This post shows students and new users how to install Laravel framework on Ubuntu Linux with Apache. Laravel is an open source PHP web application framework with cool built-in features like routing, authentication, sessions, caching, and unit testing.
Laravel can be used as an alternative to the CodeIgniter framework. It is designed to be easy to use and to allow developers to create great applications. If you are looking for a simple and straightforward PHP framework to design your next application, you will find Laravel useful.
Also, for students and new users learning Linux, the easiest place to start learning is Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu is the modern open source Linux operating system for desktops, servers, and other devices.
To start installing Laravel on Ubuntu Linux, follow the steps below:
How to install Apache on Ubuntu Linux
If you are not using Laravel on a production server, then a web server is not needed. If you want to run Laravel with a web server, Apache is a great option as it is the most popular web server in use today.
To install Apache on Ubuntu, run the following commands.
sudo apt update sudo apt install apache2
After installation, the following commas can be used to stop, start, and enable the Apache2 service to always start with the server starting.
sudo systemctl stop apache2.service sudo systemctl start apache2.service sudo systemctl enable apache2.service
How to install PHP on Ubuntu Linux
Laravel is based on PHP, so you will need to install PHP and related modules. At the time of writing, PHP 7.4 is the default in Ubuntu repositories.
To install PHP and related modules, run the following commands
sudo apt install php7.4 libapache2-mod-php7.4 php7.4-intl php7.4-imap php7.4-mbstring php7.4-xmlrpc php7.4-soap php7.4-gd php7.4-xml php7.4-cli php7.4-zip curl
PHP must be installed and ready to use.
How to install Composer to download Laravel
Now that PHP is installed, you can download Laravel through Composer. Composer is a dependency manager for PHP that we will use to download the Laravel core and related Laravel components.
To do that, run the following commands to install composer.
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
After installing Composer, change to the Apache root directory and run Composer to download the Laravel code packages and create a Laravel project folder called My project.
Laravel will automatically create a file called .env. These files include custom configuration variables, including database credentials. If you are using a database server, use this file to add your name and password.
cd /var/www/
sudo composer create-project laravel/laravel MyProject --prefer-dist
How to configure Apache to be compatible with Laravel
Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for Laravel. This file will control how users access Laravel content. Run the following commands to create a new configuration file called laravel.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/laravel.conf
Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin admin@example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/MyProject/public
ServerName example.com
<Directory /var/www/MyProject/public>
Options +FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Save the file and close.
How to enable Laravel Apache vhost
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the following commands
sudo a2ensite laravel.conf
After running the above commands, a new project directory will be created. Run the following commands to set the correct permissions for that directory.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/MyProject/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/MyProject/
Then run the following command to restart Apache by running the following commands.
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Finally, open your browser and find the domain name added in the configuration file above.
http://example.com
You should then see the default Laravel startup screen. You can start building your web applications through Laravel on Ubuntyu.
You should do that!
Conclusion:
In this tutorial we have seen how to install Laravel framework on Ubuntu Linux with Apache. If you find any errors above or have something to add, use the comment form below.
