Project directory is not empty

SamirGunic

Hey guys,

I have installed Composer. Now I'm attempting to install Flarum without carefully reading the instructions.

Project directory "/root/." is not empty.

When I read the instructions again I see:

Afterwards, run this command in an empty location that you want Flarum to be installed in

There is also a warning in the CLI:

Do not run Composer as root/super user!

So the first thing I need to do is create a separate account for installing Flarum? Does this user need any special permissions? Can I name it flarum?

Where do I install Flarum? Does it need to be a specific directory?

SamirGunic

I have created a user named flarum and made it a part of the sudo group, made a directory /var/www/koders and made flarum its owner and set the permissions to 775. Running the Composer installation command again started off good but then I got the message "Killed".

flarum@vultr:/var/www/koders$ composer create-project flarum/flarum . --stability=beta
Creating a "flarum/flarum" project at "./"
Installing flarum/flarum (v0.1.0-beta.14)
  - Installing flarum/flarum (v0.1.0-beta.14): Downloading (100%)
Created project in /var/www/koders/.
Loading composer repositories with package information
Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
Killed
flarum@vultr:/var/www/koders$

SamirGunic

SamirGunic Updating dependencies (including require-dev)

It appears to get stuck at this line.

Running the same command as sudo resulted in "Killed" message again.

clarkwinkelmann

What kind of hosting are you using? Most shared hostings and even VPS hostings usually include a non-root account out of the box. One common situation is having a user who owns both the website files and the webserver process, that way the user doesn't need to be in the sudoers group.

The "Killed" message usually indicates not enough memory for Composer to run.

SamirGunic

clarkwinkelmann

Not enough memory... 🤔 that could be it. As in 1024 MB is not enough? I deployed a new Cloud Compute instance on Vultr for this purpose.

I noticed Composer is complaining again if I use sudo so that's probably not right.

clarkwinkelmann

SamirGunic it's either memory, or it could be execution time. 1024MB should be enough to start with. When you start to have many extensions having some swap could help. Here I guess it might be the execution time given there's already a lot of memory.

sudo should usually not be used with Composer, because it's dangerous to run it with too high permissions (any dependency of Flarum could define a post-install script that would run as root) and also because it will usually result in invalid permissions on the files to use with the webserver.

SamirGunic

Execution time? You mean it takes too long so it times out?

I tried to upgrade to 2048 MB but apparently the selected datacenter is very popular and is running out of resources so it's not possible.

There is insufficient free capacity on this VM's host node for a plan upgrade. If you need a larger instance, please use the "Snapshot" feature to redeploy a larger version of this instance in any of our datacenters.

I opened a support ticket with Vultr and got a very swift reply. They suggested doing a migration to another host. But if 1024 MB is enough I will not migrate.

I have never done this before. There must be something else I'm missing, something more obvious that only beginners miss.

In fact I just tried installing in a VM on my local computer and got stuck at the same place again, but for different reason this time I think.

Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
Your requirements could not be resolved to an installable set of packages.

Followed by a "problem 1" that has no end (first two lines below).

  Problem 1
    - flarum/core v0.1.0-beta.6 requires league/oauth2-client ~1.0 -> satisfiable by league/oauth2-client[1.0.0, 1.0.0-beta1, 1.0.0-beta2, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.1.0, 1.2.0, 1.3.0, 1.4.0, 1.4.1, 1.4.2].
    - flarum/core v0.1.0-beta.7 requires league/oauth2-client ~1.0 -> satisfiable by league/oauth2-client[1.0.0, 1.0.0-beta1, 1.0.0-beta2, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.1.0, 1.2.0, 1.3.0, 1.4.0, 1.4.1, 1.4.2].

OK if the VPS was low on memory, but this VM has 4096 MB. What is its problem? You know? 😊

SamirGunic

I am still hacking at this. I have gained some new understanding but I still get the "Killed" message. I will spare you the details, because I would like to keep this thread on topic and to the point.

So! An empty directory is needed for installing Flarum. Understood.

Now, does it need to be a specific directory? Is /var/www/my-site a suitable location, and does this depend on the server type (Apache vs. Nginx) used? Also, do I need to specify any specific permissions for this directory?

Form the installation guide:

If after completing these steps, Flarum continues to request that you change the permissions you may need to check that your files are owned by the correct group and user.

What is the correct group and user?

clarkwinkelmann

SamirGunic What is the correct group and user?

That will depend on the hosting.

Often the webserver user will be www-data, and changing the ownership of the files to that user is the best option.

SamirGunic Now, does it need to be a specific directory?

No it can be anywhere. But depending on your hosting, a specific folder might be suggested/required. The best is to pick a folder that's not served by the webserver, then set the virtualhost DocumentRoot/root to <flarum folder>/public.

SamirGunic I still get the "Killed" message

You can configure the max_execution_time for PHP in the php.ini config file. Usually there's one configuration file specific for the command line. By default it's usually -1 for unlimited, but in your case it might be set to something else.

SamirGunic

clarkwinkelmann That will depend on the hosting.

What do you mean by that? Are you referring to so called "jailed SSH" and having to place your files in the dedicated public_html directory as with most shared hosting providers? That should not present a problem for me, since I run my own VPS and I have root access.

I think this is part of my confusion and why I asked the question. I used to work with that directory before I started using VPS servers.

clarkwinkelmann Often the webserver user will be www-data, and changing the ownership of the files to that user is the best option.

If my site is at /etc/www/mysite does that mean mysite and all of its contents should be owned by the www-data user? Currently it's owned by flarum which I created for this purpose.

clarkwinkelmann No it can be anywhere. But depending on your hosting, a specific folder might be suggested/required.

That does remind me of shared hosting providers.

clarkwinkelmann The best is to pick a folder that's not served by the webserver, then set the virtualhost DocumentRoot/root to <flarum folder>/public.

I don't know about virtual hosts, but what folders are served by the webserver?

clarkwinkelmann You can configure the max_execution_time for PHP in the php.ini config file.

I have had some progress today. I intend to start a new thread about it (after some searching on the forum first), because I would like to keep the topic of this thread related to folder or directory structure, permissions and so on. But I can tell you that the cause of the "Killed" message was indeed shortage of memory.

clarkwinkelmann

On an unmanaged VPS, you are free to place Flarum wherever you want and run it as any user you want. I was referring to common examples for shared hosting, managed VPS or pre-built server images.

You should try what you're familiar with, and see if there's any file permission issue. If not, it's probably fine.