How to Install BuddyPress on Arch Linux

BuddyPress is a social networking plugin that can be installed on top of WordPress. In this tutorial, we will walk through the process of installing BuddyPress on Arch Linux.

Prerequisites

• A running Arch Linux system with root access
• Apache or Nginx web server
• PHP 7.2 or higher
• MySQL or MariaDB

Step 1: Install WordPress

Before we can install BuddyPress, we need a working WordPress installation. Follow these steps to install WordPress on Arch Linux.

1. Update the system packages:

   sudo pacman -Syu
   

2. Install Apache web server:

   sudo pacman -S apache
   

3. Install PHP and required extensions:

   sudo pacman -S php php-apache php-gd php-curl php-mysql
   

4. Install MySQL or MariaDB:

   sudo pacman -S mysql or sudo pacman -S mariadb
   

5. Secure the database installation:

   sudo mysql_secure_installation
   

   Follow the prompts to set a root password and remove the test database.

6. Create a new MySQL database and user:

   mysql -u root -p
   

   CREATE DATABASE dbname;
   

   GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON dbname.* TO 'dbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
   

   Replace dbname, dbuser, and password with your desired values.

7. Download and extract WordPress:

   wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
   

   tar -xvf latest.tar.gz
   

8. Configure WordPress:

   cd wordpress
   

   cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php
   

   nano wp-config.php
   

   Edit the following lines to match your database settings:

   define('DB_NAME', 'dbname');
   define('DB_USER', 'dbuser');
   define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password');
   

9. Move the WordPress files to the web server root directory:

   sudo mv * /srv/http/
   

10. Adjust the file permissions:

sudo chown -R http:http /srv/http/

Step 2: Install BuddyPress

Now that we have a working WordPress installation, we can proceed with installing BuddyPress.

1. Download and install BuddyPress:

   cd /srv/http/wp-content/plugins
   

   git clone git://buddypress.git.wordpress.org/
   

2. Activate BuddyPress:

   Login to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. Find BuddyPress in the list and click the Activate link.

   Once activated, BuddyPress will prompt you to install its components. You can choose which components to enable based on your needs.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have installed and configured BuddyPress on Arch Linux. With BuddyPress, you can add powerful social networking features to your WordPress site.

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