I am installing Moodle 2.6 on an Ubuntu 12.4 server and after the configuration screens I just get a blank screen.
Other people have suggested adding a phpinfo(); to the second line of my moodle config.php to get debug info, but I just get the same blank screen.
Does anyone have any ideas please?
Regards
Les
How did you install it (what instructions did you follow, if any)?
Have you checked the end of your web server error log (/var/logs/apache2/error.log) immediately after the problem occurs.
Did you read http://docs.moodle.org/26/en/Installing_Moodle#If_something_goes_wrong...?? Particularly the bit that suggests creating config.php by hand and enabling debugging with the switches therein (if you create config.php by copying config-dist.php). Adding phpinfo() won't help - that just gets your PHP configuration.
Hi Howard
Thank you very much for responding.
I used these set of instructions..... http://docs.moodle.org/26/en/Installation_on_Ubuntu_using_Git.
I used this set of instructions deliberately as I understood it may make it easier to keep my Moodle system up to date and current.
Have had no luck and just a series of obstacles to overcome, which with yours and other members of the community have been able to fix, but it's hard work!
I have been able to install earlier versions (1.9) with far less hassle but maybe I am doing something that is fundamentally wrong with this version, although I admit I am no Linux expert!
Right now, I am tempted just to start again using an alternative method and see if I have more luck as I need to get some elearning material up and running next week.
If all else fails, I could just setup an XAMPP version of Moodle, but I know this is only a short-term solution and I will need something more robust.
If I where to start again (I am using Ubuntu Server 12.04), do you have any suggestions for a "foolproof" installation procedure?
Best Regards
Les
Ahh... I wrote those instructions They are not massively detailed but they should work as long as you have a basic understanding of administering Ubuntu.
I'd be very happy to improve them if you care to point out any confusing bits.
Having said that, if you follow those instructions mindlessly it should work. I install Moodle using something like that procedure all the time.
Did you create the config.php by hand and enable debugging, as I suggested above. Getting debugging working is always the way forward with this sort of thing. If you have an issue with your underlying system you can follow any instructions you like and may well hit exactly the same issue.
Hi Howard,
Apologies - I was not implying there was anything wrong with your instructions.. more a reflection on my lack of expertise!
Plainly I need an "idiots guide" as my Linux skills are limited.
I am going to have another crack at installing from scratch following your instructions to the letter"!
Best Regards
Les
Work through it and if you are not sure about any bits then ask and we'll sort it.
There is a MUCH more comprehensive discussion about installing on Linux in the docs (that I didn't write) but for a simple setup it's probably more than you need.
Hi Howard,
I have started from scratch on an Ubuntu 12.04 server.
Followed the instructions to the letter. (Cut and pasted via SSH and Putty).
When I enter http://ip/moodle the brwser asked if I want to open a file.
Have I missed something..?
Best Regards
Les
What *exactly* does it say? What file is it trying to open?
Run the following command...
sudo echo '<?php phpinfo();' >/var/www/test.php
then go to http://ip/test.php
What happens?
Hi Howard,
I am getting this.. as per image attached.
Ok - Apache is not correctly configured for PHP. Which is odd. Have you changed any of the PHP config files in /etc/apache2 ??
Can you confirm you did ALL the apt-get steps under 'Basic setup'?
Look in /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/ and check it contains both php5.conf and php5.load
Just to sure do this and try again...
sudo service apache2 restart
Hi Howard,
I re-installed again.. and this time I got as far as a blank screen again when I started the Moodle installation.
I checked the config.php and this appears to be OK ..
Any ideas from here..?
Hi Les,
I always start by checking that my Apache and PHP install is working before I try to get Moodle going. I tend to follow the apt-get instructions for installing apache and php and then create a info.php file to check it all works. Once taht does then I delete the info.php file and continue with the install of Moodle. I have some basic steps for setting a LAMP server on Debian or Ubuntu on my blog here: http://www.jonwitts.co.uk/archives/10
Hope it is of some help!
Jon
It's a good point actually... do my 'test.php' thing above again and make sure you get a massive screen of PHP information. Let's just make sure each bit is working.
Back to where we started. Turn on Debugging
The debugging lines for the config.php file are in config-dist.php. Find them (there's a block of stuff), copy them over and uncomment. Try accessing the page again.
I'm not a big fan of starting again without working out what went wrong. Nobody learns anything
Hi there,
It appears I needed another step which was:
sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5
Php info file displayed correctly.. and now Moodle installation is progressing!!
Thank you very much for your assistance gentlemen .....
Best Regards
Les
Strange; normally when you do "sudo apt-get install apache2 php5" it would add "libapache2-mod-php5" automatically... But as long as it is working!
Yes - it's a dependency of php5-common, so that's very strange indeed.
My bet is that 'php5' was missed from the 'apt-get install' list of modules.
There is also a dependency on php5-json on Ubuntu, I needed this to get past the blank screen after the database settings page.
I also needed the line:
apt-get install php5-json
in order to get past the blank screen while installing Moodle locally on one Ubuntu 13.10 desktop.
I have added this line to the documentation page at http://docs.moodle.org/26/en/Installation_on_Ubuntu_using_Git
After adding this module and restarting apache my Moodle 2.6.1 installation went past the blank screen and worked nicely.
13-12-2013 14-18-16.png
