Geeklog Forums

Hi,

I spent hours trying to manually install it. Then remembered my cPanel has Fantastico - Hey!! Why didn't I remember that. That will be EASY!!!!
So... logged into cPanel and selected Fantastico, then selected the Geeklog 1.4.1 New install option. This was going to be great... now I can get it working and see what all the errors were about. By the way, Your option to configure debug to be true (so you can see the errors) simply does not work.

The install finished successfully and then spit out the errors (cut & paste) below. Not even cPanel/Fantastico gets it going and installed. (The old version installed way easy!).

Ha ha ha... You guys (Geeklog) really know how to waste peoples time! The old version was great. This new version simple blows - Big Time!

Flame me if you want - I just wasted a few hours and I don't care. Want proof?... Here's the error stuff below.

Warning: fopen(/home/howtosqu/public_html/fantastico_fileslist.txt): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 172

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 175

Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/fantastico//includes/enc_installation_func.inc.php on line 177

1) File: /home/electian/public_html/config.php [ERROR! ]
2) File: /home/electian/public_html/lib-common.php [ERROR! ]
3) File: /home/electian/public_html/backend/geeklog.rss [ERROR! ]
4) File: /home/electian/public_html/data.sql [ERROR! ]

I won't flame you, since you have a valid excuse for being upset.

Looking at the output, there is a double // in the error log, "...fantastico//include...". Could be they made a simple error when setting up Fantastico, and since the Geeklog install wants to start with a / it may end up doubling up the slashes.

I've installed four Geeklogs in the last week, every one went smoothly, even though they were not typical installs. Version 1.4.1 is smooth, and one was through a Fantastico setup, which is why I spotted the double slashes.

Good luck trying again :banghead:
Guy De Marco
http://www.NoCoComputers.com

Roger, you really cannot blame the Geeklog developers for your host's fantastico failing to install Geeklog correctly, that is the fault of your host.

You can complain about difficulties you faces installing it yourself. Did you use all the facilities here to help with the install? There's a FAQ link under the Support heading on the left that contains several useful links to help you install.

Did you try the Alternative installation instructions? And this category is sometimes useful when installing.

Finally, you could post here about the difficulty you had and someone here could help you out. I realize getting programs to work is unpleasent when it doesn't go right. But hopefully you've had a chance to calm down and we can help you out.

Good luck.

Talked to others and found out the issue.

You cannot install it within public root. Meaning it cannot be installed as ...public_html/
It has to be ...public_html/some_directory_name/

Apparently The script that geeklog uses for Fantastico, instructs the public_html folder to be created - It is already there so that would be a conflict.
I also found out that having an existing robots.txt file also caused a conflict - I don't see how robots.txt is an issue. (Mine was chmod 664, maybe that's why).
Perhaps Geeklog could contact Fantastico and provide them with the revised information or install script to avoid this.

This explained to me why I could not manually install into public_html (I even asked the hosting company) and my paths were correct. They did have one small comment in that they thought the pathing information comments in the config.php was not too clearly defined for users.

Here is what they referred to:

// You only need to change this if you moved or renamed the public_html
// directory. In that case, you should specify the complete path to the
// directory (i.e. without the $_CONF['path']) like this:
// $_CONF['path_html'] = '/path/to/your/public_html/';
$_CONF['path_html'] = $_CONF['path'] . 'public_html/';

They suggested many people will start entering /home/some_name/public_html/ because they saw "/path/to/your/public_html/" and that the install.php script in the browser window also started with /home/...

Because most pathing in scripts like this is absolute (which funnily is what I did the first time around).

and

// Some hosting services have a preconfigured admin directory. In that case,
// you need to rename Geeklog's admin directory to something like "myadmin"
// and change the following URL as well. Leave as is until you experience any
// problems accessing Geeklog's admin menu.
$_CONF['site_admin_url'] = $_CONF['site_url'] . '/admin';

Again many people will start entering /home/some_name/public_html/admin/

In my case the provider suggested changing the name of the admin folder right away (security! - everyone knows about admin).

When you install using the install.php through the browser you do see it looking for the config.php script via the full /home/some_name/public_html/ - So, I can see where the confusion comes from.

I think better documentation for this part will help. For example:

You cannot install in ...public_html/ it has to be ...public_html/some_directory_name/ (that would have saved me hours).
And if some guru could clear up the pathing in the config.php with actual examples. As is:

"The install.php file will display the absolute pathing like /home/some_name/public_html/... but that is NOT what you enter into the config.php"

As a side note, I manually installed the old Geeklog and there was no where near this pathing confusion - It was smooth. I've also installed tons of others manually; Wordpress, Joomla!, Bitweaver, Serendipity, DotProject, osCommerce, Moodle, and on and on... But no where the issue I had with the new Geeklog version yesterday.

Again, I think it boils down to 2 things.

Documentation (showing clear examples minus the ambiguities).
Easing up on the restrictiveness of where it can be installed.

One final thing might help...

I've installed several Open Source web apps that auto-create/discover the pathing and write that to the config file themselves (as long as we chmod 777 that file). That coding is available all over as GPL; so maybe so savvy developer knows how to integrate it into Geeklog.

This makes absolutely no sense. Lots of folks do that. The trick is to copy the CONTENTS of /path/to/geeklog/public_html/ into your /public_html/.

Perhaps your host doesn't recommend doing that. But there's not reason you can't do it.

Geeklog doesn't use any script for Fantastico. Fantasico wrote their own script without consulting the Geeklog developers. Any errors caused by Fantastico are their own fault. I don't speak for Geeklog but my presumption is that Geeklog would prefer that users do installs manually so users know what is inside Geeklog and so that users will have some knowledge of how to upgrade Geeklog when there are security issues.

Or your host could contact Geeklog and ask for help making the install clean on their system.

This all sounds correct. I don't understand why it is "wrong".

Geeklog assumes that you will put Geeklog in the root of your html path so that your site url is "http://www.example.com/index.ph" and not "http://www.example.com/geeklog/index.php" Your host wants to put the /geeklog/ in there because using Fantasico, users can install dozens of scripts and all of them start with index.php. But for a "real" website, you are only going to install one CMS and that CMS should be in your root html path.
That is not security. Look up "security through obscurity" on the web. It is not real security. Geeklog provides the ability to rename /admin/ because some host providers map the interface into their administration console (like cpanel) to http://www.example.com/admin and if geeklog were to use /admin there would be a conflict. If your host doesn't use /admin for anything, then you don't need to change the geeklog setting.

Actually the confusion is that your host doesn't use the Apache default "htdocs" for your root, instead it uses "public_html" which is just a directory name Geeklog uses to hold the public half of its files.
How old? The install really has not changed in several versions.

Geeklog has a rep for security and thus writing to config.php is not wise. Only the admin should make changes to config.php.

I have to agree with jmucchiello, he has it spot-on. All of my installs are at the public root of the domain, and in actuality, just the public_html portion is at the public root -- the rest is in a separate folder above the domain public docs, so it's not accessible to browsers, which is the suggested installation method of GL.

Aggregators like Fantastico find nifty apps on the web and include them in their product. ISPs and hosting companies use these tools to make them (theoretically) easier for non-technical people to install... a problem with the point-and-click society we live in, I guess. Even though it's included with Fantastico, I always recommend going to the software site that developed the item and reading up on (at the least) is the included version up to date, and what are the current known vulnerabilities.

Since you've had a bit of history installing third-party apps, I'd suggest doing it manually, as jmucchiello suggested, at the public document root of the domain. It works perfectly, as long as you tell the conf.php file where everything is located. There are additional sources for install instructions, such as this one: http://www.edplans.com/tech/computers/Geeklog_Core_Install.php, which I use for my installs, plus this forum, which is patrolled by some very knowledgable folks.

Best of luck,
Guy De Marco
http://www.nococomputers.com