Installing Wordpress

[#1]

After deciding to try WordPress with my PlusNet account, I quickly found a very nice step by step set of instructions for installing Wordpress here "Tutorials & FAQs: Scripts: How to install WordPress" (http://usertools.plus.net/tutorials/id/57).    But it immediately says that it is out of date and directs me here.
But while I can see some posts about the issues people have faced in installing and using various versions of WordPress with various versions of PHP and SQL, I cannot find anything remotely equivalent to the now outdated FAQ referenced above.  I would be most grateful if someone could point me to the up to date installation guide for Wordpress.

[#2]

I think the forum thread with the most comprehensive instructions for installing WordPress on the current CCGI server is probably the one here. However, even that one is out of date because WordPress has moved on and sadly the Plusnet MySQL server has fallen behind the minimum version required. MySQL is still Version 4.1 and the last version of WordPress designed for that database version is 3.1.4. WordPress 3.1.4 is now quite old and I wouldn't really recommend installing it.
All is not lost however since WordPress versions up to at least 3.4.1 (the current version) will run with MySQL 4.1 if a "required MySQL version" hack detailed in this thread is applied. Note, however, that this applies for the standard WordPress software, it is possible that plug-ins and/or third-party themes might not work with MySQL 4.1.
Assuming you are happy to go with that hack, the easiest way to install WordPress is to use the script posted here. Though that thread is concerned with updating an existing installation it will also update from nothing - ie do a fresh installation. You need to create a folder where you want WordPress to install (eg /blog), upload that script to it as (say) wpupgrade.cgi, set its permissions to 700 and browse to it (eg http://your. web. address/blog/wpupgrade.cgi) to install the WordPress files.
Then browse to http://your. web. address/blog/wp-admin/install.php and start answering the configuration questions. The database information required will have been provided in an email from Plusnet when you activated MySQL. There is no need to supply FTP information to WordPress.
David

[#3]

Hi David,
Many thanks for your most helpful reply to my request for help in installing WordPress.    My thanks also to both you and Gabe for the work you have put into assisting others with all of this. 
Its a hard slog, especially so for a Windows user who knows almost nothing about Linux, file permissions, shell commands, ... etc.  But hopefully with the information you have provided I can now blunder through this with some chance of success 
The site I am wanting to install is already up on the WordPress site at http://puzzlingpython.wordpress.com/ but doing it this way leaves me with too many restrictions on what I can publish  - no maths using MathML and MathJax http://www.mathjax.org/, no easy tables with the limited editor and no plug-ins.  So I am hoping for much more flexibility with an install in my PllusNet webspace.
Thank you once again for your help. 
    Brian

[#4]

Hi Brian,
Thanks for your kind words - they are appreciated.
I've added a link to this topic in the warning note at the top of the tutorial. At the time the warning was originally added relevant topics were close to the top of this forum so easier to find, but as you mentioned that is no longer the case. Hopefully readers will find the link provides a useful starting point.
David

[#5]

You must be psychic as I was going to suggest that   
The installation was very easy with Gabe''s script.  And it seems that installing the latest WordPress from scratch is even easier now as the addition of the SQL database details are handled when WordPress is first invoked.
I could not find the script for updating the file permissions but it turned out to be unnecessary as they were all ok after the initial install (maybe I have to thank Gabe's script to thank for this).
The only things that I am still trying to figure out is how to run more than one blog - do I have to install WordPress again in a second subdirectory?  WordPress offered to set a 'prefix' during the setting of the SQL database details.  I'm guessing that, in a second WordPress install in another subdirectory, I use something else rather than the 'wp_' offered?
I am also looking for the way of hiding the account details in the site's URL (the ~username bit) - I know that this is discussed somewhere here.
If there is any interest in bringing this stuff into an updated tutorial, I would be happy to help.

[#6]

Quote from: gladman

I could not find the script for updating the file permissions but it turned out to be unnecessary as they were all ok after the initial install (maybe I have Gabe's script to thank for this).

Yes, Gabe's script includes commands to set file permissions appropriately for WordPress so no need to set those separately. However if you do need to set permissions for a WordPress folder independently of an install or upgrade the following script ...
[code=setwpperms.cgi]
#!/bin/bash
echo "Content-type: text/html"
echo
find . -type d ! -perm 1710 -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 710 \
&& find wp-content -type d -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 750 \
&& find . -type f -regextype posix-extended -regex '.*\.(php|pl|cgi)$' -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 700 \
&& echo "WordPress file permissions reset<br /><br />"
echo "<table border='1' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='1'>"
echo "<tr><th>Type</th><th>Name</th><th>User, Group</th><th>Permissions</th></tr>"
find . -type d -printf '<tr><td>Folder</td><td>%p</td><td>%u, %g</td><td>%M</td></tr>\n'
find . -type f -printf '<tr><td>File</td><td>%p</td><td>%u, %g</td><td>%M</td></tr>\n'
echo "</table>"[/code]
... will do it. The first section is based on relevant lines in wpupgrade.cgi, the final section, from setperms.cgi elsewhere, produces a table showing file and directory permissions set. That table is for information only.

Quote from: gladman

The only things that I am still trying to figure out is how to run more than one blog - do I have to install WordPress again in a second subdirectory?  WordPress offered to set a 'prefix' during the setting of the SQL database details.  I'm guessing that, in a second WordPress install in another subdirectory, I use something else rather than the 'wp_' offered?

Yes, repeat the installation in a second directory and set a different value, eg "wp2_" for the MySQL prefix. You might also choose a different 'admin' name, eg 'admin2' if you want the passwords to differ and you let your browser store passwords.

Quote from: gladman

I am also looking for the way of hiding the account details in the site's URL (the ~username bit) - I know that this is discussed somewhere here.

This arises because WordPress guesses website addresses using $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] which contains ~username/ . To fix this login to the dashboard, select Settings and on the General Settings page remove ~username/ from the WordPress Address and Site Address fields. You might also want to set Timezone to London so BST is catered for automatically. Then scroll down the page and click Save Changes.
I think ~username/ would have been shown in the address fields during set-up, and could have been amended then, but first time one tends to assume the system knows best. However Timezone would still need to be changed via the dashboard.

Quote from: gladman

If there is any interest in bringing this stuff into an updated tutorial, I would be happy to help.

Volunteers are definitely welcome. The Usertools tutorials were intended to be replaced by articles created and maintained by anyone in the Community Support Library - a WordPress blog - but unfortunately no one seemed keen to create articles there. There is a guide to writing articles here. Would you like to have a go? No reason you shouldn't practice on your own WordPress site if you want to.
David