Apache, Linux Server, PHP, Tips, Tricks, Guides, UI/UX Design | Setup cakePHP framework – stable version 1.2.0.7962 released

CakePHP commonly known as ‘Cake’ is easy to install and faster to configure. It needs Apache (with mod_rewrite enabled), Php 4.3.2 or higher, MySQL/PostgreSQL/other ODBC, ADODB compliant databases.

XAMPP by ApacheFriends or MAMP has a complete installation of the above products which is an ultimate time saver. But, you should prefer installing each software individually in order to get a grip on the subject.

You can download the latest release from http://cakeforge.org/frs/download.php/695/1.2.0.7962.tar.gz

Common things to do to setup cakePHP on localhost:
1) Give appropriate permission settings for ‘tmp’ folder
2) Open /app/config/core.php and go to the line where configuration setting for Security.salt is defined and change it to another 40 character alphanumeric combination.
3) Rename database.php.default file to database.php and define the respective database settings in it.

Now go to http://localhost/cake-installation-directory. This should list down a colored window indicating that the installation was successful. If a forbidden message appears then check if the any port numbers need to be appended to the URL like http://localhost:8085/cake-installation-directory/.

Edit /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf by typing in the following content towards the end of file where similar ‘Directory’ related entries exist.

<Directory />
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
</Directory>

You need to restart the apache server after making the above entries by typing from the terminal window /sbin/service httpd restart.

The above entries when added does the following things:
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
FollowSymLinks – Enables the server to follow symbolic links in this directory.
Indexes – This option shows a formatted directory listing inside the directory if ‘index’ named file is not found

AllowOverride All

The above setting is valid only inside ‘Directory’ attribute. When this is set to All and if there is a .htaccess file in the directive then it will be allowed access. If it is set to ‘None’ then .htaccess settings will be overridden.