Wordpress on Ubuntu install plugins without FTP access

Question

I run my own web server for development and, on it, I installed a WordPress instance. When I try to add plugins to this instance from the admin interface, WordPress asks for FTP access.

I don't use FTP and have no plans to do so in the future. I know I can change some configuration in WordPress so that I am able to upload without FTP. What exactly should I configure to accomplish this?

Did I not answer your question? – blockhead Aug 25 '10 at 16:26 — blockhead, Aug 25 '10 at 16:26

PrivateUser · Answer 1 · 2015-02-02T06:34:40.637

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Execute this command on your ubuntu terminal

sudo chown -R www-data /var/www

edited Feb 02 '15 at 06:34

answered May 28 '14 at 19:41

PrivateUser

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Shouldn't just the group www-data be enough? – Tyler Aug 08 '14 at 14:15
I think, assigning the group as www-data would be enough, no need for www-data as the user – Rohit Bandooni Jan 15 '15 at 05:27

blockhead · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-15T23:07:19.290

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One of three things:

Either change permissions so your web server can read the wp-content directory, which should be fine for a development server.
Run PHP as FastCGI which can run as a different user than your web server.
Install the ssh extension for PHP (sudo apt-get install libssh2-php on ubuntu on think)

edited Jul 15 '12 at 23:07

answered Aug 16 '10 at 17:32

blockhead

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+1 - Just dealt with this issue myself. I used solution #1 and `chown`'d the directory containing wordpress to user `www-data`. – Ryan Tenney Aug 16 '10 at 17:42
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@Ryan for you own sake and sanity, it might be better to use setfacl to give you and www-data access to it, just so you can access the files as well. – blockhead Aug 16 '10 at 17:51
You just blew my mind. I never knew `setfacl` existed, but it will undoubtedly make my life easier. Thanks! – Ryan Tenney Aug 16 '10 at 17:57
Curiously, changing group ownership to www-data with rw perms still resulted in the ftp page being invoked. Only when changing the actually owner to www-data did it go away. Any ideas why? – Scott Aug 09 '16 at 01:45

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 05 '18 at 21:58

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I was not satisfied with any of these answers so I kept on searching. I found an answer that was so simple I was surprised it had not been mentioned already.

https://askubuntu.com/a/826805/145472

This answer says to add a line to wp-config.php

define('FS_METHOD', 'direct');

Job done. I cannot take credit for knowing this but I do feel it needs a mention here too.

answered Sep 05 '18 at 21:58

Matthew Brown aka Lord Matt

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Yes, it's correct but see this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/59497181/889126 – Osify Feb 05 '20 at 08:47

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 20 '22 at 01:16

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One way to do it is change assign ownership of the wordpress installation to www-data:

chown -R www-data:www-data .

Change file permissions:

chmod -R g+rwX .

Add yourself to the www-data group:

usermod -a -G www-data myusername

answered Aug 20 '22 at 01:16

Don Flannagan

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 02 '23 at 02:25

DON FLANNAGAN’s method works for me , THX

Blockquote

One way to do it is change assign ownership of the wordpress installation to www-data:

chown -R www-data:www-data . Change file permissions:

chmod -R g+rwX . Add yourself to the www-data group:

usermod -a -G www-data myusername

Blockquote

score -1 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 06 '17 at 08:08

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The funny thing is that uploading media works. So I was wondering why plugins not? After changing the ownership of wp-admin it worked for me.

sudo chown -R www-data wp-admin

answered Apr 06 '17 at 08:08

Pete

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Wordpress on Ubuntu install plugins without FTP access

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