Install Composr CMS on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Updated: 28 September 2026 · Applies to: Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12, AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9

Ubuntu 18.04 is end of life. Composr is an open-source CMS with community features (forums, galleries, points). It is a niche project with a small community; check composr.app for the current version and its PHP requirements before installing.

Before you start

• A VPS or dedicated server with a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 / Debian 12 or AlmaLinux 9 / Rocky Linux 9 installation, and root or sudo access.
• A domain or subdomain pointing to the server (an A record), if you want HTTPS.
• The system updated: apt update && apt upgrade or dnf upgrade.

Install Apache, MariaDB and PHP

Ubuntu 24.04 / Debian 12:

apt install apache2 mariadb-server php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql php-xml php-mbstring php-curl php-zip php-gd php-intl
systemctl enable --now apache2 mariadb

AlmaLinux 9 / Rocky Linux 9 (choose a current PHP stream first):

dnf module reset php && dnf module enable php:8.3
dnf install httpd mariadb-server php php-fpm php-mysqlnd php-xml php-mbstring php-gd php-intl php-opcache php-pecl-zip
systemctl enable --now httpd mariadb php-fpm

Secure MariaDB (set a root password or keep socket login, remove test data): mariadb-secure-installation.

Create a database

mariadb -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE composr CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'composruser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'Strong-Password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON composr.* TO 'composruser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Install

1. Download the latest release (the "manual installer" archive) from composr.app and extract it to /var/www/composr.
2. Give the web server write access to the folders the installer lists (chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/composr is the simple way on a VPS).
3. Create the Apache site with document root /var/www/composr (see "How to install Drupal with PHP 7 on Ubuntu 16.04" for an example) and add HTTPS.
4. Open https://example.com/install.php and follow the steps; use the database composr.
5. Delete install.php when the installer asks you to.

Note: Because the project is small, security updates may be slow. Keep backups and follow its release announcements.