Movable Type Setup



Like setting up any free or open source software there are always issues which are not detailed in the installation instructions. I figured I would post the differences that I encountered.

First let me detail my platform:

Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
Movable Type 3.14
MySQL 4.1
Active Perl 5.8.4

After installing MySQL and Active Perl you have to enable web server extensions for cgi applications.

If you are planning on using MySQL and you are in a windows environment then you have to install the MySQL ODBC drivers. To do this you have to enter the Perl Package Manager command prompt, which is not as simple as typing ppm at the command line as the Moveable Type instructions specify. You have to start ppm by navigating to the program group in your start menu, and starting it from there. There is most likely another way to do it, but that was the easiest way I found of starting it up.

Once at the ppm command prompt type the following two command's:
ppm> install DBI
ppm> install DBD-MySQL

This will install all the necessary software for connecting to a MySQL DB from perl.

Finally where I got so frustrated setting up Movable Type I was ready to throw my laptop out the window was when trying to run mt-load.cgi which is the last step in the setup process. I kept on receiving an error when the cgi was trying to connect to MySQL. To get around this problem you need to use the MySQL old password format for your database user. To set your database password in the old format use this SQL statement:

update
user
set
password = old_password('passwordHere')
where
user = 'userHere';

Following all of the other instructions in the Movable Type install other than what I have specified above should allow a smooth install on a Windows OS.



Posted by christopher andersson on January 9, 2005 4:18 PM

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