Recently, I’ve been asked to give a brief overview of how to install WP (WordPress), the blogging and CMS software, on a test machine. The idea is to try out new themes & plugins, before putting them live on a production server. As it’s my comfort zone, we’ll be using linux because it’s free and transparent, (sort of).

Since the WP installation is intended merely for testing, and not as a production site, there’s no need for uploading it ‘live’ onto the Internet. Instead, we’ll have it running on a single computer — in this case, a desktop or laptop. The computer, which will run our WordPress installation, will be called our localhost. The following 3½ steps lay out my preferred method for setting up the localhost.

STEP 1
First, find a junky old computer you’re willing to sacrifice as a WP testing environment. Fortunately, most of my friends have plenty of relic desktops — so it’s no problem for them.

STEP 2
Then, set up said computer as your WP localhost. Here a few basics on doing that:

1. Download the ubuntu linux desktop installer. You’ll want to navigate here and download the most recent ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) release
2. Install ubuntu LTS and any security patches on your relic. A working Internet connection facilitates this process
3. Get comfortable with linux (if necessary). Definitely know what the words “sudo”, “root” and “admin user” mean, before moving forward
4. Follow the directions on this page which accord with your ubuntu release version, (or nearest applicable version)

Theoretically, you now will have installed a fairly recent version of WordPress, accessible at the following url:

http://localhost/wordpress/

STEP 3
You may (but not necessarily) need to make some final configuration changes, for which I would recommend referencing the main WordPress site. Again, that WP installation will be accessible from your local testing computer, but nowhere else. However, this page may call for you to supply some additional information.

Note that you will have had to install mysql at some point in your installation (record your mysql root user’s password!). The advantage of using the ubuntu package manager to install your WordPress version is that you can easily wipe/re-install all the dependencies.

STEP 3½
Should you wipe/re-install WP, you’ll need to take one extra step to get everything working again. You might choose to do this, for example, if you’ve hacked core code, or something has gone awry with your Apache install.

The simplest way to get your re-install working agian is to wipe “wordpress” database. To do this, you need your mysql root password:


gears@erie-laptop:/etc$ mysql -p -u root
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 261
Server version: 5.1.54-1ubuntu4 (Ubuntu)

Copyright (c) 2000, 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved...

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

mysql> show databases;
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| mysql              |
| phpmyadmin         |
| wordpress          |
+--------------------+
4 rows in set (0.26 sec)

mysql> drop database wordpress;
Query OK, 35 rows affected (2.25 sec)

mysql> quit;


That’s all, folks!

Oh — also, I’ve had best success with “chmod -R” my /wordpress directory and using command line, or ubuntu’s windows manager, and installing the new themes & plugins directly to their respective directories.

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If you know me, you know I’m considering a change of distribution about once every five hours. And that, as I’m extremely superstitions, this whim is usually forecast by changes in “the signs” — i.e, random bugs encountered in the course of using my windows manager. Although I’ve been a long-time KDE fan in terms of my work computer setup, I guess I’ll be changing back to vanilla ubuntu at the office sometime next week.

• I loved the fact that linux had two great windows managers.
• Yet, I’ll be switching back to GNOME/ubuntu for the last time.

The situation saddens me. I got myself some practical and some ‘spiritual’ reasons for this. On the pragmatic side, doesn’t a different home interface just help you relax? I remember when I was a kid and would use a PC at school, then a mac back at home — because a home system should chill you out, favoring simplicity over utilitarianism and productivity gains.

The sad fact about ubuntu is that it’s got me hooked on I feel HUGE gains in reliability. Having used plain ubuntu for so long, I started to notice the errors on kubuntu. I mean like this little glitch when I create files (on command line) and KDE doesn’t display the new files on refresh.

• Weird, little KDE bugs that would have _never, ever_ bothered me greatly before. But they do now.
• KDE used to be my “work PC” — whether running it on openSUSE or as kubuntu. Not anymore.

I admit, maybe one part of  this tragedy is that i’m a little more adult now, with responsibilities competing for my limited bandwidth. And generally, ubunutu linux respects average-user time more than any other OS or distro i’ve encountered: canonical designs it that way.  Linux, for the common man.

While that’s not necessarily all to the good, it’s “what I can live with” right now. Hackishness used to be a big part of what made the open source community attractive. Now I’m using open source only because i believe in it, and because often it’s a more useful tool for what a need done, not because i’m excited by the dynamism of improvements to it. I’m no longer willing to invest time in fixing up a system — i’ll just backpedal, and install ubuntu.

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