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Installation & Setup

Contents

Requirements

  • Apache, nginx, or another compatible web server.
  • PHP 5.3+

Installation

  1. Download Laravel
  2. Extract the Laravel archive and upload the contents to your web server.
  3. Set the value of the key option in the config/application.php file to a random, 32 character string.
  4. Navigate to your application in a web browser.

If all is well, you should see a pretty Laravel splash page. Get ready, there is lots more to learn!

Extra Goodies

Installing the following goodies will help you take full advantage of Laravel, but they are not required:

  • SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server PDO drivers.
  • Memcached or APC.

Problems?

If you are having problems installing, try the following:

  • Make sure the public directory is the document root of your web server.
  • If you are using mod_rewrite, set the index option in application/config/application.php to an empty string.

Basic Configuration

When starting a new project, you shouldn't be bombarded with loads of confusing configuration decisions. For that reason, Laravel is intelligently configured out of the box. The application/config/application.php file contains the basic configuration options for your application.

The only option you definitely change out of the box is your application key. This key is used throughout the framework for encryption, hashing, etc. It lives in the config/application.php file and should be set to a random, 32 character string.

Note: If you are using mod_rewrite, you should set the index option to an empty string.

Environments

Most likely, the configuration options you need for local development are not the same as the options you need on your production server. Laravel provides a convenient way to manage these differences using the LARAVEL_ENV environment variable. To get started, set the environment variable in your httpd.conf file:

SetEnv LARAVEL_ENV local

Note: Using a web server other than Apache? Check your server's documentation to learn how to set environment variables.

Great! Next, create an application/config/local directory. Any files and options you place in this directory will override the options in the base application/config directory. For example, you may wish to create an application.php file within your new local configuration directory:

return array(

	'url' => 'http://localhost/laravel/public',

);

In this example, the local URL option will override the URL option in application/config/application.php. Notice that you only need to specify the options you wish to override. Remember, development doesn't have to be a pain.

If you do not have access to your server's configuration files, you may manually set the LARAVEL_ENV variable at the top of Laravel's paths.php file:

$_SERVER['LARAVEL_ENV'] = 'local';

Cleaner URLs

Most likely, you do not want your application URLs to contain "index.php". You can remove it using HTTP rewrite rules. If you are using Apache to serve your application, make sure to enable mod_rewrite and create a .htaccess file like this one in your public directory:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
     RewriteEngine on

     RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
     RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

     RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [L]
</IfModule>

Is the .htaccess file above not working for you? Try this one:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteRule . index.php [L]

After setting up HTTP rewriting, you should set the index configuration option in application/config/application.php to an empty string.

Note: Each web server has a different method of doing HTTP rewrites, and may require a slightly different .htaccess file.