WeBWorK Databases and Map

This article is under construction. Use the information herein with caution until this message is removed.

These instructions should be usable and complete for most users. There are a few sections with comments such as "Note to Pizer --- Update this". If you want to do the things in these sections you are on your own for now but most people don't need these things.

These instructions cover the installation of the Ubuntu Linux 18.04 LTS operating system and WeBWorK 2.13 from scratch.

Other installation methods (which are faster and easier) include using the WeBWorK install script ww_install (see https://github.com/openwebwork/ww_install), the WeBWorK Live DVD (see Installing_from_WW2.13_Ubuntu16.04_Vanilla_LiveDVD) or the WeBWorK Virtual Machine Image (see Installing_from_WW2.13_Ubuntu16.04_Vanilla_Virtual_Machine_Image).

If you are just upgrading WeBWorK, especially if you already have existing WeBWorK courses, see Upgrading_WeBWorK_with_Github.

Notation

First some short comments on notation we will be using. We will use <key> to indicate that you should press a specific key (e.g. <Enter>, <Tab>, <F12>, etc.). Sometimes we will also use e.g. <wwadmin password> to indicate you have to enter the wwadmin password.

^ will indicate the <Ctrl> key so e.g. ^X is really shorthand for <Ctrl> <X>, i.e. press the Ctrl key and hit the X key.

Installing the Ubuntu 18.04 Linux Operating System

Installation DVD

Obtain the Desktop Edition installation DVD/CD set. Connect to http://www.ubuntu.com/ for information. For example you can download an ISO image of the installation DVD and then burn your own installation DVD. You want the file ubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso. Note 1: We recommend you use the "Long Term Support" (LTS) version of Ubuntu which is currently version 18.04; the next LTS release will be version 20.04 to be released in April, 2020. Note 2: We recommend you actually use the latest 18.04 iso file which is currently ubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso. Choose which ever download site works best for you; I have had good luck with http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-releases/ If you download the ISO image, make sure that you verify the integrity of the downloaded file by comparing the MD5 checksum of the downloaded file with the MD5 checksum listed at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuHashes or at the download site (e.g. http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-releases/18.04). These instructions will assume you have the ubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso installation DVD but installing from an alternate DVD, a commercial DVD/CD set or from the net should be essentially identical.

You will want to have you computer connected by ethernet to the internet for the installation. Place the installation CD in your DVD/CD drive and reboot your computer from the DVD drive. You may have to press a key (e.g. <F12>) during the boot process to bring up a boot menu which will allow you to select booting from the DVD. Or you many have to edit the BIOS to select the DVD as the first boot device. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootFromCD for help.

After the system boots you will be presented with a series of 7 steps.

Step 1

On the first install panel keep English as the selected language and click Install Ubuntu, the second (to the right) option.

Step 2

Just hit Continue on the next page