Backdrop CMS 1.11 Released –Here’s How to Install / Upgrade on Ubuntu 18.10 / 18.04 | 16.04
Backdrop, an open CMS platform that almost similar to Drupal has been updated to version ( 1.11 ) and this brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install or upgrade on Ubuntu 18.10 / 18.04 and 16.04 LTS…
This release of Backdrop adds cool new functionality to Backdrop CMS along with numerous bug fixes, including an improved color customization of themes, rich text editor in the browser, hidden path for content, content preview and many more…
For more about this release, please check this changelog page…
If you’re currently running an older version of Backdrop, you may want to upgrade to this version as soon as possible… It’s a huge change from previous versions with many enhancements…For list of changes added to this release, read below:
- Editorial Image Browser: Inserting an image into the rich text editor now provides options for reusing existing images, with a fully customizeable image browser.
- Content Preview: A completely new preview system now lets you see your changes on new and existing content before you save it. This full-page preview is shown in-place with the surrounding page and and theme, and even lets you preview different display modes (e.g. full, teaser) so you can check how your content will appear everywhere on your site.
- Improved Color Customization for Themes: A new UI for color picking let’s you adjust the colors of the included themes. The default theme “Basis” has also received color customization support, so you can colorize both Basis and Bartik themes now.
- Hidden Paths for Content: Content can now have its public path hidden from visitors, but still displayed elsewhere. This is useful for content that only is displayed as embeds, such as slideshows or heroes. This moves some functionality of the “Rabbit Hole” module into core.
Below are two posts that show you how to install Backdrop with Apache2 and Nginx support… you can select either that works for you….
Installing Backdrop on Ubuntu with Apache2 HTTP Support
If you want to run Backdrop with Apache2 HTTP support, then read this post below:
Installing Backdrop on Ubuntu with Nginx HTTP Support
For those who want to run Backdrop with Nginx, support, they can read the post below:
Upgrading Backdrop
If you already have Backdrop installed and you wish to upgrade, then follow the steps below:
Befor upgrading you should make sure to backup your content database as well as its website content… Only after backing those up should you begin upgrading… After that, run the commands below to backup your website content..
First stop the web server
sudo systemctl stop apache2.service
Then backup the current website content…
sudo mv /var/www/html/backdrop /var/www/html/backdrop_bak
After backing up, download the latest content…
cd /tmp
cd /tmp && wget https://github.com/backdrop/backdrop/releases/download/1.11.0/backdrop.zip
Extract downloaded content to the webserver root directory…
unzip backdrop.zip sudo mv backdrop /var/www/html/backdrop
Next, restore the config files from the backed-up content to the new content
sudo cp -rf /var/www/html/backdrop_bak/files/config_* /var/www/html/backdrop/files/
Overwrite the current setting.php file from the backup location…
sudo cp -f /var/www/html/backdrop_bak/settings.php /var/www/html/backdrop
Adjust the permissions on the new web content….
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/backdrop/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/backdrop/
After that, start up the webserver..
sudo systemctl start apache2
Then open your browser and go to the update URL to begin the upgrade..
You should see Backdrop upgrade page…
Continue with the upgrade and complete…

That should do it.. After upgrading, logon to the admin portal and validate…
Enjoy!
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