How to Install MyBB on POP! OS Latest

Introduction

MyBB is a free, open-source, and intuitive forum software that is designed to give your community a voice, and it can be installed on a variety of systems. POP! OS, on the other hand, is a Linux distribution developed and maintained by System76 that is based on Ubuntu. This tutorial will guide you on how to install MyBB on the latest version of POP! OS in just a few steps.

Prerequisites

• A running instance of POP! OS
• A terminal emulator
• Root access or sudo privileges

Step 1: Install Apache2 Web Server

Apache2 is an open-source webserver software that is commonly used for hosting websites. To install Apache2, open a terminal window and type in the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

Step 2: Install PHP 7.3

MyBB is written in PHP, so to run MyBB, you need to install the PHP 7.3 or any other latest version. To install PHP 7.3, run the command below:

sudo apt install php7.3

You will also need to install some required PHP extensions that MyBB needs, such as curl, gd, intl, mbstring, xml, zip, mysql, etc. To install these extensions, run the following command:

sudo apt install php7.3-curl php7.3-gd php7.3-intl php7.3-mbstring php7.3-xml php7.3-zip php7.3-mysql

Step 3: Install MariaDB Database Server

MyBB needs a database to store forums and user data. MariaDB is an open-source alternative to MySQL that is highly compatible with it. To install MariaDB, execute the following command:

sudo apt install mariadb-server

Once the installation is complete, secure your MariaDB installation by running the command below:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Step 4: Create a New Database

Before you install MyBB, you need to create a new database to store your forum data. To create a new database in MariaDB, follow the steps below:

1. Login to your MariaDB server by running the following command:

sudo mysql -u root -p

2. After logging into MariaDB, run the following command to create a new database:

CREATE DATABASE mybbdb;

3. Also, create a new database user and grant the necessary privileges. Replace mybbuser and mypassword with your desired username and password. Run the following commands:

CREATE USER 'mybbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'mypassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mybbdb.* TO 'mybbuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

4. Finally, exit the MariaDB console by typing exit;

Step 5: Download MyBB

Download the latest version of MyBB from their official website: https://mybb.com/download/. The file will be downloaded as a ZIP archive file.

Step 6: Extract MyBB Archive

After downloading the ZIP archive, extract its contents to the root directory of your Apache2 webserver by running the following command:

sudo unzip mybb-*.zip -d /var/www/html/

Step 7: Configure MyBB

Now, we need to configure our MyBB installation to run properly.

1. Change your working directory to the root of your MyBB installation:

cd /var/www/html/mybb*

2. Run the MyBB installation script:

sudo php ./install/install.php

3. Follow the installation wizard prompts to configure MyBB. Make sure to provide the details of the database you created earlier (Step 4) and set up the desired administrator account.

4. After the installation is complete, remove the installation folder from your webserver's document root directory:

sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/mybb*/install/

Step 8: Configuration Apache2 WebServer

We need to create a new virtual host configuration file for our MyBB installation.

1. Create a new virtual host file in /etc/apache2/sites-available/ directory:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/mybb.conf

2. Add the following contents to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerAdmin admin@example.com
   ServerName yourdomain.com
   DocumentRoot /var/www/html/mybb/
   <Directory /var/www/html/mybb/>
      Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
      AllowOverride All
      Order allow,deny
      allow from all
   </Directory>
   ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/mybb_error.log
   CustomLog /var/log/apache2/mybb_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

3. Save and close the file.

4. Enable the newly created virtual host by running the following command:

sudo a2ensite mybb.conf

5. Restart Apache2 to apply the new changes:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 9: Access MyBB Installation

Now you can access to your MyBB installation by type your server domain name or IP address on your web browser with https://yourdomain.com/install/.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you have successfully installed MyBB forum software on POP! OS. You are now free to explore and customize your forum to your heart's content. Happy foruming!

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