Last modified on 01 Oct 2021.

I create Math2ITwp theme for math2it.com from scratch. This note contains the basic things to create a theme like that.

Install Apache + MySQL + PHP.

Linux

Below are the short steps from this post.

# upate system
sudo apt update

# install apache2
sudo apt install apache2

# Adjust the Firewall to Allow Web Traffic
sudo ufw app list
sudo ufw app info "Apache Full" # it should show that it enables traffic to ports 80 and 443
sudo ufw allow in "Apache Full"

# try browsing http://localhost

# install mysql
sudo apt install mysql-server

# setup mysql (choose Y for all, set passwords if neccessary)
sudo mysql_secure_installation
sudo mysql
SELECT user,authentication_string,plugin,host FROM mysql.user;
# change 'YourPassword' with your own password!!!
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'YourPassword';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
# verify that 'root' has 'mysql_native_password' in filed 'plugin'
SELECT user,authentication_string,plugin,host FROM mysql.user;
exit

After set a new password to root user of mysql, instead of using sudo mysql, you have to use following command to access mysql with the root

mysql -u root -p # and then type the new password (YourPassword above)!

# install php
sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql

# tell web server to prefer .php file
sudo gedit /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/dir.conf
# find IfModule mod_dir.c and move index.php to the first
# restart apache webserver
sudo systemctl restart apache2

# check status on apache2
sudo systemctl status apache2 # press Q to exit

# install some additional modules
apt search php- | less # press Q to quit

Testing a php file in /var/www/html/

sudo gedit /var/www/html/info.php

and paste

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Goto localhost/phpmyadmin to test.

# install phpmyadmin
sudo apt update
sudo apt install phpmyadmin php-mbstring php-gettext
# choose apache2 as default if you are asked for this

# enable the mbstring PHP extension
sudo phpenmod mbstring

# restart Apache for your changes to be recognized
sudo systemctl restart apache2

If you meet error ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO), follow this help on stackoverflow.

If you have error Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock', check this.

All above errors: Try to remove and reinstall again mysql and

sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql*
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client

Login to mysql

mysql -u root -p

See the list of current user in mysql

# in the mysql environment
SELECT user,authentication_string,plugin,host FROM mysql.user;

Create a new user and give it a strong password

CREATE USER 'thi'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'YourPassword';

Grant your new user appropriate privileges

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'thi'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

After installing phpmyadmin, there has to be an user phpmyadmin in the list of user of mysql, if not, you need to create a such user and give it grant control like above.

Go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin. Login with your user and password you created above (thi for example).

  • The Apache server is installed on /var/www/html.
  • Simply download this tool and follow the instructions. You can also check the author’s answer on SE.

Windows

  1. Download and install WampServer.
  2. By default, after installing, your site will be at C:\wamp64\www.
  3. Run WarmServer, an green icon on the right of taskbar will appear.

MacOS

  1. Install MAMP.
  2. Follow this post.

PHP executable (optional)

Just for running PHP + PHP IntelliSense on Visual Studio Code.

  1. Download PHP (Windows, portable).

  2. Put below lines in VSC setting file (change the path to yours).

    {
 "php.validate.executablePath": "C:\\wamp64\\bin\\php\\php7.0.4\\php.exe",
 "php.executablePath": "C:\\wamp64\\bin\\php\\php7.0.4\\php.exe"
}

Create local database + Wordpress

Create a database

# Sign in to MySQL
mysql -u root -p

# Check the list of users
SELECT user,authentication_string,plugin,host FROM mysql.user;


# Create a new user `thi` and assign to this user a password, e.g. `thipassword`
CREATE USER 'thi'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'thipassword';

# Set the orivileges to this user
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'thi'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
  1. Open http://localhost/phpmyadmin/,
  2. Create a new database testing_db (remember to choose utf8_general_ci before pressing Create)
  3. Create a new user thi with ALL PRIVILEGES (click on Check all).

Install Wordpress

  1. Download Wordpress.
  2. Create a folder thi in C:\wamp64\www (Windows), /var/www/html (Linux).
  3. Extract the content (wp-admin, wp-content,…) of the zip file downloaded in step 1 to /thi/.
  4. Go to http://localhost/thi and follow the instructions.
  5. Type the username and password you created (thi and thipassword).
  6. Press Install and wait.
  7. Login with username and password.
  8. All the configuration is at http://localhost/texmath/wp-admin/.

Clone a website to localhost

  1. Install Apache + MySQL + PHP.
  2. Create database + install Wordpress.
  3. At least, you have a workable site at http://localhost/thi/.
  4. Download and install an FTP app like WinSCP (Windows) or FileZilla or Transmit.
  5. Download the current theme on the remote to local. The theme is located at /wp-content/themes/.
  6. Clone database from remote site to local by using plugin All-in-One WP Migration. More detailed guid: English, Vietnamese. If your site’s too big, exlude the media files and copy them later. They’re all in wp-content/uploads.
  7. Note that, you have to use username and password given in the downloaded database instead of the one you created on localhost.
  8. Enable the downloaded theme in /wp-admin.