[opensourcedex]

WordPress is a free, open source website builders project written in PHP and released under a custom open-source licence. It has 21,428 GitHub stars, 12,979 forks and 3 open issues, and was last pushed 5 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #1 of 9 tracked projects in Website Builders, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 16 stars over the last 6 tracked days.

WordPress — Create, customize, and manage your website with ease

What is WordPress?

What it is

WordPress is a PHP-based website builder and personal publishing platform. It lives in the open-source web publishing ecosystem and is distributed as a self-hosted package installed on a web server. The project provides an administrative interface for creating, customizing, and managing a website, and it relies on a MySQL or MariaDB database for site content and configuration.

The concrete problem it solves is the need to publish and manage website content without building every part of a site from scratch. Its installer sets up configuration and database tables, its updater handles core changes, and its import tools support moving content from other systems. The GitHub repository is a mirror of the WordPress subversion repository, so pull requests go to the WordPress develop repository, and patches go to the core trac instance.

Key capabilities

  • It supports website creation and management through an administrative dashboard and a personal publishing platform.
  • It provides a five-minute installation path that guides users through creating wp-config.php and setting up database tables.
  • It updates core files through wp-admin/update-core.php, and it supports manual updates through file replacement and wp-admin/upgrade.php.
  • It imports content from a number of other systems after the base installation is working.
  • It exposes a plugin API that allows functionality to be extended without modifying core code.
  • It requires PHP and MySQL, and it recommends MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.11, mod_rewrite, HTTPS support, and a link to wordpress.org.

Who uses it and how

  • Self-hosters use it on PHP and MySQL or MariaDB hosting to run websites and manage content through the administrative interface.
  • Site owners use the installer to create wp-config.php, configure database details, and set up the tables needed for the site.
  • Migrators use import tools to bring content from other systems into a working WordPress installation.
  • Developers use the plugin API and the Plugin Developer Handbook to extend the platform while leaving core code unmodified.

Getting started

Install by unzipping the package into an empty directory, uploading it to a web host, opening wp-admin/install.php, and following the installer to create wp-config.php and set up database tables. Update an existing installation by opening wp-admin/update-core.php, or update manually by backing up modified files, replacing old WordPress files, and opening wp-admin/upgrade.php.

When to use it — and when not to

Use WordPress for a self-hosted PHP website builder with database-backed publishing, plugin extension, and import tools for other systems. Do not use this GitHub repository as the development contribution point, because it is a mirror and pull requests are directed elsewhere. A self-hoster must operate the web server, PHP, MySQL or MariaDB, HTTPS, backups, and updates, and the listed license is NOASSERTION.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline 
WordPress › ReadMe

Semantic Personal Publishing Platform

First Things First

Welcome. WordPress is a very special project to me. Every developer and contributor adds something unique to the mix, and together we create something beautiful that I am proud to be a part of. Thousands of hours have gone into WordPress, and we are dedicated to making it better every day. Thank you for making it part of your world.

— Matt Mullenweg

Installation: Famous 5-minute install

  1. Unzip the package in an empty directory and upload everything.
  2. Open wp-admin/install.php in your browser. It will take you through the process to set up a wp-config.php file with your database connection details.
    1. If for some reason this does not work, do not worry. It may not work on all web hosts. Open up wp-config-sample.php with a text editor like WordPad or similar and fill in your database connection details.
    2. Save the file as wp-config.php and upload it.
    3. Open wp-admin/install.php in your browser.
  3. Once the configuration file is set up, the installer will set up the tables needed for your site. If there is an error, double check your wp-config.php file, and try again. If it fails again, please go to the WordPress support forums with as much data as you can gather.
  4. If you did not enter a password, note the password given to you. If you did not provide a username, it will be admin.
  5. The installer should then send you to the login page. Sign in with the username and password you chose during the installation. If a password was generated for you, you can then click on “Profile” to change the password.

Updating

Using the Automatic Updater

  1. Open wp-admin/update-core.php in your browser and follow the instructions.
  2. You wanted more, perhaps? That’s it!

Updating Manually

  1. Before you update anything, make sure you have backup copies of any files you may have modified such as index.php.
  2. Delete your old WordPress files, saving ones you’ve modified.
  3. Upload the new files.
  4. Point your browser to /wp-admin/upgrade.php.

Migrating from other systems

WordPress can import from a number of systems. First you need to get WordPress installed and working as described above, before using our import tools.

System Requirements

  • PHP version 7.4 or greater.
  • MySQL version 5.5.5 or greater.

Recommendations

Online Resources

If you have any questions that are not addressed in this document, please take advantage of WordPress’ numerous online resources:

HelpHub HelpHub is the encyclopedia of all things WordPress. It is the most comprehensive source of information for WordPress available. The WordPress Blog This is where you’ll find the latest updates and news related to WordPress. Recent WordPress news appears in your administrative dashboard by default. WordPress Planet The WordPress Planet is a news aggregator that brings together posts from WordPress blogs around the web. WordPress Support Forums If you’ve looked everywhere and still cannot find an answer, the support forums are very active and have a large community ready to help. To help them help you be sure to use a descriptive thread title and describe your question in as much detail as possible. WordPress IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Channel There is an online chat channel that is used for discussion among people who use WordPress and occasionally support topics. The above wiki page should point you in the right direction. (irc.libera.chat #wordpress)

Final Notes

  • If you have any suggestions, ideas, or comments, or if you (gasp!) found a bug, join us in the Support Forums.
  • WordPress has a robust plugin API (Application Programming Interface) that makes extending the code easy. If you are a developer interested in utilizing this, see the Plugin Developer Handbook. You shouldn’t modify any of the core code.

Share the Love

WordPress has no multi-million dollar marketing campaign or celebrity sponsors, but we do have something even better—you. If you enjoy WordPress please consider telling a friend, setting it up for someone less knowledgeable than yourself, or writing the author of a media article that overlooks us.

WordPress is the official continuation of b2/cafélog, which came from Michel V. The work has been continued by the WordPress developers. If you would like to support WordPress, please consider donating.

License

WordPress is free software, and is released under the terms of the GPL (GNU General Public License) version 2 or (at your option) any later version. See license.txt.

Frequently asked questions

Is WordPress free to use?

WordPress is open source. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does WordPress do?

Create, customize, and manage your website with ease

What is WordPress written in?

WordPress is primarily written in PHP. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress, and it has 21,428 GitHub stars.