Use a multisite installation and MU Plugins.
I’m not sure I can use multisite installation. I have four existing URLs:
http://www.sitename.org
sub1.sitename.org
sub2.sitename.org
sub3.sitename.org
WordPress is installed into each subdomain so those sites can have separate logons, separate databases, and in some cases, different plugins. They will all use the same theme but they have a different theme child (different functions, css, etc.).
I’d like all four to use a common includes folder. Is it at all possible to set up a symbolic link to achieve this without having to buy 3 more domain names and messing up our databases?
From what I’ve read, multisites need to be either four different domain names
http://www.sitename.org
http://www.sitename2.org
http://www.sitename3.org
http://www.sitename4.org
or the same domain name but different folders:
http://www.sitename.org/site1
http://www.sitename.org/site2
http://www.sitename.org/site3
http://www.sitename.org/site4
Or
sub1.sitename.org
sub2.sitename.org
sub3.sitename.org
That is how mine is set up.
@beattle55 That is how my site is set up. My question is about how to share a common /includes/ folder among the three sites?
I have one /includes/ folder in the theme in sub1 right now. Do I have to duplicate it to put it in sub2 and sub3 (which I don’t want to have to maintain 3 copies of the same file), or can I somehow set up a symbolic link for sub2 and sub3 to be able to share files in the /includes/ folder in sub1?
I guess I wasn’t clear with what I was meaning. I have WordPress multisite installed in: sitename.org
The subdomains are all “virtual” and created in the WordPress Multisite Admin interface….they are not created as “real” subdomains. They all share the same WP core files, and they can all have different themes and different plugins activated.
Additional new subdomain sites can be added at any time through the main domain admin panel, and updates for all sites are done through the main domain admin panel as well.
