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Flute CMS v1.0.0 — Получить ключ доступа
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Installing Flute CMS

Flute CMS is a modern content management system (CMS) built specifically for gaming communities. If you have a CS2, Minecraft, Rust, Dota 2, or any other game server, Flute will help you quickly create a full-featured website with a forum, shop, player statistics, Steam integration, and much more. Installation takes just a few minutes, and further configuration is done through a convenient admin panel without needing to write code.

Minimum Requirements

Flute CMS requires MySQL 8.0 or higher to work correctly!

Operation on MyArena and GreyWeb hosting is not guaranteed!

Before installation, submit a short request on flute-cms.com to get an access key. The key is required for the marketplace and updates, and the process takes just a couple of minutes.

To install Flute CMS you need:

  • PHP 8.2 or higher
  • Composer 2.0 or higher (only for Composer installation)
  • Opcache — speeds up PHP by storing compiled code in memory so it doesn’t need to be recompiled on every request
  • Ioncube Loader — a tool for running protected PHP code. Required for marketplace modules in Flute CMS, as they are distributed in encrypted form
  • PDO PHP extension
  • GD PHP extension
  • BCMath PHP extension
  • JSON PHP extension
  • Mbstring PHP extension
  • SimpleXML PHP extension
  • Zip PHP extension
  • Curl PHP extension
  • GMP PHP extension

PHP extensions are additional modules (plugins) for PHP that add new capabilities. For example, the curl extension allows making HTTP requests, and gd enables image processing. In most hosting control panels (cPanel, FastPanel, ISPmanager, etc.), you can enable the required extensions with a single click in the PHP settings section.

Supported DBMS:

  • MySQL 8.0 / MariaDB 10.11 or higher
  • PostgreSQL 14 or higher
  • SQLite 3.30 or higher

Supported servers:

  • Apache 2.4 or higher
  • Nginx 1.20 or higher
  • Lighttpd 1.4 or higher

Installation Methods

Flute CMS can be installed in three ways:

Archive Installation (detailed instructions)

This method is suitable for those who don’t have access to the server terminal or prefer manual installation.

Make sure your hosting supports all the requirements listed above!

Download the Flute CMS archive

  1. Go to the GitHub releases page 
  2. Find the latest version (usually the first in the list)
  3. Download the Source code (zip) or flute-cms-vX.X.X.zip file

Always download the latest stable version to get all fixes and new features.

Prepare your hosting

  1. Create a database:

    • Log into your hosting control panel
    • Find the “Databases” or “MySQL” section
    • Create a new database (e.g., flute_cms)
    • Create a user for this database
    • Write down the details: database name, user, password, host

  2. Check the PHP version:

    • In the control panel, find the “PHP” or “PHP Versions” section
    • Make sure PHP 8.2 or higher is selected
    • Enable the necessary extensions (if possible)

Upload files to the server

  1. Extract the archive on your computer:

    • Create a folder on your computer (e.g., flute-cms)
    • Extract the downloaded archive into this folder

  2. Connect to the server:

    • Use an FTP client (FileZilla, WinSCP, or the built-in hosting file manager)
    • Enter the connection details (host, login, password)

  3. Upload files:

    • Navigate to the site root folder (usually public_html, www, or htdocs)
    • Upload ALL files from the extracted archive
    • Make sure the folder structure is preserved

Upload may take 10-30 minutes depending on internet speed. Do not interrupt the process!

Configure the web server

For Apache (most hosting providers):

  • The .htaccess file is already included in the archive
  • The document root must point to the public directory (in the hosting panel, set it to /.../public_html/public or /.../www/public)
  • If the panel does not allow changing the document root, ask hosting support to bind the domain to the public folder instead of the project root

For Nginx:

Install dependencies (if needed)

If there is no vendor folder in the archive or it is empty:

  1. Through the hosting terminal (if available):

    cd /path/to/your/site
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

  2. Without terminal access:

    • Download a ready-made archive with dependencies from the releases page 
    • Find a file like flute-cms-with-vendor-vX.X.X.zip
    • Replace the vendor folder from this archive

Set access permissions

Set access permissions on folders (via FTP client or file manager):

  • storage/ - 755 or 777
  • storage/logs/ - 755 or 777
  • storage/app/cache/ - 755 or 777
  • public/uploads/ - 755 or 777

On some hosting, permissions are set automatically. If you encounter file write errors, try setting permissions to 777.

Run the installation wizard

  1. Open your site in a browser
  2. You will see the Flute CMS installation wizard page
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions:
    • System requirements check
    • Database configuration
    • Administrator account creation
    • Basic site settings

Complete the installation

After successful installation:

  1. Check that the site is working
  2. Log into the admin panel with the credentials you created

Possible Problems and Solutions

”500 Internal Server Error”

  1. Check the server error logs
  2. Make sure all necessary PHP extensions are installed
  3. Check access permissions on folders
  4. Make sure the .htaccess file is uploaded correctly
  5. If the problem persists, go to config/app.php and set 'debug' => true, to investigate the issue.

White page or PHP errors

  1. Enable PHP error display (in config/app.php)
  2. Check the PHP version (must be 8.2+)
  3. Make sure all necessary extensions are installed
  4. Check the PHP logs

File upload problems

  1. Check access permissions on the public/uploads/ folder
  2. Make sure file uploads are enabled in PHP
  3. Check file size limits in PHP

If you encounter problems not listed here, seek help in the Discord community  or create an issue on GitHub .

After Installation

After successfully installing Flute CMS, it is recommended to:

  1. Set up CRON for automatic tasks
  2. Set up email for sending notifications
  3. Set up the main template
  4. Optimize performance
  5. Set up database backup

Congratulations! Flute CMS is successfully installed and ready to use! 🎉

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