Chamilo is mainly a LMS running <spanstyle="font-weight: bold;">Apache (1.3, 2.0 or 2.2)</span>, <spanstyle="font-weight: bold;">MySQL 5.1 (or MariaDB)</span> and <spanstyle="font-weight: bold;">PHP 5.3 (or 5.4)</span> (the so called <spanstyle="font-weight: bold;">AMP</span> trilogy). <br/>
<li>To install <spanstyle="font-weight: bold;">WAMP</span> (AMP on Windows), we recommend the <ahref="http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html">XAMPP</a> .exe installer<ahref="http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html"></a></li>
(AMP on Linux), use the Package manager of your favourite distribution (Synaptic, RPMFinder etc.).
For instance, on a Ubuntu server, use Shell or Synaptic following the
<ahref="http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#Apache_HTTP_Server">Ubuntuguide on Apache</a> and the following sections</li>
<li>To install <spanstyle="font-weight: bold;">MAMP</span> (AMP on Mac OS X), refer to the <ahref="http://www.mamp.info/en/index.php">MAMP</a> dedicated website<ahref="http://www.mamp.info/en/index.php"></a></li>
<li>Make sure you check the <ahref="dependencies.html"title="Dependencies">Dependencies page</a> if you need to know the requirements in more precise way.
a database. Usually, the default configuration on local computers is to allow you to connect as root with an empty password. It is highly recommended to change the password and define a user with access to only a specific database. Please refer to the MySQL or MariaDB documentation in order to do this.<br/>
<spanstyle="font-weight: bold;">C:\xampp\htdocs\</span> on a Windows server or <spanstyle="font-weight: bold;">/var/www/html/</span> (or /var/www/chamilo/) on a Linux server</li>
<spanstyle="font-weight: bold;">http://www.domain.com/chamilo/</span> if you install remotely. <spanclass="muted">We recommend defining a specific Virtual Host for this installation if you have the skills to do so</span>
The following directories need to be readable, writeable and executable by your web server.
<spanclass="muted">This usually requires no specific action on Windows servers, but will require a "chmod" under Linux and Mac. See instructions below.</span><br/>Replace [chamilo] with the directory where your Chamilo installation is located):
<p><strong>Note:</strong> PHP 5.3.9 introduces a new setting "max_input_vars", which limits the number of elements you can send in one single form. If you are dealing with numerous users, make sure you set this setting higher than its default value of 1000.</p>
<h3>3.1 Upgrading from Chamilo 1.9.x (minor upgrade)</h3>
As this is only a minor version change from previous 1.9.* versions of Chamilo, the only thing you need to do is:
<ul>
<li> check that you haven't left any customised stylesheet or image <spanclass="muted">(if you have, make sure you keep a copy on the side*)</span></li>
<li> download the Chamilo 1.9 install package from the <ahref="http://www.chamilo.org/download">Chamilo download page</a></li>
<li> unzip the new files of Chamilo 1.9 over the files of the older version (or unzip the files in one folder and then copy the files from there to the older version's directory)</li>
<li> edit the main/inc/conf/configuration.php file: at the en of the file, locate the previous version number (e.g. '1.9.4') and change it to this new version (e.g. '1.9.8')</li>
<li> check that you haven't left any customised stylesheet or image <spanclass="muted">(if you have, make sure you keep a copy on the side*)</span></li>
<li> download the Chamilo 1.9 install package from the <ahref="http://www.chamilo.org/download">Chamilo download page</a></li>
<li> unzip the new files of Chamilo 1.9 over the files of the older version (or unzip the files in one folder and then copy the files from there to the older version's directory)</li>
<li> check that you haven't left any customised stylesheet or image <spanclass="muted">(if you have, make sure you keep a copy on the side*)</span></li>
<li> download the Chamilo 1.9 install package from the <ahref="http://www.chamilo.org/download">Chamilo download page</a></li>
<li> unzip the new files of Chamilo 1.9 over the files of the older version (or unzip the files in one folder and then copy the files from there to the older version's directory)</li>
A bunch of Chamilo administrators have reported minor issues with the migration between versions considerably apart (like from Dok€os to Chamilo).
This might include loosing some assignments or forum posts. To avoid any ugly effect on your users, we recommend you first establish a checklist
of all the content that is critical to you, and that you keep a working copy of your previous site on the side. This way, it will be easier to
manage the transition by letting your users get access to their contents from the previous site and making it easier for you to compare the two.
If you are experiencing difficulties, consider asking for help from a PHP developer or hiring an <ahref="http://www.chamilo.org/en/providers"target="_blank">official Chamilo provider</a>. They will make sure
<li>1. Configure your Apache installation to add a cgi-bin directory that contains a symbolic link to the mimetex.cgi in <i>chamilo/main/inc/lib/mimetex/</i> (*see below, step 4)</li>
<li>2. Reload your Apache configuration</li>
<li>3. Edit the online editor's configuration file <i>chamilo/main/inc/lib/fckeditor/myconfig.php</i> and</li>
<li>3.1. Enable the mimetex plugin, find the line //$config['LoadPlugin'][] = 'mimetex'; and modify it to be: <b>$config['LoadPlugin'][] = 'mimetex';</b> (remove the double slash)</li>
<li>3.2. The additional settings <b>$config['MimetexExecutableInstalled']</b> , <b>$config['MimetexExecutableDetectionMethod']</b>
and <b>$config['MimetexExecutableDetectionTimeout']</b> are configured for best probability of automatic detection of the installed on the server file <i>mimetex.cgi</i> or <i>mimetex.exe</i>.
In rare cases these options might need to be twicked, see the acccompanying comments about these options within the file <i>myconfig.php</i></li>
<li>5. Make sure that the file mimetex.cgi (or mimetex.exe) has right to be executed by the web-server process. For example, on a Ubuntu Linux system you may write a command like the following:
<divclass="code">
sudo chmod a+x mimetex.cgi
</div>
</li>
<li>6. Make sure that the file mimetex.cgi (or mimetex.exe) has been uploaded in <b>BINARY</b> format.
This is another common problem; the fix is just to re-upload the file in ASCII format.
You'll need to consult your FTP program's documentation to figure out how to switch modes.
BINARY mode is used for non-text items, such as executables (*.exe), zip files (*.zip), image files (*.jpg, *.gif) and the like.
ASCII mode needs to be used for text only documents, which includes *.txt, *.cgi, *.pl *.css, *.html, etc.
<br/>
You can also try to re upload the mimetex file using the "Upload file" in the "Filemanager" tool in CPanel/Plesk
<h2><aname="8._ASCIIMathML_mathematical_formulas"></a>8. Mathematical formulas with ASCIIMathML</h2>
<p>Mathematical formulas may be rendered on web-pages using the script ASCIIMathML.js (a customized version for Chamilo). For more information about this script
and about the ASCIIMath formula syntax see <ahref="http://www1.chapman.edu/~jipsen/mathml/asciimath.html">http://www1.chapman.edu/~jipsen/mathml/asciimath.html</a>
and <ahref="http://dlippman.imathas.com/asciimathtex/AMT.html">http://dlippman.imathas.com/asciimathtex/AMT.html</a>.</p>
<p>For writing ASCIIMath formulas in documents, a correspondent plugin for the online editor should be activated. For doing this,
<li>By translation ASCIIMath formula notation into MathML code. MathML standard currently is supported by the following browsers:
<ul>
<li>Mozilla Firefox, you may consider installing STIX fonts (<ahref="http://www.stixfonts.org">http://www.stixfonts.org</a>) on your client machines for nice looking formulas</li>
<li>Internet Explorer 6 or higher with the add-on MathPlayer 2.0 or higher (<ahref="http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathplayer">http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathplayer</a>)</li>
<li>Opera 9.5 or higher</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>For browser that do not support MathML - by translation ASCIIMath formula notation into TeX notation and passing it to
an external service. The external service produces and returns an image that contains the formula. This way is so called
<p>For providing <strong>image-based fallback</strong> in a production system, you should pick up and install on your server software for TeX rendering, such as:</p>
This activation will not be completed unless you have previously downloaded the <ahref="http://www.wiris.com/plugins/editors/download?filter=fckeditor"target="_blank">PHP plugin for FCKeditor WIRIS</a> and unzipped its contents into the main/inc/lib/fckeditor/editor/plugins/fckeditor_wiris/ directory. <br/>This is necessary because Wiris is proprietary software and its services are <ahref="http://www.wiris.com/store/who-pays"target="_blank">commercial</a>. To make adjustments to the plugin, edit configuration.ini file or replace his content by configuration.ini.default Chamilo file.</p>
<h2><aname="10._Xapian_fulltext_indexing"></a>Full-text indexation with Xapian</h2>
<p>
<em>Note</em>: This step will require a dedicated server or a virtual dedicated server as the packages involved are not available on most shared hosting solutions.<br/>
On Debian or Ubuntu 10.04 and superior, you will simply need to install the php5-xapian package and restart your web server:
<pre>
sudo apt-get install php5-xapian
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
</pre>
Then go to your administration page -> Configuration settings -> Search
and enable the search tool. Follow the recommendations on the page to get the
complete indexing suite installed. Once you're done, all documents you import
into your Chamilo portal in a recognized format will be indexed and searchable.
<em>Note</em>: This step will require a dedicated server or a virtual dedicated server as the packages involved are not available on most shared hosting solutions.<br/>
Then go to your administration page -><i>Chamilo Rapid</i> and set the host to "localhost" and the port to "2002". Save. Go to your course, learning path tool and see the new icon appeared. Import your PPT. This should work.
<em>Note</em>: Sometimes, this doesn't work out so easily. You can probably ask for the assistance of any system administrator around with a bit of Java and PHP experience, or you can always ask one of the Chamilo's Official Providers for assistance (ask for a guaranteed commercial contract).
<h2><aname="13._Changing_language_names_order"></a>Changing the language's firstname/lastname order</h2>
<p>
As Chamilo becomes more popular and crosses many borders now, it frequently happens that administrators want to re-order the firstname and lastname fields in tables, and also on which field it is sorted first.<br/><br/>
This can easily be modified by editing the main/inc/lib/internationalization_database/name_order_conventions.php file, finding your language and changing the fields. It is pretty self-explanatory and looks like this:<br/>
