Added readme.md file

Author: Grant Kinney

README.md

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+# WordPress Local Development Environment #
+
+### Run multiple sites using one copy of WordPress core (without using multisite) ###
+
+For each site, WordPress core files are separated from wp-content into their own subfolder. That subfolder is actually a symbolic link to a single copy of the WordPress core files.
+
+The wp-config.php file is configured to use different database settings for each site, by looking for a unique db-config.php file within the folder for each different site.
+
+## Requirements ##
+
+* Local Apache, PHP, and mySQL development environment
+* A filesystem that can create symbolic links
+* The virtual host ServerName and directory name for each site must be the same
+* Apache must be configured to follow symbolic links
+
+## Installation ##
+
+First, clone the repository into a folder on your local development server. Be sure to initialize submodules.
+
+	$ git clone https://github.com/creativecoder/wordpress-local-dev.git wp-sites
+	$ cd wp-sites
+	$ git submodule update --init --recursive
+
+The project has the following structure
+
+	Project root ..	
+	- wp-config.php file (used for all sites)
+	- wordpress (git submodule of the official WordPress git repository )
+	- sample.local (sample site folder)
+		- wp-content folder (for themes and plugins)
+		- db-config.php (database name, user, password, and prefix unique to each site)
+		- index.php (which looks in the /wordpress folder)
+
+**Important:** create a symlink to the WordPress core files for each site (this is where the magic happens)
+
+	$ cd sample.local
+	$ ln -s /absolute/path/to/wordpress/directory wordpress
+
+## Database Configuration ##
+
+Each site should have its own database. The specifics are listed in the db-config.php file within each unique site folder.
+
+## Apache Configuration ##
+
+### Be sure that Apache is configured to follow symbolic links ###
+
+Check your httpd.conf file
+
+	<Directory "/root/of/local/development/server">
+		Options All
+			or
+		Options FollowSymLinks
+	</Directory>
+	
+### Setup a Virtual host in Apache ###
+
+	<VirtualHost *>
+		DocumentRoot "/absolute/path/to/sample.local"
+		ServerName sample.local
+	</VirtualHost>
+
+Modify your system host file to redirect to localhost when that server name is entered into a browser
+
+	127.0.0.1	sample.local
+
+##### Be sure that your virtual host name and the directory for the site are the same, or this will not work #####
+
+## Create additional sites ##
+
+* Make a copy of your first site
+* Set up a new database for the site
+* Modify the db-config.php file to connect your new database
+* Set up another virtual host
+
+## Tips ##
+
+### Update all your local WordPress sites at once ###
+
+	$ cd wordpress
+	$ git pull
+
+### Revert to a previous WordPress version
+
+	$ git checkout 3.4-branch
+
+## Troubleshooting ##
+
+Check that each site folder has the following:
+
+* index.php (which reads `require('./wordpress/wp-blog-header.php');`)
+* db-config.php with correct database information
+* wp-content folder
+* symbolic link to wordpress directory
+
+**Make sure that the ServerName of your virtual host and the directory for your site have the same name.**
+
+Thanks to [David Winter](http://davidwinter.me/articles/2012/04/09/install-and-manage-wordpress-with-git/) and [Duane Storey](http://www.duanestorey.com/uncategorized/one-wordpress-install-multiple-sites/) for leading the way