How to install Bludit CMS on Ubuntu 21.04

Introduction

Bludit is a fairly simple CMS that we can use to deploy a blog or website quickly. One of the main characteristics of this CMS is that it uses files in JSON format to store the content. So, you don’t need to install or configure a database.

So you can create your own Website or Blog in seconds Simple, Fast, Secure, Flat-File CMS

Also, Bludit incorporates all the SEO tools to improve your ranking in all the search engines and social networks.

So, it is a good light and fast alternative to other more complete CMS like WordPress.

Bludit

• Flat File: Bludit uses files in JSON format to store the content, you don’t need to install or configure a database.

• Themes: Customize your Bludit powered site with beautiful and cool themes. You can download themes from the official site.

• Plugins: Extend Bludit’s functionality with amazing plugins. You can download plugins from the official site.

• SEO friendly: Bludit incorporates all the SEO tools to improve your ranking in all the search engines and social networks.

• Markdown support: Bludit supports Markdown and HTML code for the content, also provide Markdown Editor and WYSIWYG Editor.

• GDPR Compliant: Bludit takes care of the security and privacy of the users. Bludit doesn’t track or uses external libraries, frameworks and other resources.

Install Bludit CMS

We need that in our computer are properly configured the webserver and PHP. You could run the LAMP stack on Ubuntu 21.04 but Bludit does not require a database driver so it is not necessary.

To install Apache and PHP along with some extra modules and packages, just open a terminal or connect to the server via SSH and run

$ sudo -i 
$ apt update
$ apt install php-cli php-fpm php-fpm php-common php-mbstring php-gd php-xml php-json apache2 libapache2-mod-php unzip git -y

This way, we will have the packages installed and we will be able to start the installation of Bludit

Download and install Bludit CMS

Create the folder in the path where you want to install it. In this case, I have chosen /var/www/bludit.

$ mkdir -p /var/www/bludit

And now go to /tmp and from there with the help of the wget command perform the download.

$ cd /tmp
$ wget https://www.bludit.com/releases/bludit-3-13-1.zip

Note: at the time of this post, the latest stable version is 3.13.1 to know which is the latest version available you have to go to the Bludit website.

After this, unzip the file

$ unzip bludit-3-13-1.zip

And now the unzipped content, move it to the directory you created for this purpose.

$ mv bludit-3-13-1/* /var/www/bludit/

Make the bludit folder belong to Apache.

$ chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/bludit

Next, you need to create a new VirtualHost for Bludit.

$ vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/bludit.conf

And add the following configuration:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName bludit.unixcop.test
    DocumentRoot /var/www/bludit
    <Directory /var/www/bludit>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Replace the value of ServerName with the value of your domain. Save the changes and close the text editor.

To apply the changes, disable the default VirtualHost, enable the newly created one for Bludit, enable the rewrite module of Apache and restart it.

Note: You have to start and enable apache before this step and reload the service with :

$ systemctl reload apache2

$ a2dissite 000-default.conf
$ a2ensite bludit.conf
$ a2enmod rewrite
$ systemctl restart apache2

Testing the Bludit CMS installation

Now, open a web browser of your choice and go to http://your-domain where you will see the initial installer screen.

Next, set a password for the admin user and press the Install button.

And the Bludit CMS instance will be ready on your server.

From there you will be able to access the Admin Panel

Now you just have to give it a try and make the most of it.

Conclusion

This simple and powerful CMS is a sample of the number of alternatives that exist today to create a fully functional website. With Bludit CMS you don’t need a database manager which further lowers your computer requirements.