How to Install Bludit CMS on FreeBSD 12

Bludit is a simple, fast and flexible blogging CMS written in PHP. Bludit uses files in JSON format to store content, so you don’t need to install or configure a database. Bludit source code is hosted on Github. This guide will show you how to install Bludit CMS on a fresh FreeBSD 12 Vultr server instance.

Requirements

• PHP version 5.3 or greater with the following extensions:
  • mbstring
  • gd
  • dom
  • json
• A web server with PHP support like Nginx, Apache, Lighttpd or H2O. This guide will use Nginx.

Before you begin

Check the FreeBSD version.

uname -ro
# FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE

Ensure that your FreeBSD system is up to date.

freebsd-update fetch install
pkg update && pkg upgrade -y

Install sudo, vim, unzip, wget, bash, socat and git packages if they are not present on your system.

pkg install -y sudo vim unzip wget bash socat git

Create a new user account with your preferred username (we will use johndoe).

adduser

# Username: johndoe
# Full name: John Doe
# Uid (Leave empty for default): <Enter>
# Login group [johndoe]: <Enter>
# Login group is johndoe. Invite johndoe into other groups? []: wheel
# Login class [default]: <Enter>
# Shell (sh csh tcsh nologin) [sh]: bash
# Home directory [/home/johndoe]: <Enter>
# Home directory permissions (Leave empty for default): <Enter>
# Use password-based authentication? [yes]: <Enter>
# Use an empty password? (yes/no) [no]: <Enter>
# Use a random password? (yes/no) [no]: <Enter>
# Enter password: your_secure_password
# Enter password again: your_secure_password
# Lock out the account after creation? [no]: <Enter>
# OK? (yes/no): yes
# Add another user? (yes/no): no
# Goodbye!

Run the visudo command and uncomment the %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL line to allow members of the wheel group to execute any command.

visudo

# Uncomment by removing hash (#) sign
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Now, switch to your newly created user with su command.

su - johndoe

NOTE: Replace johndoe with your username.

Set up the timezone.

sudo tzsetup

Install PHP

Install PHP, as well as the necessary PHP extensions.

sudo pkg install -y php72 php72-ctype php72-curl php72-dom php72-hash php72-iconv php72-gd php72-json php72-mbstring php72-openssl php72-session php72-simplexml php72-xml php72-zip php72-zlib php72-filter php72-ftp php72-tokenizer php72-calendar php72-fileinfo

Check the version.

php --version
# PHP 7.2.14 (cli) (built: Jan 15 2019 01:14:39) ( NTS )
# Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
# Zend Engine v3.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies
#     with Zend OPcache v7.2.14, Copyright (c) 1999-2018, by Zend Technologies

Soft-link php.ini-production to php.ini.

sudo ln -s /usr/local/etc/php.ini-production /usr/local/etc/php.ini

Enable and start PHP-FPM.

sudo sysrc php_fpm_enable=yes
sudo service php-fpm start

Install Nginx

Install Nginx.

sudo pkg install -y nginx

Check the version.

nginx -v
# nginx version: nginx/1.14.2

Enable and start Nginx.

sudo sysrc nginx_enable=yes
sudo service nginx start

Run sudo vim /usr/local/etc/nginx/bludit.conf and configure Nginx for Bludit.

server {

  listen 80;

  server_name example.com;
  root /usr/local/www/bludit;

  index index.php;

  location ~ /.php$ {
    fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+/.php)(/.+)$;
    try_files $fastcgi_script_name =404;
    set $path_info $fastcgi_path_info;
    fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $path_info;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    include fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
  }

  location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
  }

  location ^~ /bl-content/tmp/ { deny all; } 
  location ^~ /bl-content/pages/ { deny all; } 
  location ^~ /bl-content/databases/ { deny all; } 
}

Save the file and exit with :+W+Q.

Now we need to include the bludit.conf file in the main nginx.conf file.

Run sudo vim /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf and add the following line to the http {} block.

include bludit.conf;

Test Nginx configuration.

sudo nginx -t

Reload Nginx.

sudo service nginx reload

Install Bludit

Create a document root directory.

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/www/bludit

Change ownership of the /usr/local/www/bludit directory to johndoe.

sudo chown -R johndoe:johndoe /usr/local/www/bludit

Download the latest version from the official page and extract the zip file.

cd /usr/local/www/bludit
wget https://www.bludit.com/releases/bludit-3-7-1.zip
unzip bludit-3-7-1.zip
rm bludit-3-7-1.zip 
mv bludit-3-7-1/* . && mv bludit-3-7-1/.* .
rmdir bludit-3-7-1

Change ownership of the /usr/local/www/bludit directory to www.

sudo chown -R www:www /usr/local/www/bludit

Open your site in a web browser. The Bludit installer page will appear.

Follow the Bludit installer to configure your website. To access the Bludit admin area, append /admin to your site IP or URL.