Getting Started with phpMyAdmin - Mastering phpMyAdmin 3.4 for Effective MySQL Management - page 13

We can have a look at the generated configuration lines by using the Display button;
then we can analyze these parameters using the explanations given in the Description
of some configuration parameters section later in this chapter.

At this point, this configuration is still just in memory, so we need to save it. This is
done through the Save button on the Overview panel. It saves config.inc.php in
the special config directory that we created previously. This is a directory strictly
used for configuration purposes. If, for any reason, it was not possible to create this
config directory, you just have to download the file by clicking on the Download
button and upload it to the web server directory where phpMyAdmin is installed.

The last step is to copy config.inc.php from the config directory to the top-
level directory—the one that contains index.php . By copying this file, it becomes
owned by the user instead of the web server, ensuring that further modifications are
possible. This copy can be done through FTP or through commands such as:

cd config
cp config.inc.php ..

As a security measure and until the configuration steps are not completed, it's
recommended that you change the permission on the config directory, for example
with the following command:

chmod ugo-rwx config

This is to block any unauthorized reading and writing in this directory.

Other configuration parameters can be set with these web-based setup pages. To do
so, we would have to:

1. Enable read and write access to the config directory.
2. Copy the config.inc.php there.
3. Ensure that read and write access are provided to this file for the web server.
4. Start the web-based setup tool.

After the configuration steps are done, it's recommended to completely remove
the config directory, as this directory is only used by the web-based setup script.
phpMyAdmin displays the following warning on the home page (refer to Chapter 3 )
if it detects that this directory still exists:

Directory config, which is used by the setup script, still exists in your
phpMyAdmin directory. You should remove it once phpMyAdmin has been
configured.