Movable Type installed and Here’s How I Did it
January 2nd, 2004 . by Alexander FisherI finally got Movable Type running on my web site. I have copied over all of my previous Earthlink posts. From a user standpoint, using Movable Type as opposed to the limited capability of the Earthlink page, is almost unreal. I was having fun on my Earthlink Blog. I hope now with more control, I will have even more fun. If I could make Movable Type better, I would put in WYSIWYG editing for the posts (entries), templates, and the cascading style sheets plus a dictionary. I must admit, it is a fun kind of challenge to go back and do manual HTML and XML again.
I did have a little trouble getting Movable Type working on my site. I had this error that said it couldn’t find the default template list every time I tried to initialize it. I had been resisting moving the files into my CGI-BIN, but I finally did it. I thought I could create my own folders and run everything from them. Someday I might be able to configure the folders to run outside of the CGI-BIN, but if you decide to try Movable Type on your web site, don’t try it the first time any other way, or you’ll become very frustrated, especially if you have no concept of UNIX file structure.
How I did it…
I will give you the slight variations from the included installation document that I used. That document will provide the bulk of the instructions that you need. Hopefully this will help you get up and running quicker than I did. It took me six to eight hours total to get everything running. If you do this right, installation can be completed within an hour. If any of this sounds too hard. It really isn’t. Just follow the instructions step-by-step and you’ll be able to do it.
Download Movable Type from http://www.movabletype.org/ . The current version as of today, 2004/01/02, is v2.65.
To begin installation, unzip the file that you downloaded, MT-2.65-full-lib.zip to some place on your hard drive that you want to work from. There is documentation in this ZIP file that can help you install the Movable Type files on on your web site and is located at MT-2.65-full-lib\docs\mtmanual_installation.html in the distribution you downloaded and un-zipped. Make sure you have a good FTP program like CuteFTP or WS_FTP. I tried using my web provider’s Web-based FTP and the CHMOD routine was harder than it needs to be. I also recommend downloading the free EditPad Lite to edit the mt.cfg file. It is the best text editor I’ve tried. You should use Notepad only if you have to.
The one problem I had was figuring out the directory hierarchy. Everyone explained it, but I never really understood what anyone meant. Although I was led to believe that you could install your files in some other directory (folder) than your CGI-BIN directory, take my advice and don’t try it the first time. It’ll just make your life harder. I copied all files that are considered program files to my CGI-BIN directory. The path to mine is similar to this:
/home/yourwebsite/www/cgi-bin/
In that folder I also created a directory called db to hold my Movable Type database. Its path looks like this:
/home/yourwebsite/www/cgi-bin/db/
I also created two folders in my web accessable area. One was called mt-static for the static files that you must keep seperate from your CGI-BIN directory. The other is blog. That is where I have my blog. You will not need the blog directory until you initialize the installation. Their paths look like this:
/home/yourwebsite/www/mt-static/
/home/yourwebsite/www/blog
Follow the instructions concerning where each file should be installed on your web site. Pay close attention to the transfer mode that the instructions requires. Most files require ASCII transfer mode. Others, like images, require Binary mode. I think that if you have your FTP program set on automatic, it would probably get it right, but to be sure, if you can set it manually, you should.
To make Movable Type work, you need to edit the mt.cfg file using a text editor. I have that file available for you to download. Just open it and fill in the proper paths for your web site. Follow the directions in the Movable Type installation instructions for which lines to re-configure.
Click here to download mt.zip (this ZIP file contains an edited mt.cfg for Movable Type and edit_entry.tmpl for HTMLAREA)
(Please note that if your web provider does not use cgiwrap or suexec, you will need to comment out those lines in mt.cfg that refer to their use)
I will assume that you have the access to PERL modules on your site. You can always run the CGI script located at http://www.yoursite.com/cgi-bin/mt-check.cgi from your web browser to be sure you have each required module. My provider installed all of the modules that weren’t on my server at no charge.
I will also describe the installation of HTMLAREA v2.03.
So far I haven’t found a WYSIWYG editor for the XML in the templates, but I have found one for the posts. It is called HTMLAREA. Any post entries in Movable Type can be edited in a WYSIWYG editor so you can immediately see formatting and images that you insert into the text.
Download HTMLAREA from http://www.interactivetools.com. It is free to use for individuals, like Movable Type. When you un-zip the file htmlarea.zip, copy the distribution to your mt-static folder in your web accessable area. The ZIP file extracts all files into a directory called htmlarea, so all you will have to do is copy that directory to your mtstatic directory. The path should be similar to below:
/home/yourwebsite/www/mt-static/htmlarea
Download mt.zip and extract the edit_entry.tmpl file. Copy it to the directory:
/home/yourwebsite/www/cgi-bin/tmpl/cms
Click here to download mt.zip (this ZIP file contains an edited mt.cfg for Movable Type and edit_entry.tmpl for HTMLAREA)
Go to your Movable Type admin (mt.cgi) by typing its web address into your web browser. The address would look something like this:
http://www.yoursite.com/cgi-bin/mt.cgi
Press the Rebuild Site button. HTMLAREA should be active at this point. Go to an old entry or create a new one. If everything worked, you will see a new text toolbar above the text entry boxes and there will be formatted text in the text area.
If you have trouble, visit the Movable Type web site at http://www.movabletype.org/ or you might find an answer to almost any problem on the MT Wiki site at http://www.virtualvenus.org/wiki/view/MT/. Even if everything goes smoothly for you, there are many answers to customization questions and other issues on both web sites including any news on new versions.
This procedure was meant for version 2.65. I have yet to make htmlArea work on version 3. I have found some web sites that had info on them that claimed to be able to make it work, but so far it hasn’t worked for me.
I am attempting to abandon Movable Type because 1&1 took away my FrontPage extensions on the Linux server I am on. I’ll probably move to a Microsoft server to get them back. If I do, I’ll lose the Perl on the Linux. Movavble Type needs it. I think they have a Microsoft version. I should check it out. So far this 1&1/Wordpress blog is pretty cool, but I am not sure yet if I can create my own theme or not. That would cinch the deal.
Silly me. When I changed to a Microsoft server I lost all blogging capacity. Not sure what I needed to do, except go back to my Linux server and try Movable Type v4.1. But I couldn’t get it to work. I thing I might know what I was doing wrong, but I decided to try WorPress. At least I can switch back easily.