Tutorial: bootstrapping a Symfony2 project with Ubuntu 12.10 and Github

Italian version here.

Assuming that the operating system has just been installed, this tutorial focuses on bootstrapping a new Symfony2 project under Ubuntu 12.10 and managing it through Github, with the addition of some non-essential but widely used components. For any left out detail, please post a comment below or visit the official documentation.

Let’s start installing some packages before the actual project setup:

• Install git:

  sudo apt-get install git

• Install java:

  sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jre

• Install node and less (not mandatory if you don’t want to use assetic with the less filter):

  sudo apt-get install g++  
  wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.10.0/node-v0.10.0.tar.gz  
  tar xvfz node-v0.10.0.tar.gz  
  cd node-v0.10.0.tar.gz  
  ./configure  
  make && sudo make install  
  sudo npm install less --global

• Install and configure the LAMP environment:

  sudo apt-get install php5 php5-gd php5-mysql php5-curl php5-mcrypt php5-intl php-pear php5-cli php5-dev libapache2-mod-php5 mysql-client-5.5 mysql-server-5.5

  • Edit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini and /etc/php5/cli/php.ini:
    • uncomment date.timezone key and set it to your timezone (for a complete list of timezones, check this page). E.g.:

      date.timezone = Europe/Rome

    • set short_open_tag to Off:

      short_open_tag = Off

• Install APC:

  sudo apt-get install libpcre3-dev  
  sudo pecl install apc  
  echo "extension=apc.so" | sudo tee -a /etc/php5/conf.d/apc.ini

We can now actually install our project. We will assume that:

1. the project folder will be placed in our Ubuntu user home. Some following instructions depends on this assumption; nevetheless the project can be installed anywhere in the filesystem, but the installation instructions would slightly vary.
2. We’ll call our project mySymfony2Project (such a great imagination I have…). Needless to say this choice is totally arbitrary.
3. We’ll use the latest version on Symfony2 at the moment of writing this article, namely 2.2.0.

• Download Composer:

  cd ~
  curl -s https://getcomposer.org/installer | php

• Initialize the Symfony2 project skeleton:

  php composer.phar create-project symfony/framework-standard-edition mySymfony2Project 2.2.0
  mv composer.phar mySymfony2Project

• Initialize the git repository and run the first commit:

  cd mySymfony2Project
  git init
  git add .
  git commit -m "Initial commit"

• Create the project repository on Github and link it to the local one. To do so, go to https://github.com/new and submit the module as in the picture:
  Image may be NSFW.
  Clik here to view.
  then link the two repositories:

  git remote add origin https://github.com/<username>/mySymfony2Project.git
  git push -u origin master

• Configure ACL for cache and logs folders:

  sudo setfacl -R -m u:www-data:rwX -m u:`whoami`:rwX app/cache app/logs
  sudo setfacl -dR -m u:www-data:rwx -m u:`whoami`:rwx app/cache app/logs

• Setup the apache virtual host:
  • Deactivate the default one:

    sudo a2dissite 000-default

  • Create the file for the project virtual host at the path /etc/apache2/sites-available/mySymfony2Project with the following content, replacing <user> with your Ubuntu user name:

    <VirtualHost *:80>
      ServerName mysymfony2project.localhost
      DocumentRoot "/home/<user>/mySymfony2Project/web"
      DirectoryIndex app.php
    
      ErrorLog "/var/log/apache2/mysymfony2project.localhost-error.log"
      CustomLog "/var/log/apache2/mysymfony2project.localhost-access.log" common
      TransferLog "/var/log/apache2/mysymfony2project.localhost-transfer.log"
    
      <Directory "/home/<user>/mySymfony2Project/web">
        AllowOverride All
        Allow from All
      </Directory>
    </VirtualHost>

  • Activate the virtual host:

    sudo a2ensite mySymfony2Project

  • Add the host:

    sudo sh -c 'echo "127.0.0.1 mysymfony2project.localhost" >> /etc/hosts'

  • Configure apache ServerName:

    sudo sh -c 'echo "ServerName localhost" >> /etc/apache2/conf.d/name'

  • Restart apache:

    sudo service apache2 restart

That’s all! We can now browse http://mysymfony2project.localhost/app_dev.php and check that our project executes flawlessly. Good developing time to everyone!