Guide to mt-config.cgi Configuration File

The mt-config.cgi file is a plain text file containing configuration directives. A small set are required and the rest are optional.

Required Configuration Directives

The required configuration directives tell the Movable Type application the URL where it is installed and the database settings.

1. The minimum basic mt-config.cgi when using MySQL are:

   CGIPath             http://www.example.com/cgi-bin/mt/
   ObjectDriver        DBI::mysql
   Database            DATABASE_NAME
   DBUser              DATABASE_USERNAME
   DBPassword          DATABASE_PASSWORD
   DBHost              localhost
   

   • CGIPath
   • ObjectDriver
   • Database
   • DBUser
   • DBPassword
   • DBHost

   Note: Advanced database config directives:

   • DBPort
   • DBSocket

2. If the mt-static directory is left in the application directory on the file system, but aliased to a url which is not directly in the CGIPath (it’s common that static files cannot be accessed in the cgi-bin directory), then add the StaticWebPath:

   StaticWebPath       http://www.example.com/mt-static/
   

3. If the mt-static directory is moved out of the application directory, then add the StaticFilePath:

   StaticFilePath      /var/www/html/mt-static/
   

4. View other commonly used configuration directives to determine if these are needed for your system:

   • EmailAddressMain
   • MailTransfer
   • SendMailPath
   • SMTPServer

5. Upload (or save) the mt-config.cgi file to the application directory.

6. Access Movable Type and complete the last installation steps:

   • Creating the administrator account.
   • Creating the first website.
   • Initializing the database with configuration options, admin account, and first webstie.

View the installation guides for more information on these last steps.