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First, I'd like to say that we really like the demo of the message board - it's working quite nicely and looks great. Thank you GT for all your great work. Smile

Currently, the URL to get to the message board is like this: www.mysite.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi. Prior to getting the demo the message board link from the navbar was set to www.mysite.com/forum/ (with coming soon on the index.html page). I assume the forum can't be an index.html since it needs to be run with gforum.cgi (If it can - how can I do this?). The thought of changing the link on all those pages is tiring!

When I first tried to install the demo - I installed into www.mysite/forum/ but the cgi files didn't work. I was told to reinstall into the cgi-bin directory. That did the trick. However, the URL shows cgi-bin and I'm wondering if this is necessary? I think the site owner would prefer the url to be www/mysite.com/forum/gforum.cgi rather than showing the cgi-bin. Would this be a simple change in the Admin Setup: Path and URL Settings for cgi_root_url ? Or is it even possible? I've noticed a poster here that has his forum's url set to www.site.com/forum/gforum.cgi - is that due to how he set up the cgi_root_url or is it because he is on a different type of server and the cgi files didn't need to be in the cgi-bin? Sorry if these questions sound silly. We are just newbies and learning as fast as we can.

Thanks in advance!
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Re: [Westiegirl] URL to Message Board In reply to
If your server lets index.shtml files be the default you could just do an index.shtml with an SSI exec command to run the script from that location.


Realiiity.com Forums
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Re: [ellipsiiis] URL to Message Board In reply to
.. or a simple redirect.

- wil
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Re: [ellipsiiis] URL to Message Board In reply to
In Reply To:
If your server lets index.shtml files be the default you could just do an index.shtml with an SSI exec command to run the script from that location.
Thanks! I will find this out.

Last edited by:

Westiegirl: Jan 14, 2002, 1:10 PM
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Re: [Wil] URL to Message Board In reply to
In Reply To:
.. or a simple redirect.


Are you referring to the redirect that once the index.html page loads then that page is redirected to the www.mysite.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi ? I know how to do a redirect but it seems it would add more time to page loading, wouldn't it? I'd rather have it load directly from the link. Is there another way to do this? I'm quite limited you know! Smile

Thanks!
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Re: [Westiegirl] URL to Message Board In reply to
Yes. Using server-side techniques. On most servers you can configure this per-directory using controll files, usually named ".htaccess". You can ask your server if they allow these too. :-)

- wil
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Re: [Wil] URL to Message Board In reply to
In Reply To:
Yes. Using server-side techniques. On most servers you can configure this per-directory using controll files, usually named ".htaccess". You can ask your server if they allow these too. :-)
Ah..I see. Thanks - I have a list of things to ask them now...Smile
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Re: [Westiegirl] URL to Message Board In reply to
I'm hosted on a Win2000 server and setup a "forums" directory, http://www.mysite/forums, with all the browser permissions needed by a CGI-BIN directory (read,write,execute, and delete).

If you can set directory permissions through an admin tool, that would be the way to go, or request it. Unless your host limits you to the cgi-bin directory only.
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Re: [heavybombers] URL to Message Board In reply to
In Reply To:
I'm hosted on a Win2000 server and setup a "forums" directory, http://www.mysite/forums, with all the browser permissions needed by a CGI-BIN directory (read,write,execute, and delete).

If you can set directory permissions through an admin tool, that would be the way to go, or request it. Unless your host limits you to the cgi-bin directory only.

Thanks, Scott! I'm glad I haven't called them yet. Smile You guys are the greatest!

Nadine
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Re: [heavybombers] URL to Message Board In reply to
In Reply To:
I'm hosted on a Win2000 server and setup a "forums" directory, http://www.mysite/forums, with all the browser permissions needed by a CGI-BIN directory (read,write,execute, and delete).

If you can set directory permissions through an admin tool, that would be the way to go, or request it. Unless your host limits you to the cgi-bin directory only.


Okay - I just got off the phone with the host tech. He said I can have a folder off of the main site named 'forum' as long as I have the .htaccess file (which he put in my existing cgi-bin/forum directory and said I could move it when I needed it) and it's not necessary keep the forum in the cgi-bin.

Here's the question. Now that I've installed everything in the cgi-bin/forum directory, set things up, modified templates, etc. how would I make a smooth transition over to the mysite/forum directory? Would I have to do another install and then copy over some files or could I simply move the forum folder out of the cgi-bin directory and move it to the mysite folder and change the urls/paths in the Admin setup to reflect this?

Thanks again.
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Re: [Westiegirl] URL to Message Board In reply to
Just moving it over _should_ be okay, but there are a few things you'll have to change. First of all, the following configuration variables need to be updated to reflect the new location:
  • admin_root_url
  • admin_root_path
  • cgi_root_url
  • cgi_root_path
  • message_attachment_directory
  • post_attachment_directory
  • temp_attachment_directory


The other thing that you'll have to do is edit the following files:
  • gforum.cgi
  • admin/admin.cgi
  • admin/db.cgi
  • admin/setup.cgi
  • admin/nph-email.cgi


Each file has two lines that need to be changed. These lines are within the first few lines of the file, so they won't be difficult to find.

The first to change is the one: use lib "..."; Currently, inside the quotes is going to be the old path to your old forum directory. You need to change this to the new path.

There will also be, in each file, a call: GForum::init("..."); The path inside the quotes will also be to your old forum directory - this also has to be changed to the new path.



It might be easier to just install into the new location. When it creates the database, creating the tables will fail - this is okay, they already exist and hold all the information for the forum. The only thing you would need to worry about transferring is the attachment directory, assuming you have posts with attachments.

Let me know if you have any difficulties.

Jason Rhinelander
Gossamer Threads
jason@gossamer-threads.com
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Re: [jagerman] URL to Message Board In reply to
Lovely instructions, Jason, thank you.

Quote:
It might be easier to just install into the new location. When it creates the database, creating the tables will fail - this is okay, they already exist and hold all the information for the forum. The only thing you would need to worry about transferring is the attachment directory, assuming you have posts with attachments.
If I decide to install (install into new directory from scratch, correct?) then what about the templates and globals I've changed?

Thanks,
Nadine

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Re: [Westiegirl] URL to Message Board In reply to
After installation in the new location, you can overwrite the new template files with your old ones. The global variables are stored in globals.txt. Your changed files should be in the "local" directory inside the "default" directory (assuming you didn't create a new template set). Just delete the new local directory and move the old one overtop of it and you should be all set. This is, of course, assuming that you used the built in template editor and global editor.

Jason Rhinelander
Gossamer Threads
jason@gossamer-threads.com
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Re: [jagerman] URL to Message Board In reply to
In Reply To:
After installation in the new location, you can overwrite the new template files with your old ones. The global variables are stored in globals.txt. Your changed files should be in the "local" directory inside the "default" directory (assuming you didn't create a new template set). Just delete the new local directory and move the old one overtop of it and you should be all set. This is, of course, assuming that you used the built in template editor and global editor.
Yes, I did use the built in editor. Thanks. I'll give it a shot! Smile