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Deploying Your First PHP Application: A WordPress Installation Guide

10 December 2025bpd · ubuntu

From Code Download to a Running Blog

The ‘Ubuntu System Administration Guide’ provides a classic, real-world example of deploying a web application by walking you through the manual installation of WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system.

The Deployment Workflow

  1. Download and Unpack: You’ll use `wget` to download the latest WordPress `.zip` file and then `unzip` it into your web server’s document root.
  2. Set Permissions: This is a critical step. You must change the ownership of the WordPress files to the user that the web server runs as (typically `www-data`), so it has permission to read and write files. 
    chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/wordpress
  3. Create a Database: You’ll use a tool like phpMyAdmin or the command line to create a new, empty database and a dedicated user for WordPress in your MariaDB server.
  4. Run the Installer: Finally, you’ll visit your server’s IP address in a web browser to launch the famous WordPress five-minute installer, where you’ll provide the database details you just created.

This post is based from content of the book Ubuntu System adminstration guide. And the book can be found here https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mattias-Hemmingsson/author/B0FF5CQX13