Installing Laravel

Laravel is a sophisticated, open-source PHP framework designed for modern web development. Following the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architectural pattern, it provides developers with an elegant syntax, a robust suite of tools, and an expansive ecosystem.

Before you begin, ensure that Composer—the essential dependency manager for PHP—is installed on your system.

Method 1: Using the Laravel installer (recommended)

This is the most efficient way to manage multiple Laravel projects.

1. Install the Laravel installer globally:

   composer global require laravel/installer
   

2. Configure your system path (to ensure the laravel command is recognized):
   For Ubuntu/Debian, add the following to your profile:

   export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.config/composer/vendor/bin"
   source ~/.bashrc
   

3. Spin up a new project:

   laravel new project_name
   

Method 2: Installation via Composer create-project

If you prefer a one-off installation without the global installer, run this command in your desired directory:

composer create-project laravel/laravel project_name

Configuring the Document Root

By default, Laravel’s entry point is the /public directory. To ensure your site loads correctly, you must point your web server to this folder.

• Option A: Update hosting settings (recommended).
  In your control panel, change the site's "Document Root" or "Home Directory" to /path/to/your/project/public.

• Option B: Using .htaccess (Workaround).
  If you cannot change the document root, create a .htaccess file in your project root:

# .htaccess in project root
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteRule ^$ public/ [L]
    RewriteRule ^((?s).*) public/$1 [L]
</IfModule>

Then, ensure the default .htaccess exists inside the /public folder:

# public/.htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
</IfModule>

Post-installation tips

• Set permissions: for Laravel to run smoothly, the web server needs write access to specific folders:

chmod -R 755 storage bootstrap/cache
chown -R www-data:www-data storage bootstrap/cache   # для Ubuntu/Debian

• Production readiness: for tasks like queues and scheduling, consider setting up Supervisor or a system Cron job.
• Official documentation: for the latest updates and deep-dive tutorials, visit the official laravel.com