How to Install Mahara on OpenSUSE Latest?

Mahara is an open-source e-portfolio platform. It allows users to create, share, and assess their electronic portfolios. Here is a step-by-step tutorial to install Mahara on OpenSUSE latest.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding with the installation process, ensure that your system has the following;

• OpenSUSE latest installed
• A non-root user with sudo privileges
• Apache webserver
• PHP 7.2 or later
• MariaDB or MySQL database

Step 1: Update Repository and Package Manager

First, update the system package manager by running the following command in your terminal.

sudo zypper update

Step 2: Install Required PHP Packages

Mahara requires several PHP packages to run correctly. Install them using the command;

sudo zypper in apache2 mariadb mariadb-client php7 apache2-mod_php7 php7-gd php7-mysqli php7-mysql php7-json php7-xmlrpc php7-zip php7-curl php7-mbstring

Step 3: Install Mahara

Mahara's official repository might not be available in OpenSUSE, so add it to your system as follows;

1. Create the Mahara repository file.

sudo nano /etc/zypp/repos.d/mahara.repo

2. Add the following content to the file

[mahara]
name=Mahara
baseurl=http://download.mahara.org/packages/openSUSE_Leap_15.2/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

3. Save and exit the file.

4. Refresh the repository.

sudo zypper --gpg-auto-import-keys refresh

5. Install Mahara

sudo zypper in mahara

Step 4: Configure Database

Mahara uses MySQL or its fork MariaDB as the default database, create a new database for Mahara.

1. Login to your MySQL/MariaDB shell as root.

mysql -u root -p

2. Create a new database for Mahara.

CREATE DATABASE mahara_db;
CREATE USER 'mahara_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mahara_db.* TO 'mahara_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Note: Replace mahara_user and password with your preferred username and password.

Step 5: Configure Apache Webserver

1. Open Mahara's configuration file.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/conf.d/mahara.conf

2. Add the following content to the file.

Alias /mahara "/usr/share/mahara/htdocs"

<Directory "/usr/share/mahara/htdocs">
    AllowOverride None
    Options None
    Require all granted
    AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
</Directory>

3. Save and exit the file.

Step 6: Access Mahara Web Interface

1. Restart the Apache webserver.

sudo systemctl restart apache2

2. Open a browser and navigate to the following URL.

http://localhost/mahara

3. Mahara wizard will guide through the web installation process

Conclusion

Mahara is a powerful e-portfolio platform with many features. We've successfully installed Mahara on OpenSUSE latest in this tutorial. You can now create and share your electronic portfolios with Mahara.

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