Flatboard¶

Flatboard is a simple, lightweight, modern and fast flat-file forum, using JSON and Markdown 1 or BBcode.

Note

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

PHP
Domains

License¶

Flatboard are released under the MIT License.

All relevant legal information can be found here

https://tldrlegal.com/license/mit-license

Prerequisites¶

We’re using PHP in the stable version 7.1:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace tools version show php
Using 'PHP' version: '7.1'
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Your blog domain needs to be setup:

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

Installation¶

cd to your document root, then download and configure Flatboard.

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/
[isabell@stardust html]$ wget http://flatboard.free.fr/uploads/plugins/flatboard_latest.zip
[…]
Saving to: ‘flatboard_latest.zip’

100%[============================================================================================>] 1,280,825   --.-K/s   in 0.06s

2019-03-03 16:47:53 (19.0 MB/s) - ‘flatboard_latest.zip’ saved [1280825/1280825]
[isabell@stardust html]$

Unzip the archive and then delete it.

[isabell@stardust html]$ unzip flatboard_latest.zip
Archive:  flatboard_latest.zip
 inflating: flatboard.zip
 inflating: index.php
[isabell@stardust html]$ rm flatboard_latest.zip
[isabell@stardust html]$

Finishing installation¶

Now point your Browser to your installation URL https://isabell.uber.space/index.php. Complete the form and follow the installation instructions.

You will need to enter the following information:

language: the language you prefer (English, French, Russian).

Then push the Unzip-Button.

title: title of your forum

description: what is your forum about

E-Mail: your admin e-mail address

administrator: set up your admin password

language: the language you prefer (English, French, German, Russian, Italian) « Yes, the question is double.

At least you have to delete the install.php.

Updates¶

Note

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

First make a backup from /data folder and move it to your /home folder.

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/
[isabell@stardust html]$ tar cfvz flatforum-data_backup.tar.gz *
data/
[…]
data/key.php
[isabell@stardust html]$ mv flatforum-data_backup.tar.gz $HOME
[isabell@stardust html]$

Download the latest version from Flatboard.

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/
[isabell@stardust html]$ wget https://flatboard.org/download.php?file=flatboard_latest.zip
[…]
Saving to: ‘flatboard_latest.zip’

100%[============================================================================================>] 1,280,825   --.-K/s   in 0.06s

2019-03-03 16:47:53 (19.0 MB/s) - ‘flatboard_latest.zip’ saved [1280825/1280825]
[isabell@stardust html]$

Extract the zip file.

Unzip the archive, copy new files and folders and then delete it.

[isabell@stardust html]$ unzip flatboard_latest.zip -d UPDATE
Archive:  flatboard_latest.zip
 inflating: flatboard.zip
 inflating: index.php
[isabell@stardust html]$ cd UPDATE
[isabell@stardust UPDATE]$ rm flatboard_latest.zip
[isabell@stardust UPDATE]$ unzip flatboard.zip
Archive:  flatboard.zip
  creating: flatboard/
 inflating: flatboard/README.md
 […]
 inflating: flatboard/view.php
[isabell@stardust UPDATE]$ cd flatboard
[isabell@stardust UPDATE]$ cp -r * /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/
[isabell@stardust UPDATE]$ cd cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/html
[isabell@stardust html]$ rm -rf UPDATE
[isabell@stardust html]$ rm install.php
[isabell@stardust html]$

Clear plugin and theme cache.

Delete all files stocked in data/plugin folder and go to your plugins page to activate your plugins again.

[isabell@stardust html]$ cd /data/plugin
[isabell@stardust plugin]$ rm -rf *
[isabell@stardust plugin]$ cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/

Delete the theme/YourTheme/cache/ folder. In this example bootstrap theme is used.

[isabell@stardust html]$ cd /theme/bootstrap/
[isabell@stardust bootstrap]$ rm -rf cache
[isabell@stardust bootstrap]$

Log into the admin area and check your settings.

1: For the moment Markdown is not available, but should be fixed with one of the next updates.

Tested with Flatboard 2.5, Uberspace 7.13, PHP 8.0

Written by: Christian Kantelberg <uberlab@mailbox.org>