What is SubjectsPlus?
It is the information, content creation, management and pathfinder Software
that is free and Open Source created by
Ithaca College Library, and presently, it is maintained by the University of Miami Libraries, this (SubjectsPlus) is based on web 2.0 library information sharing
system tools to manage and organize resources effectively.
This software is mostly used by Librarians and subject experts in many ways such as
- To create different guides
- Subject Guide
- Research Guide
- Course Guide
- Audio-Visual Guide
- Subject-Expert Guide
- To create directories/bibliographies
- Staff Directory
- Customize bibliographies for the user
-
To create the list of Subscribed and open-source resources/databases
- A to Z list of library resources.
- A to Z list of database.
- To create a content management system (CMS)
Due to its nature, we can customise this according to the needs of our users
and staff by providing an excellent graphical user interface (GUI).
How to install it?
Before installing the SubjectsPlus, first, you will need any one of the
following stack:-
LAMP
- L - Linux (Operating System)
- A - Apache (Web Server)
- M - MySQL/ MariaDB (Relational Database Management System)
- P - PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor)
WAMP
- W - Windows (Operating System)
- A - Apache (Web Server)
- M - MySQL/ MariaDB (Relational Database Management System)
- P- PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor)
MAMP
- M - macOS (Operating System)
- A - Apache (Web Server)
- M - MySQL/ MariaDB (Relational Database Management System)
- P - PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor)
So, we will install the SubjectsPlus 4.6 version using the LAMP stack.
Prerequisites (for version 4.6)
Before diving into the installation process, make sure you have the following
prerequisites in place:-
- LAMP
- L - Linux (Operating System)
- A - Apache (Web Server)
-
M - MySQL/ MariaDB (Relational Database Management System)
- MySQL 5.6/5.7 or
- MariaDB 10.x
- P - PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor)
Step 1: Update and upgrade the Ubuntu OS
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
Step 2: Installation of apache2 web server
sudo apt install apache2
Step 3: Install PHP and Required Extensions
- Dependencies Installation
Required few dependencies while installing in Ubuntu 22.04
sudo apt install software-properties-common ca-certificates lsb-release apt-transport-https
- Add Ondrej PPA to the sytem
LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
- Update Package Manager Cache
sudo apt update
sudo apt install php7.4 php7.4-cli php7.4-fpm php7.4-mysql php7.4-json php7.4-curl php7.4-mbstring php7.4-xml php7.4-zip php7.4-gd php7.4-intl php7.4-gettext
Step 4: Install and Configure MariaDB
Install MariaDB and set up a database by executing these commands:
This command install the MariaDB server package installs on your system
sudo apt install mariadb-server
This script will prompt you to perform actions such as setting the
root password,
removing anonymous users,
disallowing remote root login, and
removing test databases.
sudo mysql_secure_installation
This command opens MariaDB server console using the root user and
prompts you for the root password.
After entering the password, you'll be in the MariaDB command-line
interface.
sudo mysql -u root -p
This command creates a new database named subjectsplus.
***Replace subjectsplus with the actual database name you want to set for
the installation of subjectsplus
CREATE DATABASE subjectsplus;
This command creates a new user named spuser who can connect from the
localhost (the same machine) and specifies the user's password.
***Replace 'your_password', spuser and
localhost with the actual user, host and password you want to set
for this user.
CREATE USER 'spuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
This command grants all privileges on the subjectsplus database to the
spuser user, allowing them to perform various operations on the database.
***Replace subjectsplus, spuser and
localhost with the actual name of your installation that you
mentioned earlier
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON subjectsplus.* TO 'spuser'@'localhost';
This command reloads the privileges to apply the changes you've made.
then exit the SQL console
Step 4: Download the required files from the GitHub page and Install
SubjectsPlus
cd /var/www/html
sudo wget https://github.com/subjectsplus/SubjectsPlus/archive/refs/tags/v4.6.tar.gz
sudo tar -xvf v4.6.tar.gz
sudo mv SubjectsPlus-4.6 guide
cd guide
Step 5: Change Folder Ownership
www-data: user and
:www-data group are often used by web servers to access and serve web
content, including files and scripts.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/guide
Step 6: Folder permission
- For /guide/control/includes/config-default.php:
chmod 644 /var/www/html/guide/control/includes/config-default.php
- For /guide/control/includes/ (and files within it):
chmod 755 /var/www/html/guide/control/includes/
- For /guide/subjects/.htaccess:
chmod 664 /var/www/html/guide/subjects/.htaccess
- For /guide/api/.htaccess:
chmod 664 /var/www/html/guide/api/.htaccess
- For /guide/assests/users/ (and files within it):
chmod 755 /var/www/html/guide/assests/users/
- For /guide/assests/cache/
chmod 755 /var/www/html/guide/assests/cache/
- For /guide/assets/images/video_thumbs
chmod 755 /var/www/html/guide/assests/images/video_thumbs