Simple online install process

[xibe]

Main explanation can be found in ​this post from wp-hackers list.

In short: in addition to auto-upgrade, the ​Dotclear project offers auto-install through a single PHP file, which alleviates the whole FTP process a lot, while being all the more safer and reliable.

This could serve as an great inspiration for a future add-on to WP.

[Otto42]

Interesting idea. A simple install.php file that downloads, decompresses, runs through setup, and voila, new site.

The problem, of course, is supporting all the same methods that upgrading does. All that FTP filesystem code, for example. Looking at dotclear's installer, the support there is fairly rudimentary. You have to have fsockopen access as well as have the webserver be able to write files for it to work at all.

[westi]

+1 sounds like a good idea.

This simple install process should also do the config steps too.

[rmccue]

For reference, the actual code is here: ​http://dev.dotclear.org/2.0/browser/scripts/dotclear2-loader/dotclear2-loader.php

Doesn't look like it would be too hard to write something like this for WP, the functions to do it all are already written, you'd only need the HTTP class and the upgrader included.

[xibe]

Giving credit where credit is due: ​SPIP, another popular GPL project in France, had this long before Dotclear did (​tutorial from 2002), so their own ​spip_loader.php code might also be useful for inspiration.

[DD32]

I glanced over this last week, Seems perfectly do-able, but would have to be done as a separate project from Core, I might consider looking into it during 2.9 dev if something hasn't happened by then.

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

+1 to this. it would be really neat. especially if one doesn't even need up download wp.

[xibe]

Since 2.9 is now ​tentatively expected in November 2009, I'm hopeful 6 months could be a sufficient length of time to build this idea into WordPress.

WordPress is a modern tool, and not having such a modern install process is really showing, now that the unzipped archive is almost 10 Mb, with more than 800 files. Sure, auto-upgrade is nice, but first-timers still have to go through the pain of downloading/unzipping/uploading for long minutes.

As shown earlier, other modern tools are implementing that, and more are coming (the recent MIT/GPL project ​La Distribution ​has it, for instance). I think 2009 should be the year WordPress has such an auto-install process.

If not, I'm afraid it might be pushed back to a later time, and who's to say when?

[dd32]

I think 2009 should be the year WordPress has such an auto-install process.

I agree, But lets leave it at a future release point for now, I dont see it as being part of WP Core for awhile yet. (Simply because it cant really be part of the core as such)

[dd32]

Closing as invalid for now, I've started a project for this, and already have a working script, It just needs a lot of polishing - This is better as an external project for now, If it takes, then something more "official" would be great i think :)

See ​http://dd32.id.au/tag/wordpress-automatic-installer/ for info.

[xibe]

Most excellent work, Dion! Thanks for taking upon yourself to see through this idea!