Wesley's Tool-Box

Wow, I must really be in the groove tonight. I think I'll do the last section after sleeping, but a glass of Pepsi should keep me awake just enough to write this section.

5. s9y (Serendipity)
In search for a good blog (weblog) solution to install on my web server, I came across Serendipity Weblog System, or 's9y' for short. There are other PHP-based blog systems out there such as Tatter Tools which seems to be gaining popularity in Korea, but I'm quite comfortable with how s9y works and I think it's good for you, too. I mean, just look at this place! **cough**

Go to the Downloads section of s9y website and download the latest release. You'll be given several mirrors to download the file, and any will do. The file is in tar.gz format and this should be decompressible by OS X's BOMArchive Helper. Decompress to get a folder containing s9y files. Rename the folder if you want, and move the folder to the website's root folder (yes, I mean /Library/WebServer/Documents/ ).

Before you can configure s9y, yes, we need a database for s9y to work on. Luckily, you can re-use the database and the related information created when installing phpBB because s9y's database tables don't overlap phpBB's. Alternately, if you want to keep a separate database and user account for s9y, you can do that, too. Just follow the directions I wrote in the phpBB section with a different database name and perhaps a different user name.

It's Terminal time again. Sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it? Hehe... Okay, type:

cd /Library/WebServer/Documents
sudo chown username:www serendipity
sudo chown username:www serendipity/templates_c
chmod 770 serendipity
chmod 770 serendipity/templates_c

username is your username on the Mac. If you don't know, open Finder and it's displayed right next to the house-shaped icon. serendipity is the folder containing the s9y files. Enter admin passwords when asked. If you don't do this, s9y can't start installing and will tell you this on the first setup page anyway, so we might as well do it now. Don't close the Terminal window (surprise!).

Additionally, you could change PHP's configuration file to meet s9y's recommendations. This isn't visible in Finder, so either access the file in Terminal, use a system tweaking program to show hidden files, or do like I do and use a good freeware text file editor like Smultron. Should you follow my footsteps, go to that website and download the latest release. Open the .dmg file and put the app into Applications folder. Run Smultron, go to File > Open Hidden. Click on your Mac HDD icon on the left, and go usr > local > php5 > lib > php.ini to open the configuration file.

In the file, search for post_max_size and upload_max_filesize (use CMD-F keyboard shortcut) and change the values for both settings to 10M. Save the file. If you get the authentication window, enter your admin password.

Launch your web browser and go to http://address/serendipity/ where address is your web site's address (System Preferences - Sharing - Services - Personal Web Sharing and see bottom) and serendipity is, again, the folder where the s9y files are present (yes, this was another cut-and-paste.. go figure).

It should load 'Serendipity Installation' page and everything should be in green except for two entries relating to ImageMagick, which should be in yellow because we don't have that installed. It doesn't affect the installation process, so it's alright. You can either choose Simple installation or Expert installation. Simple installation should be fine; you can configure everything available in Expert installation later in administration page.

The page that appears after clicking that link should be strikingly easy to configure if you've already got the hang of installing phpBB. You know the Database type is MySQL, and host is localhost. Database's user, password, and name are entered as you configured earlier. General Settings section is also self-explainable. The Use WYSIWYG editor option near the bottom should be set to No if you intend to stick to Safari since the editor doesn't work well with it. If you use a Mozilla-based web browser like Camino or FireFox, you could choose Yes. Finish up by pressing Complete installation

Okay, go back to the Terminal window and type like this:

chmod 750 serendipity

That should prevent unwanted modification. s9y installation is done, so connecting to the default page (http://address/serendipity/) gives you the main page to your new and fresh blog. You can login via Blog Administration section in the sidebar to write a new blog post or configure further.

Next up is how to let others easily come to your website. But first, I'm gonna get some sleep.