ZIKULA INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
More detailed installation documentation is available in the Documentation Wiki 
at http://community.zikula.org.

========
CONTENTS
========
1. Zikula: The Forest Release
2. Setup Consideration
3. New Installation
   i. Graphical Browser Install
   b. Manual SQL Dump Install
4. Final Note


1. Zikula: The Forest Release
=============================

Zikula is an open source, open development application framework for dynamic 
websites. The core system includes a complete API on which third party developments 
can build. Zikula has a very strong community, which provides a large number of 
extensions to the system and a helpful support centre in the forums.

2. Server Consideration
=======================
Before you begin, there are some requirements and guidelines you should consider 
to make installing, running, and securing Zikula easier. Please read the Zikula 
software recommendations document.

3. New Installation
===================
There are two installation methods for Zikula:

    a. Graphical Browser Install
       -------------------------
       To use the installer, simply visit install.php in the Zikula directory 
       with your browser, e.g. http://www.example.com/install.php. If you 
       installed Zikula into a subdirectory 'foo' the URL would be 
       http://www.example.com/foo/install.php.

       The installer provides you with instructions on the way. Zikula require 
       a database to be created at some point and it can save problems later if
       this is created by you before the install script is run. While it is 
       possible for the Zikula installer to attempt to create the database, 
       this will not always be successful as you will require greater access 
       rights to the database. In most hosted environments this is not available
       so you must create databases through an administration control panel. 
       If you do this, note down the database name, username and password for 
       use in the installation.

       Once the installation process is complete, you can visit your Zikula 
       website by navigating to index.php, e.g. http://www.example.com/index.php. 
       In the vast majority of cases, this will open automatically when typing 
       http://www.example.com into your browser.

    b. Manual SQL Dump Install (Not recommended)
       -----------------------------------------
       If you wish to import the SQL dump to install Zikula manually, this can 
       be done through a tool such as phpMyAdmin. The dump provided is from a 
       MySQL 5.x database, and may not work with other databases, or MySQL 
       versions. Once you have imported the SQL dump, you should manually edit 
       config/config.php and add the appropriate database connection details in 
       the area reserved for the 'default' connection. The values for username 
       and password should be base64 encoded for added security (encoders are 
       freely available on the Internet). Should you install in this manner, 
       the administration login username is "admin" with password "Password" 
       (without the quotes).

4. Final Note
=============
Modifications to the Zikula core system code or database are not supported. Doing 
so can cause extensive problems when upgrading the system in the future and 
therefore these 'hacks' are not recommended. Zikula has a flexible extensions 
system and configuration override system to allow customization and we recommend
you consult the developer documentation about this.

