Topic: phpBB2 on SME5.6

[Mike Fegan]

Has anyone had any problems installing phpBB2 on SME 5.6? I followed the directions exactly as stated on the user contrib, I got up to the point of needing to access the setup from the browser (ie http://myserver/phpBB2) - but just get a blank screen. Please advise.

[Jim Hale]

Triple-check the instructions. I had no problems running the Standalone phpBB2 on 5.5 or 5.6. You might check the server 'Messages' log to make sure that you are accessing the database and such.

[Mike Fegan]

OK, I really hate to sound this stupid, but where can I find the logs? Just a side note, it appears that when I try to pull up any .php file that is stored on my SME server, I get a blank screen - my browser acts like it is happy - shows the progress on the bottom, and acts like it's loading, but nothing ever shows up on my screen.

[byte]

you can find the logs in /var/log/

check in there might be some help info

[Mike Fegan]

I have turned "display errors" On in php.ini, and this is what I get now when I try to launch phpBB2:

Warning: Failed opening './common.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/php') in /opt/phpBB2/index.php on line 26

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: session_pagestart() in /opt/phpBB2/index.php on line 31

I'm converting to Linux after many years as a Microsoft Engineer...your help is greatly appreciated!!

[Mike Fegan]

FYI:

I just tried setting up an IBAY with a different message forum package, and get the following error when I try to launch:

Fatal error: Failed opening required './db/mysql.php' (include_path='.:/usr/share/php') in /home/e-smith/files/ibays/test/html/header.php on line 55


- So I need to re-install PHP?

[byte]

i have never set this up myself before but silly question have you create the mysql database?

[Mike Fegan]

Yes, I believe so any way.

Went into mySQL, and did the following:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE phpbb;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON phpbb.* TO phpbb@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'xxxxxx';

Didn't recieve any errors, and if I try to create the database again, it tells me it already exists.

I know I sound like an idiot - this is still pretty fresh to me.

On the other web app that I created an ibay for, I modified the config.php to point to this same database.

[Mike Fegan]

I'm note sure, but every PHP error that I have references an include path to /usr/share/php - but this path does not exist on my Server. Is this normal in 5.6? If so, where is this folder's equivalent in 5.6?

[Dean Thomas]

did you change the config.php to suit your database details? For example;
localhost
mysql
database name
database username
database password

Did you then change the permission for config.php and config-old ????

[MIke Fegan]

Dean Thomas wrote:
>
> did you change the config.php to suit your database details?
> For example;
> localhost
> mysql
> database name
> database username
> database password
>
> Did you then change the permission for config.php and
> config-old ????


config.php is blank - it's like that in the compressed package. I ran a (chown www:www config.php) as the intructions stated (http://www.familybrown.org/howtos/phpbb2-howto.html) - I have literally re-performed this install verbatim to the instructions 5 times to no avail.

I am new to Linux and SME - if you think I am missing anything, please let me know.

[Charlie Brady]

MIke Fegan wrote:

> config.php is blank - it's like that in the compressed
> package. I ran a (chown www:www config.php) as the
> intructions stated
> (http://www.familybrown.org/howtos/phpbb2-howto.html)

Those instructions are wrong. php files should never be owned www.www, you don't want one php application being able to modify another one. Make the files owned root.root, with permission 0644.

Charlie

[Dan Brown]

I'm going to have to disagree, Charlie, for two reasons.  First, making that file world-readable (as 644 does) is a security risk, as it exposes the database password to anybody on the system.  I know that by default nobody logs in to the shell, but it still seems needlessly risky.  Second, having it _not_ be www-writable will break the configuration system for phpBB.

[Charlie Brady]

Dan Brown wrote:

> I'm going to have to disagree, Charlie, for two reasons.

And I'll have to disagree in turn.

> First, making that file world-readable (as 644 does) is a
> security risk, as it exposes the database password to anybody
> on the system.

AIUI, the database password can be safely put in httpd.conf, so that only the one PHP application has access to it. I forget the magic, but you'll find it in the PHP doco.

> I know that by default nobody logs in to the
> shell, but it still seems needlessly risky.

If the application needs to have read access to the PHP file, the file can be root.www, and have permission 0640.

> Second, having
> it _not_ be www-writable will break the configuration system
> for phpBB.

This is an argument for having one or a few files www writable, but not all of them. And it's also an indication of a poorly designed application (and many PHP applications are poorly designed). Applications really shouldn't be able to modify themselves.

Charlie

[Dan Brown]

Charlie Brady wrote:

> If the application needs to have read access to the PHP file,
> the file can be root.www, and have permission 0640.

    This would take care of my first objection (as I recognized after I posted).

> This is an argument for having one or a few files www
> writable, but not all of them. And it's also an indication of

    Take another look at Mike's post--the command he ran (from my howto) was "chown www:www config.php"--not all files.  Not sure it's necessarily a sign of a badly-designed app; it needs to be able to write to the config file to allow you to configure it via a web interface.  Of course, once it's configured, I guess you could chmod 640, chown root:www...