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Vanilla 2.1 - Ubuntu - Blank Screen on first load (instead of setup)

mattchatterleymattchatterley ✭
in Vanilla 2.0 - 2.8

When installing Vanilla 2.1 on Ubuntu recently, I was greeted with a completely blank (empty) page, rather than the setup screen. Although I've managed to solve this (and it was simple enough), I couldn't find the answer online readily, so am posting it here incase it's useful to someone else!

tail /var/log/apache2/error.log

Showed me that the problem was that 'json_decode' was not defined - this is because in Ubuntu (and potentially other distributions), the JSON functionality is in a separate package and must be installed explicitly.

apt-get install php5-json
service apache2 restart

Reload page - and voila, setup appears!

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    hgtonighthgtonight ∞ · New Moderator

    Welcome to the community!

    For future reference, enabling debug mode will display the actual error rather than a blank page or the "something has gone wrong" page.

    You can enable debugging by adding $Configuration['Debug'] = TRUE; to your /conf/config.php file.

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    Check out the Documentation! We are always looking for new content and pull requests.

    Click on insightful, awesome, and funny reactions to thank community volunteers for their valuable posts.

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    peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited June 2014

    @mattchatterley said:
    When installing Vanilla 2.1 on Ubuntu recently, I was greeted with a completely blank (empty) page, rather than the setup screen. Although I've managed to solve this (and it was simple enough), I couldn't find the answer online readily, so am posting it here incase it's useful to someone else!

    tail /var/log/apache2/error.log

    Showed me that the problem was that 'json_decode' was not defined - this is because in Ubuntu (and potentially other distributions), the JSON functionality is in a separate package and must be installed explicitly.

    apt-get install php5-json
    service apache2 restart

    Reload page - and voila, setup appears!

    nice find.

    there should be a list of needed dependencies for php in the vanilla instructions.

    I usually add my notes here: so it might help other people, you might as well - it might be easier to read for people who take the time and read the installation thread instead of going about things blindly.
    http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/199091/#Comment_199091

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

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    mattchatterleymattchatterley ✭

    @hgtonight Thanks! I either couldn't find or missed that - noted for future reference (and maybe this thread will help the next person find it)! :)

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    mattchatterleymattchatterley ✭

    @peregrine I've added a comment to that thread (albeit a briefer version of this!) - thank you :)

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    peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited June 2014

    thx.

    actually, i posted the wrong link, i meant here on the installation thread, which they are more likely to read (or not). but the "adept" discussion is probably not a bad idea either.

    http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/26685/vanilla-2-1-stable-released

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

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    mattchatterleymattchatterley ✭

    Have posted it to there too :)

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