Installation process unclear

[Radiergummi]

I've just discovered Respond and wanted to give it a try. Since I've got a local nginx plus DNS resolver running, I thought using the Github installer should be possible.
That created a bunch of problems related to webserver configuration which I managed to solve aided by the Google group, though. I was able to navigate to /install and expected some kind of installation routine, but just found a list of tests which did all pass.
The docs end here: How am I supposed to continue? Upon navigating to /, I'm just redirected to the login page, which I obviously don't have any credentials for. Trying to submit any credentials just results in a dialog saying undefined.

I'm a little perplexed by the complexity of the installation process honestly, compared to way bigger applications like Magento 2 which also manage to keep it understandable. It would be really nice if there were

• nginx installation directives
• a step-by-step guide to installation at least developers understand

Maybe I'm doing it all wrong, but I'd be grateful for directions here. Thank you.

[Puresoft]

You are right, the install documentation should be reworked.

With /create you get the creation wizard.

Installing from the release.zip is much easier. https://respondcms.com/documentation/installation

Or you may try the docker version https://github.com/madoublet/respond/tree/6.4.1/docker

[madoublet]

Thanks for the feedback! For local builds, we have been focused on Vagrant and Docker to make installation easier. This helps mitigate the headaches of setting up a local environment.

You can find the Vagrant instructions here: https://respondcms.com/documentation/installation-local

@Puresoft just added a Dockerfile (linked above). I plan to get that documented as well.

[Radiergummi]

@Puresoft Thank you for that step (it responds with a 404 in my case, but that's related to nginx so it doesn't matter for the scope of this issue)!
Concerning the docs - the release installation guidelines end with step 6, too, there's no mention of /create 😉

@madoublet While I appreciate your efforts with Vagrant and Docker, it would be preferable in my opinion if deploying from dev-machine.local to prod.example.com would be a matter of changing APP_ENV and APP_URL and pushing.

Concerning the nginx issue - I know how super annoying those please support this arbitrary software I desperately need requests are, I think we all do. But nginx is superior to Apache in almost any way. It would be exceptional to have a working configuration example somewhere in the docs! 😄

[madoublet]

I will update the docs to add the /create step. You are not the first one to want NGINX. Here is a configuration from the forum that worked for non-SSL installations:

server {
        listen 80;
        server_name programco.de;
        root /var/www/respond/app/public;
        index index.php index.html;

        location / {
                try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
        }

        location ~ \.php$ {
                try_files $uri =404;
                fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(.*)$;
                fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
                fastcgi_index  index.php;
                fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
                include fastcgi_params;
                #fastcgi_ignore_client_abort on;
                #fastcgi_param  SERVER_NAME $http_host;
        }
}

I have moved to Vagrant (and now Docker) instructions because they are less error prone than other local installation methods (especially when you take the Mac/Linux/Windows variants). Vagrant is also recommended by the Laravel/Lumen team for the same reason. My goal long term is to provide both production and development Vagrant and Docker builds.

With that said, I am certainly open to other options. My goal is to provide the easiest way to get up-and-running while balancing that with having to write a ton of docs.

[L0rdH4x0r]

I have moved to Vagrant (and now Docker) instructions because they are less error prone

Why dont just create copy&paste installations such as WordPress?

I went through this process https://respondcms.com/documentation/installation but instead setting virtualhost base to /app/public i created a RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /app/public/$1 [L,R=301]. All tests but one are running fine: Connection to API failed I cannot spot any api folder anywhere!?

If i run /create i get "Sorry, the page you are looking for could not be found." as i have no create in app/public. in RoutesRequests.php line 460 at Application->handleDispatcherResponse(array('0')) in RoutesRequests.php line 398 at Application->Laravel\Lumen\Concerns\{closure}() in RoutesRequests.php line 643 at Application->sendThroughPipeline(array(), object(Closure)) in RoutesRequests.php line 399 at Application->dispatch(null) in RoutesRequests.php line 340 at Application->run() in index.php line 28

What can i do, to just have it running a single installation from that point? I dont need users to setup sites?

Thx

[madoublet]

Why don't just create copy&paste installations such as WordPress?

I prefer working in a framework (in this case, Lumen/Laravel) so Respond carries the baggage brought by that framework. Respond is copy and paste if your server meets the requirements of the framework. See https://lumen.laravel.com/docs/5.5#server-requirements

What can i do, to just have it running a single installation from that point?

It is incredibly hard to debug someone else's installation. This is especially true with PHP b/c there are so many ways to run and configure a server running PHP. But, I can tell you that you don't need to modify any of the Respond source to run it. So, you should look at your server configuration if it is not running.

[derixithy]

You are right, the install documentation should be reworked.

With /create you get the creation wizard.

Installing from the release.zip is much easier. https://respondcms.com/documentation/installation

Or you may try the docker version https://github.com/madoublet/respond/tree/6.4.1/docker

So where does one find the release.zip file. I could not find any reference to a download link for this file.