Moodle on that platform requires PHP, MySQL, and Apache.
Moodle scripts by themselves will not create the database nor the data directory it uses. Nor will they set permissions/ownership nor install the PHP extensions required to run it, etc.
Please see (such that it is):
http://docs.moodle.org/20/en/Talk:Step-by-step_Installation_Guide_for_Ubuntu
Might start @:
http://docs.moodle.org/23/en/Installing_Moodle
'spirit of sharing', Ken
Thank you Ken.
I was finally able to get it installed.
I was using EdUbuntu to install it and it has Moodle in its "Synaptic Manger" which is a software installation tool. SInce using it leaves so much unfinished it may be just as easy to install manually which is what I ended up doing.
Jumping into a philosophical sysadmin discussion with Visvanath that isn't going to help the OP here (Visvanath, if you prefer to reply on the apt-get thread I'll follow it there), but the Debian maintainer is following the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard.
The application is in /usr/share/, because it's "Architecture-independent (shared) data".
The data files go in /var/lib/, because they're "Persistent data modified by programs as they run".
There are all kinds of things wrong with the current package management situation around Moodle right now, but the place the maintainer put the files isn't one of them.
Ahhhh, that partially helps explain all the confusion I was experiencing. I had installed Moodle numerous times previously both manually and using Fantastico on a shared hosting server. The Fantastico install would sometimes be outdated and I would switch to manual install but, when used, Fantastico usually was successful in installing it.
I wasn't aware that Ubuntu (but I was using EdUbuntu which places yet another layer of obfuscation) was not supporting it. I had been messing with it a while when, to my surprise, I saw it (EdUbuntu) was installing a much older version (1.9.9) which prompted me to switch to manual install.
I'll see what I can do in the Ubuntu and EdUbuntu communities to get this corrected.
It may be moot at this time but one issue that I am still not clear on is where the EdUbuntu Synaptic was installing Moodle. Somehow I ended up with the Moodle install going to usr/share/moodle on the server when it was supposed to be in var/www/Moodle.
As soon as I moved Moodle to that location and added the moodle version of the default config file to etc/apache2/sites-available then localhost/Moodle was picked up in the browser. After that Moodle handled the install flawlessly.
Hi Robert.
Just to explain what's going on here, Debian-family package managers put web applications in /usr/share, then create a virtual host setting at /etc/moodle/apache.conf, which Apache reads using a symlink in /etc/apache2, so that when you hit a URL at http://yoursite.example.com/moodle/, that uses the files in /usr/share/moodle.
If you've gone with a manual install (which is probably a good idea, because the state of the Moodle packages on Ubuntu right now seems like a big old mess) you should probably make sure you've uninstalled the Synaptic package, and check that your current Moodle still works after you do that (eg it wasn't using the database of the version installed by Synaptic, which may cause strange things to happen on updates).
Thanks Edmund,
Yes, everything is working fine now.
I installed Moodle in var/www/moodle where I had plenty of documentation about how to config apache.
Since I am contemplating installing at least one other open source script, I anticipate their files would be uploaded to the same location wouldn'y they? I mean, if var/www is the default defacto location for installing open source scripts why change it for Moodle? But if the typical install location for scripts is in the usr folder where the auto install of Moodle puts in then just some real specific instructions would probably clear the log jamb.
At this point I would recommend manual install without qualifications.
Well, /var/www is where you'd normally put a web application if you install it manually, mainly because Apache will then serve it to you by default, without needing any extra Apache configuration.
Where possible it's generally a good idea to keep areas managed by your package manager separate from areas you manage manually, so you're right to put it in /var/www when you install it manually, and Debian is right to put it in /usr/share when you install it with apt-get.