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Installation Guide
Phabricator User Documentation (Introduction)

This document contains basic install instructions to get Phabricator up and running.

Overview

Phabricator is a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) application. To install Phabricator, you will need:

  • a normal computer to install it on (shared hosts and unusual environments are not supported) running some flavor of Linux or a similar OS;
  • a domain name (like phabricator.mycompany.com);
  • basic sysadmin skills;
  • Apache, nginx, or another webserver;
  • PHP, MySQL, and Git.

The remainder of this document details these requirements.

Installation Requirements

You will need a computer. Options include:

  • A Normal Computer: This is strongly recommended. Many installs use a VM in EC2. Phabricator installs properly and works well on a normal computer.
  • A Shared Host: This may work, but is not recommended. Many shared hosting environments have restrictions which prevent some of Phabricator's features from working. Consider using a normal computer instead. We do not support shared hosts.
  • A SAN Appliance, Network Router, Gaming Console, Raspberry Pi, etc.: Although you may be able to install Phabricator on specialized hardware, it is unlikely to work well and will be difficult for us to support. Strongly consider using a normal computer instead. We do not support specialized hardware.
  • A Toaster, Car, Firearm, Thermostat, etc.: Yes, many modern devices now have embedded computing capability. We live in interesting times. However, you should not install Phabricator on these devices. Instead, install it on a normal computer. We do not support installing on noncomputing devices.

To install the Phabricator server software, you will need an operating system on your normal computer which is not Windows. Note that the command line interface does work on Windows, and you can use Phabricator from any operating system with a web browser. However, the server software does not run on Windows. It does run on most other operating systems, so choose one of these instead:

  • Linux: Most installs use Linux.
  • Mac OS X: Mac OS X is an acceptable flavor of Linux.
  • FreeBSD: While FreeBSD is certainly not a flavor of Linux, it is a fine operating system possessed of many desirable qualities, and Phabricator will install and run properly on FreeBSD.
  • Solaris, etc.: Other systems which look like Linux and quack like Linux will generally work fine, although we may suffer a reduced ability to support and resolve issues on unusual operating systems.

Beyond an operating system, you will need a webserver.

  • Apache: Many installs use Apache + mod_php.
  • nginx: Many installs use nginx + php-fpm.
  • lighttpd: lighttpd is less popular than Apache or nginx, but it works fine.
  • Other: Other webservers which can run PHP are also likely to work fine, although these installation instructions will not cover how to set them up.
  • PHP Builtin Server: You can use the builtin PHP webserver for development or testing, although it should not be used in production.

You will also need:

  • MySQL: You need MySQL. We strongly recommend MySQL 5.5 or newer.
  • PHP: You need PHP 5.2 or newer.

You'll probably also need a domain name. In particular, you should read this note:

NOTE: Phabricator must be installed on an entire domain. You can not install it to a path on an existing domain, like example.com/phabricator/. Instead, install it to an entire domain or subdomain, like phabricator.example.com.

Level Requirements

To install and administrate Phabricator, you'll need to be comfortable with common system administration skills. For example, you should be familiar with using the command line, installing software on your operating system of choice, working with the filesystem, managing processes, dealing with permissions, editing configuration files, and setting environment variables.

If you aren't comfortable with these skills, you can still try to perform an install. The install documentation will attempt to guide you through what you need to know. However, if you aren't very familiar or comfortable with using this set of skills to troubleshoot and resolve problems, you may encounter issues which you have substantial difficulty working through.

We assume users installing and administrating Phabricator are comfortable with common system administration skills and concepts. If you aren't, proceed at your own risk and expect that your skills may be tested.

Installing Required Components

If you are installing on Ubuntu or an RedHat derivative, there are install scripts available which should handle most of the things discussed in this document for you:

If those work for you, you can skip directly to the Configuration Guide. These scripts are also available in the scripts/install directory in the project itself.

Otherwise, here's a general description of what you need to install:

  • git (usually called "git" in package management systems)
  • Apache (usually "httpd" or "apache2") (or nginx)
  • MySQL Server (usually "mysqld" or "mysql-server")
  • PHP (usually "php")
  • Required PHP extensions: mbstring, iconv, mysql (or mysqli), curl, pcntl (these might be something like "php-mysql" or "php5-mysqlnd")
  • Optional PHP extensions: gd, apc (special instructions for APC are available below if you have difficulty installing it), xhprof (instructions below, you only need this if you are developing Phabricator)

If you already have LAMP setup, you've probably already got everything you need. It may also be helpful to refer to the install scripts above, even if they don't work for your system.

Now that you have all that stuff installed, grab Phabricator and its dependencies:

$ cd somewhere/ # pick some install directory
somewhere/ $ git clone https://github.com/phacility/libphutil.git
somewhere/ $ git clone https://github.com/phacility/arcanist.git
somewhere/ $ git clone https://github.com/phacility/phabricator.git

Installing APC (Optional)

Like everything else written in PHP, Phabricator will run much faster with APC installed. You likely need to install "pcre-devel" first:

sudo yum install pcre-devel

Then you have two options. Either install via PECL (try this first):

sudo yum install php-pear
sudo pecl install apc

If that doesn't work, grab the package from PECL directly and follow the build instructions there:

http://pecl.php.net/package/APC

Installing APC is optional but strongly recommended, especially on production hosts.

Once APC is installed, test that it is available by running:

php -i | grep apc

If it doesn't show up, add:

extension=apc.so

..to "/etc/php.d/apc.ini" or the "php.ini" file indicated by "php -i".

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