Contents

Installation and update

Requirements

  • Apache web server 1.3.34 or above with the ability to use local .htaccess files (mod_rewrite module is optional, but highly recommended).
  • MySQL database 5.0 or above.
  • PHP 7.2.5 or above with PDO, pdo_mysql, cURL, mbstring and GD extensions.

Getting the sources

At the moment there are several options to get the source of Mibew Messenger.

Prebuilt version

This version should be used in most cases. The installation package is just a .zip archive (.tar.gz archive is also available) with all files of Mibew Messenger. It contains all third party dependencies too. The link to the current stable version is available at the dedicated page on the official site of the project.

Building from sources

Prebuilt version cannot suit all needs of the community. In some cases a user may be interested in the latest development version of Mibew Messenger, or in using custom (patched) version of the Core.

The following instructions are addressed to users who have basic knowledge about node.js, npm, Gulp, and Composer.

There are several steps one should take before using the development version of Mibew Messenger from the repository:

  1. Obtain a local copy of the repository using git clone, download button, or in another way.
  2. Make sure that PHP is installed and can be used in CLI mode.
  3. Install node.js and npm.
  4. Install Gulp.
  5. Navigate to src/ directory of the local copy of the repository.
  6. Install npm dependencies using npm install.
  7. Run Gulp to build Mibew Messenger using gulp default.

Finally, .tar.gz and .zip archives of the ready-to-use development version of Mibew Messenger will be available in src/release directory.

Installation

When the archive with Mibew Messenger is downloaded the installation process can be started. Here are the instructions:

  1. Create the directory with name 'mibew' in the document root of your website.
  2. Upload all files from the installation archive (retaining the directory structure) into the created directory. Make sure that both you and your web server can access the contents of the directory. On *nix platform you may have to manually set the permissions bitmask to 0755 (chmod 0755 mibew).
  3. In case of *nix platform change the owner of mibew/files/avatar and mibew/cache directories to the user of the web server (depending on system the name of the user could vary, for example it can be www or www-data). The owner should have all rights on the directories mibew/files/avatar and mibew/cache (chmod 0700 mibew/files/avatar && chmod 0700 mibew/cache).
  4. Create a MySQL database with the name mibew.
  5. Copy the file mibew/configs/default_config.yml to mibew/configs/config.yml.
  6. Edit mibew/configs/config.yml to specify the information needed to connect to the database.
  7. Using your web browser visit http://<yourdomain>/mibew/install and perform step-by-step installation via the web interface.
  8. Delete the mibew/install.php file.
  9. Login as
     user: `admin`
 password: `<your password>`

  10. Configure periodically running tasks by setting up an automated process to access the web page http://<yourdomain>/cron?cron_key=<cron key>

    The full URL including the secret "cron key" used to protect against unauthorized access can be seen on the 'General' tab at the 'Settings' page in the administrative interface of your Mibew Messenger.

Update

Starting from the 2.0.0-beta.1 version Mibew Messenger can be updated to later versions using built-in update tool.

Please note that the update tool doesn't fully automate the whole update process, but only the database migrations.

Also please note that there are neither migration tools nor update guides for the obsolete 1.6.x versions of Mibew Messenger.

Here are the instructions for the update process:

  1. Backup your mibew/configs/config.yml file.
  2. Backup your mibew/files/avatar directory.
  3. Backup your database. Although it's not required, it's strongly recommended to do so.
  4. Disable all plugins.
  5. Delete all items in mibew directory on the server.
  6. Upload all files from the installation archive (retaining the directory structure) into mibew directory.
  7. In case of *nix platform change the owner of mibew/files/avatar and mibew/cache directories to the user of the web server (depending on system the name of the user could vary, for example it can be www or www-data). The owner should have all rights on the directories mibew/files/avatar and mibew/cache (chmod 0700 mibew/files/avatar && chmod 0700 mibew/cache).
  8. Restore all Mibew Messenger settings in mibew/configs/config.yml.
  9. Restore contents of mibew/files/avatar directory.
  10. Using your web browser Visit http://<yourdomain>/mibew/update/ and follow the instructions to update the database tables (if needed).
  11. Delete the mibew/install.php file.
  12. Enable disabled plugins.

Get started

Congratulations! You finished the installation/update process. Now you should take several steps to get started:

  1. Configure and generate the button code at http://<yourdomain>/mibew/operator/button-code.
  2. Add HTML code of the button to a target's site markup.
  3. Wait for visitors on 'Pending users' page in the administrative interface of your Mibew Messenger (i.e. http://<yourdomain>/mibew/operator/users).