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install php file wants to save

legolaslegolas
edited October 2007 in Vanilla 1.0 Help
Hello guys! I am very excited to get this working. I have been at it for 5 days now, and I can't get to the installer. I am using ubuntu. I am moving in a couple of months, and then I will start my own server and forum with vanilla. My plan was to install it on my computer here, and play with it to familiarize myself with it until after I move so I could have it up and running in no time when I get settled in my new place. I unpacked the vanilla and used firefox to get to the installer php file, but the darn thing keeps asking me where to save it instead of opening. My php should be working because I opened the php test file, and to my untrained eye, it looks good- at least it opened! Is there an alternate way to install to my computer? Can anyone send me a link or in the right direction? I am pulling out my hair here. Thanks. By the way, I love the look of Vanilla. Great work! It is streamline, effective, and hopefully easy to install??? :)
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Comments

  • WallPhoneWallPhone
    The PHP test file? is that this?:<?php phpinfo(); ?> If that (or nothing) is what you see instead of a huge list of settings when you open the file in your browser (with a url something like http://localhost/phpinfo.php), then Apache is probably not properly set up to parse PHP files.

    There are several articles out there on installing/configuring a LAMP stack on Ubuntu that would help you much more than I could. Another thing you may want to look into is XAMPP, which is a pre-configured installer for Apache, MySQL and PHP (The A, M, P in LAMP).
  • legolaslegolas
    Yes, that is the PHP test file that I can see fine. I just can't for the life of me get the installer to work when I try to open it with my browser.
  • WallPhoneWallPhone
    If you do save the install file, like the browser asks, what is inside it?
  • legolaslegolas
    If I save it, then try to open it again with the browser, it tries to save it again (unending circle). If I save it and then open it with a text editor, it is just an exact copy of the original file (a bunch of php code). For some reason I can't get it to parse the php file. Isn't there another way to install Vanilla?
  • WallPhoneWallPhone
    Yep, Apache doesn't know what to do with the PHP code, so it just spits it out raw.

    Try following steps 13-15: http://www.php.net/manual/en/install.unix.apache2.php.

    Its been two years since I last did this, so I may not be much help... but will keep pluggin away :-/
  • legolaslegolas
    Thanks again for your help. No good. On top of reading what the PHP site has to offer, I have also read about 15 threads on php not parsing files over at the ubuntu forum, and everyone usually gets to a point where they figured out their problem. I have checked every point where they made their mistakes and my config files look good. I don't think the problem is the PHP because like I said it can read that php test file (<?php phpinfo(); ?>) no problem. I don't know what to do next. That is why I ask if there is another way to install.
  • MinisweeperMinisweeper New
    How did you install apache? make and make install and all that jazz? If i were you I'd just do a good old apt-get install apache (assuming you dont need some kind of zany setup - I'm also assuming apt is still present on ubuntu) and see if that works for you.
  • legolaslegolas
    That is what I did, I used apt, but it sure does not like the Vanilla PHP installer file! Is that installer file the only way to install Vanilla?
  • MinisweeperMinisweeper New
    Well technically not but I wouldnt really suggest an alternative. Can you get a basic php script up and running?
  • legolaslegolas
    Can I? No. Can someone else? Maybe. :) I never really heard of PHP before looking into setting up a forum. Willing to learn, though!
  • DinoboffDinoboff
    Maybe you could try to Xampp: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-linux.html#374 Also try to reinstall to files.
  • jimwjimw
    I use xampp and it works well. I used the guide on this site http://www.tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/ which contains a lot of excellent guides for installing and setting things us. The xampp guide worked for me.
  • legolaslegolas
    Thanks for the input guys. xampp does not look very secure. I am trying to do this old school for security reasons, but it looks like I have more to learn. Have you guys had any security issues? I really like the look of Vanilla, but if I can't get it going soon I am going to go nuts! I see that phpbb forum is already in the apt repos for ubuntu. What are the pro's and con's that you see for Vanilla as opposed to another forum like phpbb?
  • MinisweeperMinisweeper New
    Well if you can get phpbb running you should be able to get vanilla running in exactly the same way. I'd suggest you try it and see if it works, then if it does it might help fixing vanilla. phpBB is just dreadful to use in my opinion.
  • DinoboffDinoboff
    edited September 2007
    You should use Vanilla if you need to customize your forum a lot:
    - it look like the rest of your website;
    - Build your feature;
    - Strip off feature of classic forum app you don't really need.

    For the security point of view, I don't if it is more secure, but if any security issue appear it is easier to fix since it is built an a clean api. If you use a lot of extensions, you will have to check if they are secure (at least for the less popular add-ons).
    Also it seems, bots do not target vanilla.
  • legolaslegolas
    I wonder why bots do not target Vanilla? Is that your own personal experience, or is there documentation on that?
  • WallPhoneWallPhone
    I've got (had? haven't checked in a while) a dumb bot that thought my forum was a blog. It was stuffing random names in the whisper to box and random email addresses and URLs in the username and password fields. It was doing this for about three months, using more bandwidth than all my (very little) normal traffic.

    I changed the script to return a 403 error code (which should be bot-understandable HTTP-speak for 'Go away') but the bot kept POSTing spam to a form that would not and simply could not save any of it. So I turned off the AddComments extension.

    There are some features in Vanilla that make spamming slightly more difficult, but the major one is that the relatively few Vanilla forums out there make it a smaller target for bots to lock on to.
  • legolaslegolas
    Wow. I didn't know that they are such a problem. I hate humans.
  • legolaslegolas
    I am using my own computer with the vanilla folder on my desktop. I open the folder with firefox, go to the startup php script and it tries to save. I tried to install phpbb and it worked beautifully, so the php should be working. As I am sure you can all sympathize, I WANT VANILLA! Does the php not working possibly have anything to do with that I am doing all of this locally- just off my desktop? Or should that not make any difference? Thanks
  • DinoboffDinoboff
    edited October 2007
    The folder (Vanilla like phpBB) should be in the web server document root, and you should access Vanilla via (http://localhost/path/to/Vanilla).
    eg: if your document document root is /var/www/ and you put vanilla in /var/www/Vanilla-1.1.3, it will be http://localhost/Vanilla-1.1.3.
This discussion has been closed.