Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is Lyceum?
A: Lyceum is a multi-user, multi-blog branch of WordPress.


Q: Is Lyceum affiliated with WordPress?
A: No, Lyceum and WordPress are independent development projects.


Q: Why would I used Lyceum instead of WordPress?
A: Lyceum is for applications where you want it to be easy to create and manage many blogs from one place. For applications where only one blog is needed, WordPress will be the more suitable solution (the website you are reading now is running on WordPress).


Q: Is Lyceum ready for production use?
A: Yes. As of version .32, Lyceum is ready for production use.


Q: How different is the Lyceum code from the WordPress code?
A: Almost every SQL statement has been changed. There have been many changes made to add security that is needed in a multi-blog environment. In terms of features and the vast majority of business logic, essentially none of the other code has been changed. Lyceum 1.0 is synchronized with the latest version of WordPress 2.0.x, and Lyceum 1.1 will be synchronized with WordPress 2.2.x.


Q: Is Lyceum a blogging service like Blogger or LiveJournal?
A: No, Lyceum is software that anyone may use to deploy their own multi-blog service/website/system. Many already have.


Q: How much does Lyceum cost?
A: Like WordPress, Lyceum is licensed under the GPL and is free to download, use, modify, and distribute.


Q: Can I use WordPress themes and plugins with Lyceum?
A: Yes. The majority of WordPress themes can be used with Lyceum with only a one-line modification (see this guide). Many plugins (particularly those which do not interact with the database) can be used with no modification, and for the rest usually only slight modification is required.


Q: Can non-system-admin users of a Lyceum installation upload and/or modify their themes or plugins?
A: No. There is no way to provide this feature and also ensure proper security. The WordPress theme/plugin architecture allows for arbitrary PHP and MySQL code to be included in themes and plugins. This power and flexibility has given birth to the huge community of theme and plugin developers, and is one of the main reasons we chose to multi-blogify WordPress. Once a theme or plugin has been installed by a Lyceum system administrator, the administrators of each individual blog can choose which theme to use, and which plugins to activate. Create a blog on our demo installation and try it out!


Q: What is the difference between Lyceum and WordPress MU?
A: The main difference between Lyceum and MU is the database schema. MU creates a set of tables for each blog in a system. Lyceum uses a fixed number of tables for the entire system. More info here. In Lyceum, each blog can turn (pre-approved, admin-installed) plugins on and off as they like.We’ve also made a smattering of security and performance improvements to WordPress (some of which may or may not be applicable to the MU architecture).


Q: How may I donate money to Lyceum?
A: Thank you! Here are instructions on how to donate to Lyceum.