Install ClassicPress with Lighttpd Server on Debian12 VPS

Step-by-step instructions for installing ClassicPress on a Debian 12 VPS running Lighttpd server:

1. Update the system:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

2. Install Lighttpd:

sudo apt install lighttpd -y

3. Install MySQL server:

sudo apt install mariadb-server -y

4. Secure the MySQL server:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

5. Create a new database and user for ClassicPress:

mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE classicpress_db;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON classicpress_db.* TO 'classicpress_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

6. Install PHP and required extensions:

sudo apt install php-fpm php-common php-cli php-mysql php-zip php-gd php-mbstring -y

7. Download and extract ClassicPress:

wget https://downloads.classicpress.net/latest.zip
unzip latest.zip
sudo mv classicpress/* /var/www/html/
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/

8. Configure Lighttpd:

sudo nano /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

Add the following configuration to the end of the file:

server.modules += ("mod_alias", "mod_rewrite")

alias.url = (
    "/" => "/var/www/html/",
)

url.rewrite-once = (
    "^/favicon.ico$" => "/var/www/html/favicon.ico",
    "^/robots.txt$" => "/var/www/html/robots.txt",
    "^/wp-content/(.+)$" => "/var/www/html/wp-content/$1",
    "^/wp-(.+)\.php$" => "/var/www/html/wp-$1.php",
    "^/xmlrpc.php$" => "/var/www/html/xmlrpc.php",
)

server.document-root = "/var/www/html/"
index-file.names = ( "index.php" )

9. Restart Lighttpd:

sudo systemctl restart lighttpd

Complete the ClassicPress installation by accessing the website in a web browser and following the on-screen instructions. You will have to install the ssl certificate separately.