Neos

#cms #lang-php #web 

Neos is an open source Content Application Platform based on its own PHP framework Flow.

The system is best known for its intuitive approach of editing content directly in the website (also known as frontend editing) and the mighty marketing features like content dimensions which allow to display optimized contents for different target audiences.

Neos (formerly TYPO3 Neos) was released for the first time in 2013. It is maintained by the Neos Team and Contributors.

Note

For this guide you should be familiar with the basic concepts of

License

Neos is free and open source software licensed under GPL v3.

Prerequisites

Neos (version 5.0 and newer) requires at least PHP 8.1. Since new Uberspaces are currently setup with PHP 8.1 by default you need to set this version manually:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace tools version use php 8.1
Selected PHP version 8.1
The new configuration is adapted immediately. Patch updates will be applied automatically.
[isabell@stardust ~]$

You’ll need your MySQL credentials. Get them with my_print_defaults:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ my_print_defaults client
--default-character-set=utf8mb4
--user=isabell
--password=MySuperSecretPassword
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Your website domain needs to be set up:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace web domain list
isabell.uber.space
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Installation

Since Neos uses the subdirectory Web/ as web root you should not install Neos in your DocumentRoot. Instead we install it next to that and then use a symlink to make it accessible.

cd to one level above your DocumentRoot, then use the dependency manager Composer to create a new project based on the Neos base distribution:

Note

Composer will install all necessary dependencies Neos needs to run. This can take some time.

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/
[isabell@stardust isabell]$ composer create-project neos/neos-base-distribution Neos
Neos
Installing neos/neos-base-distribution (42.23.1)
  - Installing neos/neos-base-distribution (42.23.1): Downloading (100%)
Created project in Neos
Loading composer repositories with package information
Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
[...]

[isabell@stardust isabell]$

Remove your unused DocumentRoot and create a new symbolic link to the Neos/Web directory:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/
[isabell@stardust isabell]$ rm -f html/nocontent.html; rmdir html
[isabell@stardust isabell]$ ln -s /var/www/virtual/$USER/Neos/Web html
[isabell@stardust isabell]$

Configuration

Point your browser to your website URL and append /setup (e.g. isabell.uber.space/setup) to use the web based installer.

After setting some things up automatically, the setup will ask you for a setup password. You need to get this from a file in your Neos installation first:

[isabell@stardust isabell]$ cat /var/www/virtual/$USER/Neos/Data/SetupPassword.txt
The setup password is:

Z3pyq1Sp

After you successfully logged in, this file is automatically deleted for security reasons.
Make sure to save the setup password for later use.

Step 1: After you logged in using your setup password, Neos will check for supported image manipulation libraries. Fortunately, multiple libraries are pre-installed on Uberspace 7. Neos will use “imagick” as standard. You can change that later manually.

Step 2: To configure your database, you need to enter the following information:

  • your preferred database driver. You can use the preselected MySQL/MariaDB via PDO.

  • your MySQL hostname, username and password: the hostname is localhost and you should know your MySQL credentials by now. If you don’t, start reading again at the top.

  • your Neos database name: we suggest you use an additional database. For example: isabell_neos. The installer will create this database for you if you select [New Database] and enter the name for the new database.

Step 3: Create an administrator account. Please don’t use admin as your username and set yourself a strong password.

Step 4: Create a new site by importing an existing/demo package or creating a new one.

Step 5: You have successfully installed Neos on Uberspace 7!

Tuning

Please note that Neos is not running in “Production” context by default. If you’re ready to go live and want full speed, you should change your FLOW_CONTEXT environment variable to “Production”.

You can do this by uncommenting the line SetEnv FLOW_CONTEXT Production in your .htaccess file under /var/www/virtual/$USER/Neos/Web/.htaccess

Updates

Note

Check the update feed regularly to stay informed about the newest version.

Check Neos’ releases for the latest versions. If a newer version is available, you should manually update your installation.

By using composer, you can update an existing installation to a specific version, without having to create a new project. But you have to follow version specific upgrade instructions which you can find in the Neos docs.

Warning

Neos, Flow and especially additional packages are not updated automatically, so make sure to regularly check any update options.

Tested with Neos 8.1.2, Uberspace 7.13, PHP 8.1

Written by: Daniel Kratz <https://danielkratz.com>