RichardHowells posted on May 10, 2016 09:53
It's not necessary to build DNN from source code. Avoid a lot of pain, ignore the 'source' packages, install the 'install' package. Here's why:
1 if you just want a web site then DNN is already a great solution. Go to the site in your browser. Login with an admin account. From here you can create new pages; you control if and how they appear in the menu system; you can add content; upload pictures; knock yourself out.
2 if you need something more sophisticated you can download and install 'extensions' (Host -> Extensions in the menu) to integrate more functionality into DNN. There are hundreds of extensions - both free and paid for.
3 if you are a .Net programmer you can create your own custom extensions. There are tutorials on the net on how to do this.
Finally if none of those are enough for you - you may want/need to modify the core code of DNN. This is the principal reason to use the source packages and your own build. It's wisest to plug into the overall development efforts for DNN and get your change accepted into the DNN core. (More information http://www.dnnsoftware.com/community-blog/cid/155105/dnncon-session--contributing-to-open-source-on-github). If you don't get into the DNN mainstream then you will have created a private fork of the project which is likely to become a pain point for you. Every time you install a new release of DNN (you WANT to install them for the bug and security fixes) you will have to merge your private changes back into the new version.
If your change is half way reasonable it's likely to be acceptable. If it's not acceptable you will get great advice on how to do what you want *without* the pain of creating a private fork. Talk before you start coding!