ianchanning/wp-insella

Composer version of WordPress-Skeleton

WP in-sella

Based on WordPress Skeleton but replacing Git Submodules with Composer., _(*1)

In sella is Italian for 'in the saddle' and was initially used for http://insella.co.uk., _(*2)

This tries to make the benefits of WordPress Skeleton available for a wider audience:, _(*3)

1. This readme should get you fully started with WordPress installed and uploads working
2. Composer in my view is easier to understand than learning about Git Submodules
3. Composer should be able to install on hosts that don't have Git
4. I agree with the idea that Composer is a more appropriate tool to use than Git Submodules
5. The directory structure remains compatible with WordPress Skeleton, so you should be able to mix in the extra WordPress Skeleton goodies when you get to them
6. There's a separate wp-config-skeleton.php file so that you don't have to fork this repo which makes it easier to get WordPress updates
7. This is a Composer Package so instead of cloning you can call composer create-project ianchanning/wp-insella . in your httpdocs directory
8. It still encourages local development with the local-config.php file and allows all the other great stuff you can do with WordPress-Skeleton

This setup relies on having SSH access and running the PHP commands to install composer on your webserver., _(*4)

If you don't have Git on your webserver, follow the No git and no composer setup section below. There's a Media Temple installation guide at the bottom as that happens to be what I'm using., _(*5)

Quick start

Skip this section if you don't have git or composer installed., _(*6)

cd your/httpdocs/dir
git clone https://github.com/ianchanning/wp-insella .
composer install
cp wp-config-skeleton.php wp-config.php

Create your database and edit wp-config.php with your database config and salts., _(*7)

Configuration

Then go to http://www.example.com/wp/wp-admin/ - beware of going directly to www.example.com as it will try going to http://www.example.com/wp-admin which misses out the wp directory and ends up in an infinite redirect., _(*8)

Once WordPress is installed, go to Settings | General and change the Site Address (URL) to http://www.example.com, _(*9)

, _(*10)

Uploads

WordPress Skeleton suggests that you should only use the 'shared' directory for uploads locally. Given that we're not using capistrano we'll keep the directory structure the same but just use the shared directory in production., _(*11)

cd your/httpdocs/dir
mkdir -p shared/content/uploads

Make sure uploads directory is writable by your webserver., _(*12)

Future updates

1. I'll update, commit and push the composer.json file to https://github.com/ianchanning/wp-insella
2. On your site:

cd your/httpdocs/dir
git pull
composer update

No git and no composer setup

This is assuming that you have the most basic web host that doesn't allow anything except SSH / PHP / MySQL., _(*13)

Database

Using your hosting admin:, _(*14)

1. Create the MySQL database
2. Create a database user
3. Give the database read and write access on the database
4. Have the details handy

Composer

From the main composer installation guide, I'm going to assume that you probably don't have the rights to install it globally so we'll install it locally. N.B. the -d allow_url_fopen=On which is to modify one of the php.ini settings which may be turned off by your host (e.g. Media Temple), _(*15)

Log in via SSH. Install composer in the httpdocs parent directory and httpdocs must be empty., _(*16)

cd your/httpdocs/dir
cd ..
php -r "readfile('https://getcomposer.org/installer');" | php -d allow_url_fopen=On

WordPress

php -d allow_url_fopen=On composer.phar create-project ianchanning/wp-insella [httpdocs]
cp wp-config-skeleton.php wp-config.php

This should set up the entire WordPress Skeleton installation and the wp directory with all the WordPress files., _(*17)

Edit wp-config.php with your database config and salts., _(*18)

Follow the above WordPress database installation / configuration and Create the shared uploads directory sections above., _(*19)

Future updates

1. I'll update, commit and push the composer.json file to https://github.com/ianchanning/wp-insella
2. Download https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ianchanning/wp-insella/master/composer.json
3. FTP it to your httpdocs directory and overwrite the composer.json
4. Run php -d allow_url_fopen=On ../composer.phar update

Media Temple (Grid Service) installation

Database

In media temple admin go to:, _(*20)

1. Create a database
2. Create a database user
3. Give the user permission on the database

Composer

Composer can't be installed globally so it has to be installed locally. Based off this guide:, _(*21)

Login via SSH, this assumes that your html directory is empty. You will get warnings when you install comopser, but it should still install correctly., _(*22)

cd domains/example.com
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php -d allow_url_fopen=On

WordPress

cd html
git clone https://github.com/ianchanning/wp-insella .
php -d allow_url_fopen=On ../composer.phar install
cp wp-config-skeleton.php wp-config.php

This should set up the entire WordPress Skeleton installation and the wp directory with all the WordPress files., _(*23)

Edit wp-config.php and change the database settings to (N.B. the DB_HOST isn't localhost):, _(*24)

define( 'DB_NAME', 'dbXXXXXX_[your domain]' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'dbXXXXXX_[your domain]' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'xkcd.com/936' );
define( 'DB_HOST', $_ENV['DATABASE_SERVER'] );

Update the salts., _(*25)

Follow the above WordPress database installation / configuration and Create the shared uploads directory sections above., _(*26)

Future updates

1. I'll update, commit and push the composer.json file to https://github.com/ianchanning/wp-insella
2. On your site:

cd domains/example.com/html
git pull
php -d allow_url_fopen=On ../composer.phar update