How to Install WordPress on Arch Linux

WordPress is a content management system that allows you to build and host a website on the web. It offers a plugin architecture and a template system that allows users to customize any website to fit their business, blog, portfolio, or online store. It is written in PHP and uses MariaDB and MySQL as database backends.

In this post, we will show you how to install WordPress with Apache on Arch Linux.

Step 1 – Configure Repository

By default, the default repository is outdated in Arch Linux, so you will need to modify the default mirror list. You can do it by editing the mirrorlist configuration file:

nano  /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Remove all lines and add the following lines:

## Score: 0.7, United States
Server = http://mirror.us.leaseweb.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
## Score: 0.8, United States
Server = http://lug.mtu.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirror.nl.leaseweb.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
## Score: 0.9, United Kingdom
Server = http://mirror.bytemark.co.uk/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
## Score: 1.5, United Kingdom
Server = http://mirrors.manchester.m247.com/arch-linux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://archlinux.dcc.fc.up.pt/$repo/os/$arch
## Score: 6.6, United States
Server = http://mirror.cs.pitt.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
## Score: 6.7, United States
Server = http://mirrors.acm.wpi.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
## Score: 6.8, United States
Server = http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
## Score: 7.1, India
Server = http://mirror.cse.iitk.ac.in/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
## Score: 10.1, United States
Server = http://mirrors.xmission.com/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch

Save and close the file, then update all the package indexes with the following command:

pacman -Syu

Step 2 – Install Apache and PHP

First, install the Apache web server with the following command:

pacman -Sy apache

After successful installation, start and enable the Apache service with the following command:

systemctl start httpd
systemctl enable httpd

Next, install PHP and other required extensions using the following command:

pacman -Sy php php-gd php-cgi php-apache

Next, edit the PHP configuration file and enable the required extensions:

nano /etc/php/php.ini

Add the following lines:

extension=pdo_mysql
extension=mysqli

Save and close the file when you are finished.

Step 3 – Install and Configure MariaDB Database

First, install the MariaDB server with the following command:

pacman -S libmariadbclient mariadb mariadb-clients

Next, initialize the MariaDB database with the following command:

mysql_install_db --user=mysql --basedir=/usr --datadir=/var/lib/mysql

Next, start and enable the MariaDB service with the following command:

systemctl start mysqld
systemctl enable mysqld

Next, connect to the MariaDB console using the following command:

mysql

Once you are connected, create a database and user for WordPress:

CREATE DATABASE wordpress;
GRANT ALL ON wordpress.* TO wordpress@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Next, flush the privileges and exit from the MariaDB shell with the following command:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 4 – Install WordPress CMS

First, navigate to the Apache default root directory and download the latest version of WordPress with the following command:

cd /srv/http
wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz

Once the download is completed, extract the downloaded file using the following command:

tar xvf latest.tar.gz

Next, rename the WordPress configuration file:

mv /srv/http/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php  /srv/http/wordpress/wp-config.php

Next, edit the WordPress configuration file and define your database:

nano /srv/http/wordpress/wp-config.php

Change the following lines:

define( 'DB_NAME', 'wordpress' );

/** MySQL database username */
define( 'DB_USER', 'wordpress' );

/** MySQL database password */
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'password' );

Save and close the file, then change the ownership of the WordPress directory:

chown -R root:http /srv/http/wordpress

Step 5 – Configure Apache for WordPress

Next, edit the Apache default virtual host configuration file:

nano /etc/httpd/conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

Remove all lines and add the following code:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot "/srv/http/wordpress"
    ServerName wordpress.example.com
    ErrorLog "/var/log/httpd/wordpress-error_log"
    CustomLog "/var/log/httpd/wordpress-access_log" common
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file, then edit the Apache configuration file:

nano /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Uncomment the following line:

Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
LoadModule mpm_prefork_module modules/mod_mpm_prefork.so

Comment out the following line:

#LoadModule mpm_event_module modules/mod_mpm_event.so

Add the following lines:

LoadModule php_module modules/libphp.so
AddHandler php-script .php
Include conf/extra/php_module.conf

Save and close the file, then restart the Apache service to apply the changes:

systemctl restart httpd

Step 6 – Access WordPress Web Installation Wizard

Now, open your web browser and access the WordPress installation using the URL http://wordpress.example.com. You will be redirected to the WordPress site configuration page:

Provide your website name and admin credentials and click on the Install WordPress button. Once WordPress is installed, you should see the following page:

Click on the Login button. You should see the WordPress login page:

Provide your admin username and password and click on the Login button. You should see the WordPress admin dashboard on the following page:

Conclusion

In this post, we explained how to install WordPress with Apache on Arch Linux. You can now create and deploy your website or blog from the WordPress admin dashboard. Try WordPress on dedicated server hosting from Atlantic.Net!