Installing the Movable Type Software
If you have double checked to make sure you have everything you need to get started, then you are ready to proceed with the installation.
Step One: Download Movable TypeGetting the Movable Type software is simple and completely free. To download the latest version of Movable Type visit the Movable Type download page and follow the simple instructions available there.
If you are successful a file will either be automatically downloaded to your machine or your system will prompt you in order to ask where you would like to save the file being downloaded.
Step Two: Unzip Movable Type
Once you have download the Movable Type archive, you should unzip it onto your local machine. Doing so will create a new folder on your machine labeled "MT4-Beta1-date
When you unzip Movable Type, be sure you preserve file permissions and the path or directory structure if you are given the option to do so.
Step Three: Upload Movable Type to your Web Server
Once the file has been downloaded and unzipped onto your hard drive, you will need to upload the files to the server Movable Type will be hosted from. This is best accomplished using an FTP program of your choice. Six Apart recommends Fetch (for Mac users) or CuteFTP (for Windows users). Both are free and easy to use.
First rename the folder that was created for you when you unzipped Movable Type to something simple, like "mt". Then establish a connection with your remote host and drag and drop the "mt" folder to your account's "cgi-bin" directory. If you cannot locate a folder in your account called "cgi-bin" please contact your hosting provider for help.
Note: this step may not be necessary if you originally downloaded Movable Type directly to the server it will be installed upon.
Step Four: Double Check File Permissions
We are almost done. This next step is just a sanity check to make sure that one common problem is easily avoided. Movable Type requires that its files that end with the ".cgi" file extension (e.g. "mt.cgi" and "mt-search.cgi") have execute permissions set. This is easily done using all FTP programs. Consult your FTP program's help documentation for more information.
Step Five: Access Movable Type
Congratulations! You have successfully installed Movable Type. The final step is to make sure you have properly setup your web server and uploaded your files. To do that you simply need to access Movable Type. If you followed these instructions, then the URL to Movable Type will closely resemble the following:
http://www.somedomain.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt.cgi
The URL to your Movable Type installation may vary depending upon your server name and where you uploaded Movable Type previously.
You will know if everything worked if you see a screen in which Movable Type prompts you with a list of required perl modules (a screen entitled "Prerequisites Check").
If you see a screen entitled "Configure Static Web Path" then you have encountered a simple error that is easily resolved. Many web hosts prevent images, CSS stylesheets and javascript files from being served directly from within a cgi-bin directory. To circumvent this problem, upload the entire "mt-static" folder found in your Movable Type installation to a folder outside of your cgi-bin directory. If you have any difficulty locating where to upload your mt-static folder, please contact your web host.
Once you have uploaded your mt-static folder, type in the full URL to that directory into the Movable Type installation wizard. The URL will often closely resemble the following:
http://www.somedomain.com/mt-static/
Click the continue button. If Movable Type was able to access the necessary static files to proceed then you will be taken to a screen entitled "Prerequisites Check."
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Byrne Reese
Byrne Reese was previously the Product Manager of Movable Type at Six Apart, where he had also held positions as the Manager of Platform Technology and Product Manager for TypePad. Byrne is a huge supporter of the Movable Type user and developer community. He dedicates much of his time to promoting and educating people about Movable Type as well as building the tools and plugins for Movable Type that are showcased on Majordojo. He contributes regularly to open source; and he is an advocate for open protocols and standards like Atom and OpenID.
Carlos on July 1, 2007, 9:38 a.m. Reply
I seem to be missing a perl module. “DBI - DBI is required to store data in database. Minimal version requirement: 1.21”
How do I go about installing this module on OSX? I downloaded DBI 1.58 from http://search.cpan.org/dist/DBI/ but I don’t know how to actually install it. Can you please help?
Bud on July 26, 2007, 6:06 a.m. Reply
This is where things start to go bad for me. Several years ago, I figured out how to install MT with cgiwrap, avoiding the issue of what I had to configure as writeable on the server by the web app.
That strategy appears not to work as well for the latest MT forcing me to dive into the file permissions game.
It turns out that setting file permissions is tricky for the non-expert. CONCRETE examples are needed for different scenarios. Again, I’d go the user contribution route. This is where I’ve seen a lot of open source communities thrive. It has the effect of lowering the level of expertise required to participate in the community thereby increasing participation in the community and ultimately the community’s knowledge base (more diversity of experience = more information).
dualface on August 1, 2007, 10:20 a.m. Reply
“If you have double checked to make sure you have everything you need to get started, then you are ready to proceed with the installation.”
link error
Tim on August 4, 2007, 1:38 p.m. Reply
There is apparently a bug or error when I move the mt-static directory outside of the cgi-bin directory to the root of the web server. The setup wizard refuses to recognize that the mt-static directory has successfully been relocated. I can access the mt-static directory directly via the URL in a browser, but the setup wizard does not.
John on August 6, 2007, 2:41 p.m. Reply
I had the same problem as Tim. Very frustrating. I simply could not convince the wizard that the files were where I said they were. I didn’t have time to track down the bug, so unfortunately I just deleted the install and sought out another solution. Looking forward to the final release of MT4, though. I hope the documentation improves (I’m sure it will) by then.
Anthony Armstrong on August 7, 2007, 3:57 p.m. Reply
I am attempting to install MT4 on Mac OS X to test new themes for my live site, and the Mac OS X install seems to fail verification. The error is “Got an error: Can’t locate object method “configure” via package “MT::ObjectDriverFactory” at lib/MT.pm line 852.”
Understandibly, this is likely an error that will be fixed in the Gold release, but do you have any info on it at this moment, and what the fix might be?
Thanks!!