How to change an author instance into a public instance?

They are the same, but different

The authoring and the public instance are the same software, just differently configured.

The following lists the setting that differ between the two:

Public Instance

• Set admin mode to false: You must set the value of /server/admin to false
• Unsecure the content: You must set the value of /server/secureURIList/0001/URI to /.magnolia/* Afterwards only the AdminCentral is secured. One can secure content again with adding other URLS to the config.
• Activate cache: You must set the value of /server/cache/level1/active to true

Author instance

• Set admin mode to true: You must set the value of /server/admin to true
• Secure the content: You must set the value of /server/secureURIList/0001/URI to /*. Afterwards everything is secured
• Deactivate cache: You must set the value of /server/cache/level1/active to false. You can configure the cache in details if you need some cached content in the admin mode too.
• Configure subscribers: To make the activation mechanism available for the users you must configure a subscriber. /server/cache/level1/active