Installation
Documentation > Administration > Installation
Ready to begin using BoltWire? Just follow the directions below to get it set up and running. Warning: it probably takes longer to read the instructions than to carry them out!
Your First Site
To use BoltWire, you only need a basic webserver (like Apache) with PHP5 enabled, and the boltwire zip download. For information about setting up your own webserver, so you can run BoltWire offline, see this tutorial for Windows or this one for a Mac. Once you have access to a server, follow these installation instructions:
1. Extract the contents of the boltwire zip file into a directory on your hard drive. You should end up with a folder called "boltwire" with several files and subdirectories in it. Move this folder to the root directory of your web space (either on your computer, or to your webserver using ftp). The root directory is usually called htdocs or www or public_html depending on your server setup.
2. Create another folder side by side with boltwire using a simple name for your site (like mysite). Then, using a text editor, create a page called index.php with the content below, and save it inside this directory.
<?php
$BOLTadmin='admin';
$cryptkey='secret';
include_once('../boltwire/scripts/engine.php');
Replace 'admin' with the member id you prefer (lower case letters and numbers only). You can give other users admin status later using BoltWire's group management system.
Setting a cryptkey is optional, and can be set to any text you wish. It is used for encrypting passwords, and cannot be changed once member accounts are created. If you do not set a cryptkey, passwords will be saved in plain text.
3. That's about it. Call the index.php file in your browser and follow the onscreen instructions to begin building your site. The link should look like http://www.domain.com/mysite/index.php. If you are using BoltWire offline, try http://localhost/mysite/index.php. BoltWire should immediately spring to life--creating all other needed files and folders automatically!
To create multiple sites, simply create more folders, and put a copy of index.php in each. It's just that simple!
Troubleshooting
If you are using a Linux server, and having trouble--you will want to verify that the permissions for the boltwire folder and it's subdirectories are set to 755. The field folders should be set to 777. And the index.php files should all be set to 644.
If your server is running in PHP's "safe" mode, BoltWire may not be able to create certain required folders. The solution is to use FTP to create the following directories in your field folder and then chmod them to 777: config, files, indexes, pages, stamps. Delete any files already created by BoltWire before creating them via FTP. You do not have to worry about file permissions if you are on a windows server.
Other Options
There are many other ways to configure and setup your BoltWire installation. The farms tutorial looks at options for installing your site in the root directory rather than a subdirectory, how to move the code out of web writable space for heightened security, and a couple multi-barn approaches to make upgrades easier. Also, if you are an experienced web administrator, you may wish to look at the cleanURLs tutorial, to learn more about aliasing your URL's, to make them shorter, simpler, and more search engine friendly.
Your webhosting service should provide ways to link specific domains with the appropriate index.php file so you do not need to type in the folder name. Explore your control panel or ask them for support.
Your site should now be setup and ready to go. Have fun!
