Getting Started with Laravel on Ubuntu

| programming | php | ubuntu |

I’ve really been digging Laravel lately. Especially due to the wonderful documentation and amazing resources provided by Laracasts. Below are some notes on getting going on a local Ubuntu install. I am running Ubuntu 16.10 and these notes assume a fresh install.

Install PHP 7.0 and additional dependencies

sudo apt install php7.0 php7.0-zip php7.0-mbstring phpunit

Install Composer (Globally)

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Install the Laravel CLI (Globally)

composer global require "laravel/installer"

Add globally installed composer commands to the PATH

Add the following to the end of your ~/.bashrc file
# Add Composer to the PATH
export PATH=$HOME/.config/composer/vendor/bin:$PATH
You can either source the ~/.bashrc file or open a new terminal window.

Verify everything works

You can do this by running laravel new test_project. Then go to the directory where the new test_project is created with cd test_project. Once you are in the new project directory install all local dependencies with composer install and then run it with php artisan serve. I ran into an issue right away that had to do with the APP_KEY. The error manifested itself as:
The only supported ciphers are AES-128-CBC and AES-256-CBC with the correct key lengths.
A great explanation is shown here but the steps to get a fully functional base install going are:
# Copy the .env.example file to .env
cp .env.example .env


  Generate App Key
  
    
  



php artisan key:generate

Now if you run php artisan serve you will see a fully running Laravel app. Happy Hacking!

Thank you for reading! Share your thoughts with me on bluesky, mastodon, or via email.

Check out some more stuff to read down below.

Most popular posts this month

Recent Favorite Blog Posts

This is a collection of the last 8 posts that I bookmarked.

Articles from blogs I follow around the net

“Have conviction in what you want to share with the world.”

Marques Brownlee published a video commenting on YouTube’s just announced A:B testing feature. In short, for some creators, it will be possible to publish a slightly different version of the video on launch to part of their audience, if that version is dee...

via Unsung October 1, 2026

Pluralistic: Voting is to politics as shopping is to boycotts (01 Oct 2026)

Today's links Voting is to politics as shopping is to boycotts: The big P only matters if the small p is in play. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Gilberto Gil v WIPO; Censored Apple wifi hacker talk; Wells Fargo crime-spree star...

via Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow October 1, 2026

Display

via Christopher Butler October 1, 2026

Generated by openring