Important Pre-installation Information
I, personally like to skip right to the installation part of these kind of documents. This script is different than most php scripts! It writes directories and copies files that you as the FTP User may not be able to remove. It is extremely important that you read and understand the information below before you run the installation script!
This version of the program uses a different scheme for creating member pages. In older versions, the directories that had to be written to used 777 (read, write- all) permissions to allow the script to create a sub-directory for the member and copy the necessary source files. The 777 permissions proved to be a security risk in that hackers were able to write to the directories and cause havoc on the site.
In this version, the installation routine creates the directories that the script will need to write to and copies the source files from the install directory to the user directory. This way, the server owns the directories and files that are involved in the profile creation process and the permissions do not have to allow universal read/write access. This makes the user directory as secure as any other regular directory. It does create another issue though. Since the server owns the directories and files that are created during the installation, on a properly configured server, you as the FTP User cannot modify or delete the directories that the script created. Only the script can modify or delete files and directories involved in the profile creation process since it runs under the server and the server owns the content. (If you can run as the root user its not an issue, but most people cannot log on as root unless they own the server.)
For this reason, it is important to follow the installation instructions very carefully! We have also written a routine that will uninstall the content that the script creates. The uninstall routine is in the folder DO_NOT_UPLOAD and should only be uploaded to the server if you want to uninstall the script and start over. It will summarily remove all of the content that makes the profile process work. When the program is up and running, the Control Center, available to the Administrative user has comprehensive tools to manage content on a member by member basis. The uninstall routine is only necessary if you want to remove all content that the script created so you can start over or move on to something else.
The script was developed on FreeBSD Server Host servers. These servers run the current stable versions of php and MySQL on the FreeBSD operating system (a UNIX variant, like Linux) with the H-Sphere Control Panel interface. The servers are well configured for security and ease of use. They offer an excellent hosting plan that costs only $6.95 per month. Everything works as it was designed on these servers! While there is no reason that the program should not work on any properly configured UNIX variant server, we know it all works as it should at FreeBSD Server Host. For this reason, the Developer will install the program for you at no cost on their servers or troubleshoot your self-installation if necessary, again at no cost when installed there.
Installing the Program
Have you completely read the Important Pre-installation Information above? Good, lets get started!
Obviously you have downloaded and unzipped the script package. Most people use a Windows PC to edit their scripts and upload them to the server with an FTP Client. That is the approach we will use here.
You must install the script in your web root and not a sub-directory. If you have other content on your main site, most Hosts will allow you to create a sub-domain with its own web root. You might use something like: my.main-site.com.
There's no need to edit any of the files before installation. The install routine will get the program up & running for you and then you can edit files for content as you like afterwards. The first step is to upload the program to your server with your FTP Client. Leave all directories in their current structure. It is not necessary to upload the doc directory and you should definitely NOT upload the DO_NOT_UPLOAD directory to the server. You will change some permissions temporarily for the installation and change them back when you are done. The installation routine will create the user directory and set up the database. It will also create the Administrative user. When the installation is complete, you can use the Control Center's Site Manager to further define all of your options. The installation routine will also detect some of your settings for you. It is best not to change these values unless you realize that's not where you want the script and you then upload it elsewhere and run install again.
So- here we go:
print instructions (If your PC complains about the link, you can open printable.pdf
yourself)
If installation did not go as expected, you can run the uninstall routine and try again.
Un-install Routine
Since the script creates directories and copies files during installation, we wrote an uninstall routine to remove this content. This is necessary since the server owns the content and probably will not let you as the FTP User delete it. The uninstall routine will remove script generated content and then you can delete the remaining program files. Uninstall is not for routine maintenance. The Control Center has utilities for this. To use the uninstall routine, follow the steps below:
The uninstall routine will try to reverse everything that the install routine did. You may see some errors if the installation wasn't completed entirely. For example, install writes a config.php file in the require directory that tells the script how to access the database. Uninstall will try to remove the database tables, but if install wasn't able to write the configuration file, uninstall will not be able to connect to the database. Likewise, if install couldn't write some directories or files & uninstall tries to remove them, you will see an error that the file or directory doesn't exist. This is normal. As long as you set the permissions as in the above bullet points, uninstall will remove everything that install created regardless of any errors that you may see.