Install 4.5 test on Local HardDrive

[Bob Snow]

I'm trying to set up 4.5 on my local hard drive for testing. I moved the files into a directory, E:\ISP-Test. From here I am lost. Is there a certain file structure that I must follow for the installed files? 

Bob

[Ryan Ashbrook]

You need to set up a local server in order to do so - personally, on Windows, I use AppServ.

[Bob Snow]

I have 4./5 installed on my server right now, in the public_html directory. I also have room to install a TESTINSTALL. What I'm looking for is the file structure I would use. From what I have read elsewhere I'm under the impression that I would install in a  subdirectory of, public_html. And the directory would be called:
public_html/TESTINSTALL 
That's only a guess.
Bob

Edited September 17, 2020 by Bob Snow

[bfarber]

No, not necessarily. I use WAMP on Windows which creates a directory at C:/wamp/www. My main installation under here is "suite" but you can create any subdirectory you want (or, if this will be the only site you work with, you don't even need to create a subdirectory at all). That said, the exact directory structure is dependent somewhat on the software you use.

If you wanted to do this on your webserver, you could create any subdirectory you want as well. Some do /staging or /test or whatever, but there's no specific required subdirectory name you must use.

[Bob Snow]

If I decide to install on my hard drive, as mentioned above, I would be using either AppServ or WAMP. I did click on each link to see what they are all about. They both appear to be a bit complex. What exactly do they do for me. How do they affect the requirement for Apache + PHP + MySQL, being as it's installed on my hard drive. My thought is it's acting like a shell mimicking a server . I'm a 80-year-old rookie but I'm still facing the challenge.

Bob

 

Edited September 18, 2020 by Bob Snow

[CoffeeCake]

Just now, Bob Snow said:

If I decide to install on my hard drive, as mentioned above, I would be using either AppServ or WAMP. I I click that each link to see what they are. They both appear to be a bit complex. What exactly do they do for me. I'm a 80-year-old rookie but I'm still facing the challenge.

Bob

 

80-years-young, Bob! 80-years-young!

Both are a quick way to get up and running with a local environment and will install all of the dependencies required to run IPS on your local computer. IPS needs the following things:

• (W)indows/Mac/Linux/??? operating system. This is whatever kind of operating system you have on your computer. It's irrelevant here other than the first letter. Have a desktop computer already? You're all set.
• (A)pache (or alternative) as a web server (for example, apache, nginx, etc.)
• (M)ySQL (or MariaDB) as a database server, where most of the content of your community is stored and retrieved
• (P)HP (the processor/programming language IPS' code is written in)

This is commonly referred to as LAMP (Linux is the operating system, as is typical on servers) or WAMP (Windows is the operating system) or MAMP (MacOS is the operating system). You could install and configure each of these things separately on your computer, but the packages mentioned by @Ryan Ashbrook and @bfarber are two choices that combine all these common dependencies for development into a single, easier to install package. There are many others. You can search for "WAMP local development" for some guides and howtos. At the end of the day, once you have each of these somewhere on your machine and setup, you're ready to spin up a local copy of IPS.

If you have an Apple computer, you'll want MAMP instead. The alternative is running virtual machines and setting them up yourself. Depending on your operating system, there are a number of options to do this. If you're looking for quick and easy though, one of the options provided earlier will do just fine.

After you get your local environment setup, you simply follow the install instructions from the following guide. You'll need to create an account in MySQL that has the ability to create a database, and enable the prerequisite PHP extensions if they're not already enabled.

 

[Bob Snow]

Thank you all for your help. Special thanks to Paul E., with the very detailed description of what I need to do. But also why I'm doing it. In all my days this is the best.
Bob

[CoffeeCake]

Hi Bob,

I think your screenshot may have sensitive information in it. You should edit your post and remove it.

Rather than copy your files, just download a new copy of the files from the IPS client area. That'll be the easiest way to resolve it.