Installation

To install Imbo on the server you should use Composer. Create a directory for your installation, and run the following command:

export PROJECT_DIR=/path/to/install
mkdir -p $PROJECT_DIR/config
cd $PROJECT_DIR
composer require imbo/imbo ^3.0

Adjust the generated composer.json to your needs.

The config/ directory will contain one or more configuration files that will be merged with the default configuration. Imbo will load all .php files in this directory (in ascending lexicographical order), and the ones returning an array will be used as configuration.

If you want to install 3rd party plug-ins and/or for instance the MongoDB PHP library simply require them using composer:

cd $PROJECT_DIR
composer require mongodb/mongodb

After installing Imbo and optional dependencies the Imbo installation will reside in $PROJECT_DIR/vendor/imbo/imbo. The correct web server document root in this case would be /path/to/install/vendor/imbo/imbo/public.

If you later want to update Imbo you can bump the version number you have specified in composer.json and run:

composer update -o

Regarding the Imbo version you are about to install you can use dev-main for the latest released version, or you can use a specific version if you want to, which is strongly recommended. Head over to Imbo on Packagist to see the available versions.

Imbo strives to keep full BC in minor and patch releases, but breaking changes can occur. The most secure way to install one or more Imbo servers is to specify a specific version (for instance 3.0.0, or by using semver: ^3.0) in your composer.json file. Read the Imbo ChangeLog and the Upgrading Imbo chapter before doing an upgrade.

Web server configuration

After installing Imbo you will have to configure the web server you want to use. Imbo ships with sample configuration files for Apache and Nginx that can be used with a few minor adjustments. All configuration files assume the httpd runs on port 80. If you use Varnish or some other HTTP accelerator simply change the port number to the port that your httpd listens to.

Apache

You will need to enable mod_rewrite if you want to use Imbo with Apache. Below is an example on how to configure Apache for Imbo:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    # Servername of the virtual host
    ServerName imbo

    # Define aliases to use multiple hosts
    # ServerAlias imbo1 imbo2 imbo3

    # Document root where the index.php file is located
    DocumentRoot /path/to/install/vendor/imbo/imbo/public

    # Logging
    # CustomLog /var/log/apache2/imbo.access_log combined
    # ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/imbo.error_log

    # Rewrite rules that rewrite all requests to the index.php script
    <Directory /path/to/install/vendor/imbo/imbo/public>
        RewriteEngine on
        RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
        RewriteRule .* index.php
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

You will need to update ServerName to match the host name you will use for Imbo. If you want to use several host names you can update the ServerAlias line as well. You must also update DocumentRoot and Directory to point to the public directory in the Imbo installation. If you want to enable logging update the CustomLog and ErrorLog lines. RewriteCond and RewriteRule should be left alone.

Nginx

Below is an example on how to configure Nginx for Imbo. This example uses PHP via FastCGI:

server {
    # Listen on port 80
    listen 80;

    # Define the server name
    server_name imbo;

    # Use the line below instead of the server_name above if you want to use multiple host names
    # server_name imbo imbo1 imbo2 imbo3;

    # Path to the public directory where index.php is located
    root /path/to/install/vendor/imbo/imbo/public;
    index index.php;

    # Logs
    # error_log /var/log/nginx/imbo.error_log;
    # access_log /var/log/nginx/imbo.access_log main;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
        location ~ \.php$ {
            fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
            fastcgi_index index.php;
            fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /path/to/install/vendor/imbo/imbo/public/index.php;
            include fastcgi_params;
        }
    }
}

You will need to update server_name to match the host name you will use for Imbo. If you want to use several host names simply put several host names on that line. root must point to the public directory in the Imbo installation. If you want to enable logging update the error_log and access_log lines. You must also update the fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME line to point to the public/index.php file in the Imbo installation.

Varnish

Imbo strives to follow the HTTP Protocol, and can because of this easily leverage Varnish.

The only required configuration you need in your VCL is a default backend:

backend default {
    .host = "127.0.0.1";
    .port = "81";
}

where .host and .port is where Varnish can reach your web server.

If you use the same host name (or a sub-domain) for your Imbo installation as other services, that in turn uses Cookies, you might want the VCL to ignore these Cookies for the requests made against your Imbo installation (unless you have implemented event listeners for Imbo that uses Cookies). To achieve this you can put the following snippet into your VCL file:

sub vcl_recv {
    if (req.http.host == "imbo.example.com") {
        unset req.http.Cookie;
    }
}

or, if you have Imbo installed in some path:

sub vcl_recv {
    if (req.http.host ~ "^(www.)?example.com$" && req.url ~ "^/imbo/") {
        unset req.http.Cookie;
    }
}

if your Imbo installation is available on [www.]example.com/imbo.

Database setup

If you choose to use a RDBMS to store data in, you will need to manually create a database, a user and the tables Imbo stores information in. You will find information regarding how to authenticate against the RDBMS of you choice in the Configuration topic.