Recently, I've been interested in downloading and running Wordpress locally, just to see how it works and what it can do.
As of now, I currently see two ways to install it.
The (seemingly) simplest method is to download a zip file or tarball from https://wordpress.org/download/ and unzip it into a directory like /var/www/html/wordpress/ (or any other directory in the web server)
However, I've also noticed that there are wordpress packages in Debian's repos:
Is there a "right" way to do it? Or are both options equally "OK"?

Are you installing this to a hosting service or are you running a local LAMPP server to which to install it? In order to run Wordpress, you need a LAMPP server. (Looking at your first post, I'm guessing you have a LAMPP server.)

I would suggest following the instructions from the Wordpress website. Doing so will ensure that you get the latest and most secure version:

https://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress

I do respect Debian, but "latest" is not necessarily a Debian thing.

By the way, I started with Linux so I could self-host my website and run a Wordpress blog. I did my first Slackware install just about 11 years ago this month. I'm still using Slackware, as well as some other distros, and the blog is still going, but I no longer self-host my website. But it was a great way to start learning about Linux.

if you run it locally, you'll still need to install a full LAMP stack, as was already pointed out (some other cms' might be able to get by with less, though).
i do not recommend that on your day-to-day machine.

so, maybe in a vm?

as to installing wordpress from debian stable repos - most likely outdated!
in this particular case (installing a CMS) i recommend installing the newest version from the wild web.

While the Debian stable version may be "old", it gets the love of the Debian Security team and is compatible with the rest of the shipped LAMP stack.

Using the download, YOU need to keep up with the security issues and updates and integration.

What do you do when the new version (for example) depends on a later php component than you have? (which may have further foreign dependencies ... which you will also then need to manage yourself)

This can get very messy very quickly if you start upgrading random bits of an integrated stable release like Debian.

I'm not familiar with wordpress or their release policies, so this may or may not be an issue, but if you plan on using it in production, you should definitely find out.

Thanks for all the insights!

I did know that I was going to need LAMP installed, but thanks for making sure. I wasn't sure if I was going to put it in a VM or just run it on my desktop, but it sounds like VM is a better idea.

The Wordpress requirements ask for PHP 5.6 and MariaDB 10.0. Debian Jessie currently has both of these.

It sounds like the only reason that there is a package is to make sure that the requirements are met, but the reqirements are fairly simple.

I think I'm going to just download from wordpress.org.

Thanks!

I always
and do it manually.
Trivial.

If you want to set up a LAMPP stack the easy way, take a look at XAMPP. It's not designed to be public-facing, but, for testing and learning, it works quite nicely.

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