TYPO3 Exception: No pages are found on the rootlevel

Question

Unfortunately I couldn't find any help by googleing through the net. Here's my case:

I'm trying to install TYPO3 locally on my Mac (OS 10.12.2) using Sequel Pro for the database and MAMP Pro for the host. For that I downloaded the .zip from typo3.org/download ("Download TYPO3 CMS 7 LTS (zip)"). In plus I use a template from t3bootstrap.de which comes with a .sql-file for the database.

Proceeding:

• MAMP: created a new host and assigned a root directory
• extracted the .zip-file to the root
• extracted the template with all its files to the root, some files got overwritten, but thats fine
• Sequel Pro (the mistake may lie here somewhere): logged in under "Socket" with Name "localhost", Username "root", no password
• Sequel Pro: via "Add database" I created a database and imported the .sql
• in the template I changed the the configuration for the database in the file LocalConfiguration.php (this should be correct since before that change, "no database selected" appears as a error message, after I change it, the above mentioned error message appears)
• MAMP: restart of the servers

Now when I open the root in MAMP (on the right-hand side next to "Name" of the host, the arrow in the circle) I get the mentioned error message.

I tried it with XAMPP as well and it did work then (not my first time). I'm not very trained in this field but I'm eager to learn that!

How does this work anyways? Well, I know that in the root ("htdocs" or any directory I create) there are all files on which the backend and frontend are based on. And I see databases are stored in the /MAMP/db/ directory. But how does Sequel Pro connect to that? Generally I don't see what Sequel Pro does :((( And whats the URL I type in the browser? With XAMPP its "http://localhost/typo3/index.php" and MAMP goes to "http://host-2:8888/". These directories are on my Mac, right? But where can I find them? Is localhost the htdocs-directory?

I'd be very happy for some help here. But I don't only want to get rid of this error message. I wanna know how this works. THANKS A LOT!!!

Answer 1

From the original question...

In plus I use a template from t3bootstrap.de which comes with a .sql-file for the database.

Unfortunately the package from t3bootstrap.de is not available in public which makes it quite hard to check what they deliver and how that should work. The site you mention is not related to the official TYPO3 distribution however. You might ask for support from the vendor directly concerning installing the the backup and database dumps of their package.

Regular plain TYPO3 installation

Find further details in the TYPO3 documentation:

• server requirements and brief installation info
• step-by-step installation process explained

The basic TYPO3 installation (without the t3bootstrap package) works like this:

• unzip the official sources (that from https://typo3.org/download/) in the document root directly of web server and create the symlinks - the contents of the directory should look like this then
  • typo3_src-7.6.14/
  • typo3_src -> typo3_src-7.6.14/
  • typo3 -> typo3_src/typo3/
  • index.php -> typo3_src/index.php
• create the file FIRST_INSTALL in the same directoy
• optionally create a new MySQL database (unless the database user is not capable of creating new databases - the root user can do that, for security reasons it's however to suggested to use a dedicated database user for each project)
• open http://<domainname>/, locally that might be http://localhost/ or http://localhost:8888/ depending on which web server you're actually using
• you're redirected automatically to the TYPO3 install tool that drives you through the whole process - additionally you can fetch the "Introduction Package" at the end of the installation process which installs a basic TYPO3 website for demonstration

The error message "No pages are found on the rootlevel"

Basically that means, that now pages could be determined that would actually render a website. Maybe during importing the database dump not all tables were added - or tables were already missing in the provided SQL file. Search for the table pages in MySQL (e.g. using Sequel Pro).

However, this error message also means, that the connection to the database was successfully established - otherwise there would have been a different error message.

MAMP & XAMPP

• MAMP: /Applications/MAMP/htdocs is the document root - see MAMP docs
• XAMPP: /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs is the document root - see XAMPP docs
• in each base directory of these different distributions there's a httpd.conf file is configures your local server (names, ports, modules, ...)

Answer 2

I made some progress here. My problem basically was, that when I opened the site via MAMP (as described, by the button with the arrow on the top right-hand side) the following link was (and actually still is) opened: host-2:8888

Here's how I remember (no guarantee) after jokumers comment:

• I deleted the /typo3conf, then refreshed the site
• I saw the message to create "FIRST_INSTALL"
• I put the /typo3conf directory back from the trash to the root
• I got the message "ENABLE_INSTALL_TOOL" - thats what I wanted to see! The link for the installation obviously is: host-2:8888/typo3/sysext/install/Start/Install.php
• I proceeded with the installation like always

When I open the site via MAMP it only goes to host-2:8888, which does not work ("No pages are found on the rootlevel"). Actually I knew that this is the link for the installation from my installation(s) with XAMPP. There its localhost/typo3/sysext/install/Start/Install.php

I guess this is specific for the template I use (?). Silly me, I wasn't thinking ;)

Still I'd love to know why MAMP does not work and only refer to host-2:8888? I tried to change the setting in Apache-tab: put "/typo3/index.php" in the Directory index field for example. Now I don't receive the error message again but a blank screen, the URL in the browser is the same (host-2:8888).

If someone has an idea, I'd be very thankful! It's working now but I'd love to learn how this thing works, thanks!

Happy new year to you all Xandru