stuck in installation
Dear !Friendica Support
I'm currently trying to setup a local instance of Friendica for testing and evaluation (first time install) and I'm stuck at step 5 of the installer. After I entered the admins email address, selected timezone and system language, when I click Next, I get a white page (with the "wrong" URL also). The server delivered HTML and CSS etc., but no content to display for the browser. Also the URL path suddenly changes from /install?pass=4 to /index.php?pagename=install (as if rewriting stopped working or there is an issue with the base URL).
No database tables are created, but I can confirm that I entered correct data since if I enter wrong data (server, username, password, database) I get the same behaviour directly after that step where I entered the wrong data.
I try to install Friendica on a dedicated server (in a LXC container), base is a very basic Debian 12 install with additional deb packages to fulfill the requirements given on the official Requirements page. I have root shell access on that Debian installation.
- Apache httpd 2.4
- PHP 8.2
- MariaDB 10.11.6
- various packages for all the PHP plugins
I got Friendica via git from the stable branch (in hope to have less hassle there, I evaluate this for setting up a community of 10-50 users, maybe growing), let composer run without errors (just some maybe usual warnings about composer version and no longer supported plugins).
I ensured that Apache has the rewrite module installed and allows .htaccess configs for it.
I copied the .htaccess-dist to .htaccess.
I created a dedicated DB user and database for Friendica (additionally I installed phpMyAdmin on that machine to make administering and checking the database easier for me).
I did not install a TLS certificate for the server as it is only for local testing and not intended for outside access - and if I will change that, I probably will have an external reverse proxy handle that.
I checked the availability of all PHP plugins with a small extra page that just calls phpinfo(). (I'm not an expert in PHP but from past experiences with other PHP based software I know that it helps during setup but has to be removed ASAP, especially when going public.)
On the first page of the installer, I get two warnings: one about TLS (which was expectable as I didn't activate it) and one that URL rewrite doesn't work. I don't know why I get that second one - I managed to find the code that checks this, it expects HTTP status 204 of some internal URL and when I call this URL from my local machine it gets that expected answer and also a curl call on the machine where I install Friendica gives that expected answer. Let alone the fact, that the redirect from / to /install is working over all the steps (I found out the hard way how it looks like when rewrite doesn't work, since I first had configured Apache wrong).
I also checked that mail sending works. I only want to receive mail on that test machine, I configured postfix accordingly, tested it with sendmail and with a short snippet that calls PHPs [code]mail()[code] function locally - in both cases I got the email delivered as expected.
Now I don't have a clue where to look further. I don't want to start debugging or reverse engineering, for the current phase of my evaluation that's too much effort for me, so please please help me to continue my experiment.
Where could I look for error messages? (Already checked syslog and Apache error log files.)
What config could I have done wrong? Is the "stable" version not installable from scratch?
TIA, cyberbrain
Friendica Support hat dies geteilt.
M.Scheriau
Als Antwort auf M.Scheriau • •Friendica Support hat dies geteilt.
utopiArte
Als Antwort auf M.Scheriau • • •@M.Scheriau
Have you had a look at the alternative instalation routine isung the console like describbed in /help/Install#Option+B%3A+Run+the+automatic+install+script:
friendica.io/help/Install#Opti…
Also make sure that .htaccess is renamed and that /tmp/yourdomainname belongs to www-data
I just had troubles with the standrard install and managed to get it done with the console.
Tha I got stuck wih the first admin profile registry and solved it as described here:
forum.friendi.ca/display/0ac89…
utopiArte
2025-03-01 07:49:35
M.Scheriau
Als Antwort auf M.Scheriau • •Thanks @utopiArte , I even opened a GitHub ticket where it was confirmed that the manual installer is broken. Tried the scripted version (that you also recommended) and finally it worked. But I found out the hard way that "root@friendica.local" is not accepted as valid email address on registration (although I setup my test machine to actually deliver mail to this address). The Docker image probably uses some "magic" (aka not so prominently documented feature) to turn off the email validation.
BTW I also didn't receive the registration email in 3 of 4 cases of registration, I simply used the "forgot password" function in that case with the known mail address, this always worked. Retrieving the password from the DB would be a big security issue, you always have to create a new one.
Friendica Support hat dies geteilt.
utopiArte
Als Antwort auf M.Scheriau • • •On the email delivery @M.Scheriau, I guess php mailer (or something like that) has to be present in the first place to make that work from the get go, at least after several intents.
Yes.
Password change is (of course) always kinda mandatory.
Point is that it was the only way to get access in the first place.
All that said, and no idea about docker or that kind of installations:
In general from my experience of now like 14 years of setting up friendica, ultimately fruitless intents trying to make it work in shared hosting (a setup option ultimately abandoned by the coders), and now ultimately happily on an own VPS, once you have it up and running it is works fine and is an excellent choice, up to a certain amount of users (50 to max 500 maybe depending on the hardware).
In any case for the peace of mind and and reliability I'd probably recommend old stable for "working" environment.
Perhaps a second installation to support the dev efforts could be a good choice for the admin himself.
utopiArte
Als Antwort auf M.Scheriau • • •@Tobias
That's a real bummer.
Shouldn't that be mentioned in release tag, release notes and installation information Tobias?
Install docs
github.com/friendica/friendica…
Release tag
github.com/friendica/friendica…
Release notes
forum.friendi.ca/display/39bbe…
@M.Scheriau
Friendica News
2025-01-01 09:00:07