DALT.PHP - Learn Backend by Debugging

DALT.PHP is a learning framework, not designed for production. This guide covers deploying learning projects or prototypes. For production apps, use Laravel or Symfony.

Quick Deployment Options

Option 1: Shared Hosting (Easiest)

Good for simple learning projects you want to share.

Upload Files

Upload via FTP/SFTP. Exclude:

.git/
node_modules/
.dalt/node_modules/

Configure Web Root

Point your domain to the public/ directory.

In cPanel: Set Document Root to /home/username/public_html/public

Set Environment

Create .env file:

APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
DB_DRIVER=sqlite
DB_DATABASE=database/app.sqlite

Run Migrations

SSH into server:

php artisan migrate

Set Permissions

chmod -R 755 storage
chmod -R 755 database

Option 2: VPS (More Control)

Use a VPS for full control over the environment.

Setup Server

# Update system
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install PHP 8.2+
sudo apt install php8.2 php8.2-cli php8.2-fpm php8.2-sqlite3 -y

# Install Nginx
sudo apt install nginx -y

Clone Project

cd /var/www
sudo git clone https://github.com/yourusername/your-project.git
cd your-project
composer install --no-dev

Configure Nginx

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/your-project:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;
    root /var/www/your-project/public;
    
    index index.php;
    
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }
    
    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Enable site:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your-project /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Setup Environment

cp .env.example .env
nano .env

Set production values:

APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false

Run Migrations & Set Permissions

php artisan migrate
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/your-project
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/your-project
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/your-project/storage

Option 3: Platform as a Service

Zero-config deployments for quick prototypes.

Providers: Railway, Render, Heroku

Example with Railway:

Connect GitHub repository
Railway auto-detects PHP
Add environment variables
Deploy automatically on push

Essential Configuration

Disable Debug Mode

In .env:

APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false

Use PostgreSQL (Optional)

For better performance than SQLite:

DB_DRIVER=pgsql
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_NAME=your_db
DB_USER=your_user
DB_PASS=your_password

Enable HTTPS

Use Let's Encrypt for free SSL:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com

Security Basics

Hide Sensitive Files

Ensure .env is not web-accessible (Nginx):

location ~ /\.env {
    deny all;
}

Set Secure Headers

add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";

Troubleshooting

500 Internal Server Error

Check logs:

tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log
tail -f storage/logs/app.log

Common causes:

Wrong file permissions
Missing .env file
PHP errors

Database Connection Failed

Verify:

Database credentials in .env
Database server is running
File permissions on SQLite database

Routes Not Working

Ensure:

Nginx config has try_files directive
public/ is the document root
PHP-FPM is running

Remember: DALT.PHP is for learning. For production apps, migrate to Laravel or another production-ready framework.

Deployment Guide