server. There are many different possible configurations, but the install process is straight-forward in most cases.
You will need an Apache or Nginx web server, PHP 5.3+, and one of the supported databases. SQLite is bundled with PHP, and Elefant also supports MySQL and PostgreSQL.
For Windows users, we recommend using WAMP to install and configure Apache, PHP, and MySQL for you. Make sure to also enable mod_rewrite in the Apache configuration.
Mac OS X users simply need to install MySQL, since Mac OS X ships with Apache and PHP already. For Linux, we recommend using your distribution's package management system to install these.
For local development, we also recommend Setting up a Virtualhost for your site, which makes it easier to develop multiple projects on your machine at the same time and keep them organized.
Step 1. Download the latest release and unzip it. Move the files into your website folder.
Step 2. If you're using the Apache web server, make sure you copy the .htaccess file from the download as well. If you don't see it in the folder, you can download a copy from here (if you're unsure, copy it anyway to be safe).
If you're using Nginx, see the included nginx.conf for an example configuration.
Step 3. Change the permissions on the cache, conf, css, files, install, lang, and layouts folders and the files in them to be writeable by PHP. First, try setting them to 0755 and see if that works, then try 0775, then finally 0777 (for more info about file permissions, see File permissions). Set the apps folder (this time not recursively) to the same setting as well.
The permission levels can be different on different hosts, so it's best to try the lesser permissions first and increase them only if needed.
If you're using the command-line, use the following commands:
$ cd /path/to/your/site
$ chmod -R 755 cache conf css files install lang layouts
$ chmod 755 apps
Or if you're using FTP, right-click each folder to set its permissions. Make sure to click the option that says something to the effect of ""Also change permissions on files inside this folder.""
For example in Transmit on the Mac, right-click the folders and choose ""Get Info"", then under ""Permissions"" check off all the boxes, then click ""Apply to enclosed items.""
Using FlashFXP on Windows, you would right-click the folders and choose ""Attributes (CHMOD)"", check off all the boxes, then click ""Apply changes recursively to sub-folders and files"".
To run Elefant in a sub-folder instead of the root folder of a website, you need two additional files not included in the default install. You can download these here.
The .htaccess replaces the default one, and the subfolder.php should sit next to the index.php in Elefant's root folder.
Once you've added these, skip to the alternate command-line installer steps below. For more info about sub-folder installations, see this forum thread.
Elefant assumes it is running in the root of a web site, but the subfolder proxy provides a small wrapper around Elefant's front controller that enables it to run transparently in sub-folders too. This is an extra step during the install, but provides two benefits: 1) No URL prefixes to add to your templates, and 2) this helps optimize Elefant for greater speed for sites that need it.
Step 4. Go to /install/ on your site to run the web-based installer. This will guide you through the rest of the process.
Step 4. Edit conf/config.php and add your database connection info and default site info.
Step 5. Run the command ./elefant install to create the default database tables for the built-in apps. This will generate a username and password for you to log into the admin area.
For Windows users installing in a sub-folder instead of a vhost, instead of running the
./elefant installcommand, open the fileconf/install_mysql.sqlin a text editor and do a search & replace for#prefix#, replacing it with the database prefix setting in yourconf/config.phpfile (default iselefant_). Now paste the edited schema into phpMyAdmin from your WAMP install.The default admin username will be the email address in the
from_emailsetting inconf/config.phpand the default admin password will beelefantrocks. Be sure to change this under Tools > Users once you log into your new site.
You should now have a working Elefant-powered website!
Next: User Manual