Setting up Vanilla via cURL

Linc · July 2013

I'm trying to set up a Vanilla site from a bash prompt. I've tried lots of flags in lots of formats (using -F; joining the parameters together with ampersands; and so on) and I either get back the form in HTML with an error, or I get nothing at all. Here's what I tried last:

 read -p "Name: " SITE
 curl -d "Database-dot-Host=localhost" -d "Database-dot-Name=${SITE}" -d "Database-dot-User=root" -d "Database-dot-Password=" -d "Garden-dot-Title=${SITE}" -d "Email=lincoln%40vanillaforums.com" -d "Name=admin" -d "Password=admin" -d "PasswordMatch=admin" http://${SITE}.dev/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup

Any ideas how to get this thing to work? What am I missing?

peregrine · July 2013

I tried what you did. I get this.

Failed to connect to the database with the username and password you entered. Did you mistype them? The database reported: SQLSTATE[28000] [1045] Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)

I suppose if I create the database first, it might work.

what errors do you see in the html reported?

Todd · July 2013

I don't know command line curl. I know you need to POST and not GET. Can you try writing this as a php script and do that from the command line?

x00 · July 2013

you may have rip the transient key, curl does not automatically handle redirects check trailing slashes, etc.

peregrine · July 2013

here is what I did and it created vanilla.

but i had to create the table first.

I modified a bit what you had to point to where I wanted to go

and put it in a text file called testfile

read -p "Name: " SITE
curl -d "Database-dot-Host=localhost" -d "Database-dot-Name=${SITE}" -d "Database-dot-User=root" -d "Database-dot-Password=mypass" -d "Garden-dot-Title=${SITE}" -d "Email=lincoln%40vanillaforums.com" -d "Name=admin" -d "Password=admin" -d "PasswordMatch=admin" http://localhost/${SITE}/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup

I chmoded the config uploads and something else as standard.
I created the database via phpmyadmin.

I then ran the command as

sh -x testfile

and it completed and populated the database with tables. and properly created a config.php.

peregrine · July 2013

and then i typed

http://localhost/vanilla3/

and it shows the discussion page and shows the discussion page as bam you've got a sweet forum.

Not sure what you were trying to do, but as long as you create the database first.

peregrine · July 2013

obviously if you didn't want to see html output you could redirect to dev/null

note the password is the same password I used in database creation.

but it created the following 2 users in the user table

admin with lincolns email
and system user

this is the config it created.

    <?php if (!defined('APPLICATION')) exit();

    // Conversations
    $Configuration['Conversations']['Version'] = '2.1b1';

    // Database
    $Configuration['Database']['Name'] = 'vanilla3';
    $Configuration['Database']['Host'] = 'localhost';
    $Configuration['Database']['User'] = 'root';
    $Configuration['Database']['Password'] = 'mypass';

    // EnabledApplications
    $Configuration['EnabledApplications']['Conversations'] = 'conversations';
    $Configuration['EnabledApplications']['Vanilla'] = 'vanilla';

    // EnabledPlugins
    $Configuration['EnabledPlugins']['GettingStarted'] = 'GettingStarted';
    $Configuration['EnabledPlugins']['HtmLawed'] = 'HtmLawed';

    // Garden
    $Configuration['Garden']['Title'] = 'vanilla3';
    $Configuration['Garden']['Cookie']['Salt'] = '4BHDAKA1J2';
    $Configuration['Garden']['Cookie']['Domain'] = '';
    $Configuration['Garden']['Registration']['ConfirmEmail'] = TRUE;
    $Configuration['Garden']['Email']['SupportName'] = 'vanilla3';
    $Configuration['Garden']['Version'] = '2.1b1';
    $Configuration['Garden']['RewriteUrls'] = FALSE;
    $Configuration['Garden']['CanProcessImages'] = TRUE;
    $Configuration['Garden']['SystemUserID'] = '2';
    $Configuration['Garden']['Installed'] = TRUE;

    // Plugins
    $Configuration['Plugins']['GettingStarted']['Dashboard'] = '1';

    // Routes
    $Configuration['Routes']['DefaultController'] = 'discussions';

    // Vanilla
    $Configuration['Vanilla']['Version'] = '2.1b1';

    // Last edited by Unknown (127.0.0.1)2013-07-11 18:02:37

Linc · July 2013

@peregrine Maybe it doesn't like the blank MySQL password field in mine? That's maddening that it's working as expected for you. I get no error, but then I go to the site and it throws me to the setup page. It makes a blank config.php and no database tables.

Errors I've gotten have generally been related to malformed cURL requests as I was muddling thru the docs and trying different things. Perversely, I actually enjoy getting an error since it's a sign SOMETHING is actually happening.

Linc · July 2013

@x00 said:
you may have rip the transient key, curl does not automatically handle redirects check trailing slashes, etc.

There's no transient key during setup because you have no user session. The redirect isn't required for setup either, I checked the code.

peregrine · July 2013

maybe this will help.

mind you everything I'm doing is from localhost on localhost. perhaps a remote system has different ways of reporting errors back.

I'll post what I get with

no password and no database created via phpmyadmin
everything on localhost

           <div class="Messages Errors">
        <ul>
        <li>Failed to connect to the database with the username and password you entered. Did you mistype them? The database reported: <code>SQLSTATE[28000] [1045] Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)</code></li>
        </ul>

with database created - no password

<li>Failed to connect to the database with the username and password you entered. Did you mistype them? The database reported: <code>SQLSTATE[28000] [1045] Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)</code></li>
</ul>

another scenario

create vanilla3 table with phpmyadmin
create sql user for vanilla3 via phpmyadmin with NO password.

CREATE USER 'vanilla3pass'@'%';
GRANT USAGE ON * . * TO 'vanilla3pass'@'%' WITH MAX_QUERIES_PER_HOUR 0 MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOUR 0 MAX_UPDATES_PER_HOUR 0 MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS 0 ;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON vanilla3 . * TO 'vanilla3pass'@'%';

testfile contents:

     read -p "Name: " SITE
    curl -d "Database-dot-Host=localhost" -d "Database-dot-Name=${SITE}" -d "Database-dot-User=vanilla3pass" -d "Database-dot-Password=" -d "Garden-dot-Title=${SITE}" -d "Email=lincoln%40vanillaforums.com" -d "Name=admin" -d "Password=admin" -d "PasswordMatch=admin" http://localhost/${SITE}/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup

execution:

sh -xv testfile

         read -p "Name: " SITE
+ read -p Name:  SITE
Name: vanilla3
    curl -d "Database-dot-Host=localhost" -d "Database-dot-Name=${SITE}" -d "Database-dot-User=vanilla3pass" -d "Database-dot-Password=" -d "Garden-dot-Title=${SITE}" -d "Email=lincoln%40vanillaforums.com" -d "Name=admin" -d "Password=admin" -d "PasswordMatch=admin" http://localhost/${SITE}/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup
+ curl -d Database-dot-Host=localhost -d Database-dot-Name=vanilla3 -d Database-dot-User=vanilla3pass -d Database-dot-Password= -d Garden-dot-Title=vanilla3 -d Email=lincoln%40vanillaforums.com -d Name=admin -d Password=admin -d PasswordMatch=admin http://localhost/vanilla3/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup

results: perfect setup

peregrine · July 2013

very cool script you wrote. I hope you get it working for yourself. i certainly like it.

Linc · July 2013

I figured it out. You can't post to the form before you've requested the form. I added a curl to the page before posting to it, works great now.

 # forum setup
 curl -s http://${SITE}.dev/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup > /dev/null
 curl -d "Database-dot-Host=localhost" -d "Database-dot-Name=${SITE}" -d "Database-dot-User=root" -d "Database-dot-Password=" -d "Garden-dot-Title=${SITE}" -d "Email=lincoln%40vanillaforums.com" -d "Name=admin" -d "Password=admin" -d "PasswordMatch=admin" http://${SITE}.dev/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup

businessdad · July 2013

@Lincoln said:
I figured it out. You can't post to the form before you've requested the form.

Actually, I think you can. I did the same in my ANT script that I use to run tests against my Vanilla plugins, and I use CURL to "trick" Vanilla into configuring a brand new website every time. I just run a single CURL command, posting to the /setup URL, and it works.

Note: the CURL is executed using an exec task, which, I think, runs the command line tool installed on Linux.

Extracted from ANT file

        <exec executable="curl">
            <!-- Unknown parameter, passed because it exists in original form -->
            <arg line="--data Configuration/hpt=&quot;&quot;"/>
            <arg line="--data Configuration/Database-dot-Host=&quot;${mysql.address}&quot;"/>
            <arg line="--data Configuration/Database-dot-Name=&quot;${env.DB_NAME}&quot;"/>
            <arg line="--data Configuration/Database-dot-User=&quot;${vanilla_db_uid}&quot;"/>
            <arg line="--data Configuration/Database-dot-Password=&quot;${vanilla_db_pwd}&quot;"/>
            <arg line="--data Configuration/Garden-dot-Title=&quot;${website_title}&quot;"/>
            <arg line="--data Configuration/Email=&quot;${admin_email}&quot;"/>
            <arg line="--data Configuration/Name=&quot;${admin_uid}&quot;"/>
            <arg line="--data Configuration/Password=&quot;${admin_pwd}&quot;"/>
            <arg line="--data Configuration/PasswordMatch=&quot;${admin_pwd}&quot;"/>
            <!-- The following is just the Submit button, passed as-is from original form -->
            <arg line="--data Configuration/Continue_%26rarr%3B=&quot;Continue .&quot;"/>
            <arg line="--location" />
            <arg line="--output ${curl_output_dir}/vanilla_install_result.html" />
            <arg line="&quot;${vanilla_url}/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup&quot;" />
        </exec>

Linc · July 2013

@businessdad said:
Actually, I think you can.

Well, tell that to my localhost! :P

businessdad · July 2013

@Lincoln said:
Well, tell that to my localhost! :P

My ANT script runs against a localhost too. My localhost is better than your localhost. :P
Maybe it's a Buddhist localhost, more tolerant.

Linc · July 2013

@businessdad said:
Maybe it's a Buddhist localhost, more tolerant.

You're saying this to the co-owner of NewBuddhist.com. 0.o

businessdad · July 2013

@Lincoln said:
You're saying this to the co-owner of NewBuddhist.com. 0.o

Well, then my Buddhist localhost is better than your Buddhist localhost. A little bit more nonsense and we can go straight into the Twilight Zone...

x00 · July 2013

@Lincoln said:
I figured it out. You can't post to the form before you've requested the form. I added a curl to the page before posting to it, works great now.

 # forum setup
 curl -s http://${SITE}.dev/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup > /dev/null
 curl -d "Database-dot-Host=localhost" -d "Database-dot-Name=${SITE}" -d "Database-dot-User=root" -d "Database-dot-Password=" -d "Garden-dot-Title=${SITE}" -d "Email=lincoln%40vanillaforums.com" -d "Name=admin" -d "Password=admin" -d "PasswordMatch=admin" http://${SITE}.dev/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup

I can confirm that prerequisites are required in newer versions of vanilla (2.1), it worked in older versions.

alternative to

curl -s http://${SITE}.dev/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup > /dev/null

is to create a blank conf/config.php file with the correct permissions, ideally assigned to the web user. Then it works first time.

Hope that helps.

businessdad · July 2013

@x00 said:
I can confirm that prerequisites are required in newer versions of vanilla (2.1), it worked in older versions.

A-ha! Now that I think about it, I only run tests against 2.0.x, which explains why it works. Good finding.

Linc · July 2013

Thanks for proving I'm not crazy @x00

Setting up Vanilla via cURL

Comments

Extracted from ANT file