Core development / Clone the Git Repository
Note: You are currently reading the documentation for Bolt 3.7. Looking for the documentation for Bolt 5.2 instead?
Warning: This method should only be used for doing work directly on the internal Bolt code base, and is not supported as a general installation option.
Installing Bolt directly from the Git repository requires both Git and Composer to be installed and working correctly. See this GitHub page for details on setting up Git, and the Composer Download page for instructions on obtaining and setting up an up-to-date copy of Composer.
Additionally, you need to decide if you want to use a stable branch (bug-fixing a stable or beta release), a feature branch for contributing a feature to the next Bolt minor release, or the bleeding-edge master branch which will become the next major version of Bolt.
At a high-level, the process is as follows:
- Clone the repository
- Checkout the required branch
- Install dependant packages via Composer
For example, the following would clone the Bolt repository automatically checking out the default branch, and installing dependant packages:
git clone git://github.com/bolt/bolt.git
cd bolt
composer install
Note: Bolt uses the current stable release branch as its default when cloning the repository.
For more information on core development, see the Bolt core development section of this documentation.
Choosing a Branch¶
Bolt uses a cascading branch-merge strategy, so that changes such as bug fixes made to the stable branch will cascade down to newer upcoming releases.
The overview of the branch layout is:
Branch | Description |
---|---|
X.Y |
Stable (default) branch, e.g. 3.7 |
X.Z |
Beta release branch, usually one minor number higher than stable |
3.x |
v3 feature branch |
master |
Next major version development branch |
Stable Branch¶
For a checkout of the current stable (default) branch, execute the following commands:
git clone git://github.com/bolt/bolt.git
cd bolt
3.x Feature Branch¶
For a checkout of the 3.x
feature branch, execute the following commands:
git clone git://github.com/bolt/bolt.git
cd bolt
git checkout 3.x
4.x (master) Unstable Branch¶
For a checkout of the next-generation bleeding-edge 4.x development master
branch, execute the following commands:
git clone git://github.com/bolt/bolt.git
cd bolt
git checkout master
Installing & Updating Dependencies¶
To install package dependencies on a fresh clone, run:
composer install
To update Bolt's dependencies to their latest supported minor releases, or when switching between branches, run:
composer update
Note: When changing branches it is generally
advised to re-run composer update
as some dependencies may be
added in minor version, or be removed/replaced in major versions.
Next Steps¶
Example Themes¶
When a composer install
or composer update
is run, without a
composer.lock
present in the site root, Bolt will install the example themes
from bolt/themes
.
Note: These themes are required to run both unit & acceptance tests.
Should you require updated copies of these themes, they can be resynchronised
with the copies in the vendor directory via the Nut setup:sync
command.
Web server configuration¶
After extracting the tar file, you'll end up with a structure, containing the
bolt files. These are the folders that contain all of the Bolt code, resources
and other files. Unlike the other methods of installation, all of them are
placed in the top level of the so-called web root. The created bolt/
folder
where you've made the git checkout needs to be accessible in the browser.
To do this, configure your web server to use the bolt/
folder as the
web root. For more information about this, see the pages on configuring
Apache or Nginx.
If you bump into trouble setting this up, or you have no access to change your web server's configuration, read the page Troubleshooting 'outside of the webroot'.
Permissions¶
Generally most servers should be fine with the default permissions. However, if you require guidance on setting up permissions, see our File System Permissions page.
Finishing Set-up¶
After you've done this, skip to the section Setting up Bolt.
Couldn't find what you were looking for? We are happy to help you in the forum, on Slack or on Github.