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Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting.

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Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting.
Hello Alex,

Exactly before one month, to be precise on the instant of 10.06.99, I have placed an order for Links SQL. Even without knowing the features. I did not know that the basic features and functions of this new script is not at all different than than normal Links.

After two weeks you installed on my website. Since than I am waiting for the new Multi-Category mod + any other that you were busy developing and have now done the programming. Before couple of days I received an email from you saying that it has been done and also that I should give you my password and that you will install. I have already written an email answering that I am not able to and cannot compromise my password to you always and each time. This is really very nice of you to offer to install but this cannot always happen.

My internet Service provider "EXPECTS" me not to give away my password. Once it is done I am obliged to inform him and the main account password is then changed. Even the database passwords are changed. This is the kind of security one has to observe and they offer this extra service free for the security of all the coustoumers on a shared server. Since then I have not heard from you at all.

It has been now one month that I have ordered your script and I am not at all able to use it. You have promised several times about the timings and the delay in the development you were undertaking. My situation is that Now it has been a month and I am not able to start my website AT ALL.

I am terribly disappointed and upset about it. I am not satisfied with the basic functionality and now what ever I have I have to be satisfied with it. Now I also have to convince myself about all this endless patience and waiting. I was looking forward to your program to use it. Later one also needs time to coustoumise it. But this is really disappointing.

Also I feel that if you gave instructions before about many things would get clear. First sit down and write a nice read me install file and give it to everyone. Let them have the experience to installing it. If they or me have problems one can ask for a support any way. Now after doing the coustomization I will have to install it all again anyway. So what has been the point of the earlier installation? But you still made me wait.

All this I am not happy at all I tell you. I expect a little better way of handling of your clients from you. Sorry to say this.

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rajani











Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
I'm not sure why you are taking this to the forum instead of through email, but..

Quote:
I did not know that the basic features and functions of this new script is not at all different than than normal Links.

Please see:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/...um1/HTML/000011.html

where I said: The program is functionally similar to the regular Links,
with only a couple minor differences
.

The delays you've experienced have been because you wanted extra custom modifications which I have been doing at no extra charge because it benefits Links SQL as a whole.

It does take time to write these enhancements though, and it's not something that will happen overnight. If you don't feel the program meets your requirements, and are unable to wait, I'd be happy to refund you the script as you purchased it before there was a demo online.

As for installation, if you would like to try and install it yourself, that is your choice. We offer installation as there are many factors beyond our control that can go wrong when installing, and a trained person can fix them up quickly. It may take several days of emailing back and forth to track down the problem otherwise.

I've emailed you the latest zip file with the Multi Category mod as discussed.

Alex

Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
Hello Mr pataki!

Thanks for sharing your views. All, more than all of them I agree! My problem is sometimes when I see people handle things different than mine, I get upset very easily. Now that you offered help, which I am pleased, May I take the oppurtunity to ask you for help and rescue. Then you will understand my frustrations.

See, I have been knowing about that website, Mysql since last year. It was this MySQL website that told me clearly, what I wanted to do, Links V2.0 is not something for me at all. So I did not go for it. So I am informed. For your information I have downloaded this entire website + documentation via Website downloader. I was furious when I found out that there is absolutely no documentation available in any shop in this entire boring town of Berlin, the capital city of Germany.

My problem :

Have you received Multi_Category mod? For this I waited really a long time, as without it Links SQL is useless to me. Now Alex has sent me via email. But I cannot give my password to him, as it has other complication. Howver it cannot be a must. There should be enough documentation or support. I cannot install this mod, because it cannot connect to the Database. It constantly says there is something wrong in the line 171 of DBSQL.pm (new version 1.01) Now if I insert version 1.0 than the Mother Links SQL is so happy that it starts the dance of production. I really have to go through all this after waiting and eagerness, this brings frustration.
So if it works with the old version whats the problem with the new. Now I see that perhaphs I need to run SQL.pl and it may work. But if there was some installation instruction I would have come further faster instead of playing. It is this missing things that can be avoided that bothers me and not the effort of playing or perl or MySQL. If I know that I need to create a table, a new one, I would do it. It is not complicated at all. One time knowing and its done.

You write this wonderful instructions, that if I had known earlier, I would have installed myself. Not complicated at all, and may be, but than one can ask Alex anyway, instead in installation. So this little thing, which needs to be there anyway makes me frustrated.

Thanks mate for your nice exchange and support. Keep in touch, I will also tell you a lot of things, and we can make this lovely script modification in a good way. I have also a lot to discuss.

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rajani











Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
Hello rajani,

........an upgrade is NOT EQUAL TO an modification!

So Alex has NOT promised that the modifications would be at no extra charge.

Just wanted you to know!

[This message has been edited by chrishintz (edited July 14, 1999).]
Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
Hello Christinz!

My dear friend, this Links SQL is such a wild good program. This programming is not as simple perl programming. Any changes in this scripting requires really really good knowledge of perl, which I do not have. Such will be probably the case with many others.

Does it so that all this requires modifications with hundreds of dollars? Will then Links SQL be worth the price? I can send you some possibilities of all the programms that one can buy on the internet. But now if I have to pay anathor handsome ammount of five hundred dollars or a thousand, I may have to reconsider entirely the project with links. Running something, that is a website for free, is also not fun.

If Alex says that such things link SQL requires extra Link Multi_Category as a mod to be paid to Gossamer Threads, then I am willing to give up my liscense. I am more then convinced that this script is not at all easy to modify and is extremely difficult to modify.

My problem here was the related difficulties with Links SQL that has nothing to do directly with the program itself.

For e.g.

-There is no readme file with the program when I bought it.
-It does not say till today, for e.g. which program scripts needs to be read only or read + write, etc.
-It does not give me a small explaination to how to install. After modification one needs to install again anyway.
-As you can read above, Alex has sent me the Multi_Cat mod. But this does not work!!! It constantly gives a software error. I need to really check it more in details. But I have installed it, it gave error of DBSQL.pm in the line of 171. So I installed immediately the old DBSQL.pm. It works!!!

If this was a free source, many would be developing some modifications and updates. If many perl masters were using this script, one may find some nice and important mods. So now I see that one is not only joining a small community of people to talk to, but also a limited nature of updates.

What I do not know is how to get a pawssword (Spelling is correct, I beleive Smile) working.

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rajani











Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
Actually, I have to beg to differ just a little.

This program is PURE perl. Nothing funky, no work arounds, no tricks, etc. It's designed to work with mod_perl.... plays by the rules.

Last night Alex emailed me the scripts. In about 4 hours I had it all working, and had no major bombs. No error messages left at that time. Most of my mods just slipped right in, once I played by the rules.

I'm not a perl guru. I've hacked a few scripts prior to Links 2.0, but what I know about perl, is from working on Links 2.0, and making it work on my site. I've gone over dozens of other people's scripts, all the mods, and visited the www.perl.org and apache.org and cpan.org etc.... not everything applies, but you get a feel for what's going on with Perl, and what things to look for.

So far, I'm impressed with the SQL. To migrate my site this easily, means it's well written, and most things have been thought of.

Now, I'm not running a 'links' site. I'm using Links for internal urls which all point to graphics files. So, I had a lot of changes to the basic philosophy.

So far, to port my site:

0) verified all my file permissions were correct: chmod -R 755 *.cgi _AND_ *.pl

0a) added a 'links' table to MySQL
0b) set up a user for Links in MySQL
0c) edited Links.pm to get a feel for what the program was going to do.

1) edit SQL.pl to add the fields I added to links.def

1a) edited the line:
$db->connect (['DBI:mysql:links:localhost', 'user', 'pass']);
a) DBI:mysql -unchanged
b) :links: - unchanged, but added a table 'links' to MySQL
c) localhost -- unchanged, but I changed the 'localhost' in Links.pm to my server name.
d) put in the user and pw for MySQL
e) made sure the file was chmod 755 before trying to execute Wink

2) edit jump.cgi to return a local url, just cut and pasted my existing code in, then,

2a) checked the error logs to find which variables I needed to add to the my () declarations, and put them there.

3) changed <%Date%> to <%Add_Date%> in the templates.

forgot ...
4) copied my 'data' directory, plus the .def and .cfg from 'admin' and 'templates' to my new 'setup' directory.

4a) checked my file permissions AGAIN on my *.pl files <G>

5) ran SQL.pl (perl SQL.pl)

6) ran perl Import.pl > error.log

7) fiddled with the program a few times, dumped the 'links' table a few times, repeated stemps 5 and 6 a few times.

7a) changed my field name 'Copyright Info' in the links.def file to 'Copyright_Info' and repeated steps 5 and 6.

My only remaining question is the one I posted here, about the templates.cfg, but I might get that one figured out now that I have had some sleep Smile

All in all, this was an easier install than links 2.0, which went pretty well. I guess because I had spent some time with links, and because this program is very streamlined, and easier to follow.

Don't be intimidated by it. Look at how it flows, and start fiddling Smile

My 2cents....

Robert S. Pataki, MD
President, PUGDOG Enterprises, Inc.
www.postcards.com

[This message has been edited by pugdog (edited July 14, 1999).]
Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
Hello Mr. Pataki!

Thats so wonderful how you described. Thats great. There are some things that I have learned in there how to go about it.

This is exactly what my point is about. This should come from Alex. All this you could in four hours. And ME!!! Do you know that Alex asked me about the password and I was sending the account log-in password, until he especially told me to send the database password! Untill then I did not know there exists a password to a database at all. Does this mean that this wonderful script is only designed only for experts like you? There needs to be something added or changed. Thats why I feel helpless and frustrated.

I have also installed Links v2.0 in less than hour. Thats was no problem. But one always not talks about oneself. All the problems I sometimes think is also in the larger interest and my not always relate with my problems, or may be that I thought about it and would be trying to present them here in the interest of everyone.

Everyone can ofcourse disagree in one way or the other. Every one can bring different argument someway or the other. But such a war of words is not my interest here. Intention is something positive.

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rajani











Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
I'm not an expert. I just read the manuals, and read about the software.

SQL is *NOT* for weaklings. There are whole shelves in the bookstore dedicated to SQL, which should tell you something. It means that no matter how good any program is, you will have to know SOMETHING about SQL.

If you go to the MySQL site, there is a one page (long page, albeit) install, faq, manual, etc page. I read it about 20 times, and still don't know 10% of what is there, but I know enough to know that 90% doesn't apply, *BUT* the section on PERMISSIONS and SECURITY caught my attention, and it should have caught yours. It talks about users, logging in, sessions, and GRANT and more.

Alex is *NOT* supporting MySQL. He's created a program that works with it. Just like he's not supporting Unix and/or Perl, but has created programs that work under them. It's up to you to do your homework on the tools you use.

As for LinkSQL, I thought it was in many ways easier to install than Links 2.0. The code is leaner, the MySQL does a lot of the dirty work, and many of the things worked into Links 2.0 are already there.

Yes, there could be better documentation, but remember, we are the first people using this program, and it's going to take some time to build up both bug reports, feature reports and FAQ's. There will always be fewer people using it since it's not 'free' and it requires some high-end power in an SQL database that is out of the reach of most people.

What is amazing, is that this very complex program WORKS. And I could set it up knowing what I know. Not many programs are like that. I'm not an expert in Perl. I'm learning it. I know *NOTHING* about MySQL.

But, I searched the net for information, tools, help, whatever while I was waiting for the SQL version to come out. I researched what I needed to know, and laid the groundwork.

You (and I) don't need to know everything about the code, or servers, or Unix, etc., but we need to know enough to know what's going on. Especially if You, like I, are the primiary person responsible for it.

I'm (im)patiently waiting for Alex to get back to me, and get around to working on new things, but I could not spend any more time with links 2.0, knowing that I'm going to out grow it by the end of the summer. I *HAD* to move to SQL now, and I'm running Links 2.0 until I get the SQL working, then I'll change over.

Yes, I'll drop my tables, and re-import the whole site, *BUT* all my changes will be there, and they'll work.

Check out the MySQL site, and look for some of the admin tools and add ons. They will make life with SQL easier....

Take a little control of your destiny. If you need something that badly, I'm sure you can find a consultant who can write it for you. This code is *NOT* hard to hack if you know perl and SQL.

It sounds like you have you site working, but you want some extra features. That will take patience. Some things are harder to do than they look. Alex doesn't have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, and is I'm sure working on the things most people need/want since it will make his program better.

Robert S. Pataki, MD
President, PUGDOG Enterprises, Inc.
Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
Hello Alex,

How I understand the very nature of this forum is that its democratic and also discusses the problems of and related to links, handling and modification that one can inform others about it.

Quote:
Please see: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/scripts/forum/resources/Forum1/HTML/000011.html

In the above thread mentioned link you wrote the following :
Quote:
All future upgrades and updates to Links SQL will be free of charge (not including setup).
This is the quote of yours in the above thread and also the email that I received when the birth of a new baby was announced and the name was given as Links SQL. Worth noting is here above, even though there you write that future installations are not included, you offered me as a special case, probably because I ordedred Links SQL before the demo, or you were very kind to help me knowing that I am not a perl GURU and also to help me supporting on this area also. That is something that I do SEE your kindness and friendliness and have the highest respect for. And will also not forget.

Quote:
The delays you've experienced have been because you wanted extra custom modifications which I have been doing at no extra charge
You have promised that the updates will be at no extra charge.

Regarding this mods thing. From the begining I have mentioned that I do not see any reason why someone has to beleive "SO STRONG" in something, which is the case here. We did discuss this point in the earlier forum. There is a limit of such a discussion everywhere and every time.

Looking to the general necessity of mods in all, I could easily identify that if some basic mods where included in the Links v2.0 (Which I have nothing to do with it anymore, but I like you, as a designer, the script itself and also wish that this lovely program becomes richer and more enhanced), How many man hours one could saved. How many thousand messages are there and how many hours of playing one needed to work on it (Excluding the coustomization related to special needs and wishes). Coustomization of the website is one thing and adding basic and general features is anathor thing. In this general basic features this could have been given from the begining included with the links, NT version and UNIX version, + basic mods, and the add-ons, etc. Such a system could be worked out that surfers could save their time and immediately get a liscence, which would also produce a very high profile and a proffesional image of your company. Or do it the other way. Basic source code is free but the liscenced version is then includes all the latest mods with many new possibilities!

This gives a centralized system of working togather for people like me, it would be of great help. I do not want to be a perl master, and beleive all those who used it, became ones I mean a lot of knowledge in it - perl.

Quote:
I've emailed you the latest zip file with the Multi Category mod as discussed.

You wrote somewhere that you would be happy to email togather the three new level graphic mod, which is done. I wrote you, yes I would like to have this mod, and am looking forward to it. Now when I start working on it, it would be nice to have it and also integrate it togather. I also do not know which are the other mods that that are developed as there is no listing of features of link SQL v1.01 anywhere.
Alex, I like your work. I would like also to work with it. But I am not willing to go to www.cgi-resources.com and start banging my head with the wall. If there is a centralised system of upgrading, that suits many of the users, related to mods. That gives satisfaction to the users. I am prepared to wait until you may bring a new mod that may enhance the Links SQL as a whole.

Quote:
I'm not sure why you are taking this to the forum instead of through email, but..
To me writing via an email or writing on this forum is to me basically or intelectually the same. Nor I am trying to be in good books of yours nor in the bad books. To me it is only an open discussion and frank, that is intended for a positive response and reaction. It is for the good. If I say, that I appreciate Links SQL very much, I mean too, and ofcourse is said with no intention of just trying to be in your good books. I say it again that I appreciate a lot and also mean it a lot and I like it a lot. I have seen many program scripts and was not that impressive as your design, solid and robust and stable. Thats great.

I have written an email. Before a couple of days. Thinking that you would be moderating here everyday I thought this can bring your attention here quickly. However I have no bad or wrong intention, and also I thought if someone reads, its nothing wrong. This is a fact and a reality. To speak about the truth I am not afraid of. I was not tired of waiting when you were developing. But after it is finished, its again that same password story like before while the installation. You wrote me, send me the telnet info. I did. But then you said, send me the database password. You could have said this before. I did not even know if it was necessary or it exists. For people like me, all this things are new. If you understood this you could have listed this somewhere. So one looses time. There are unwanted delays which could be avoided. I said I need the script before the installation. You did not sent it to me. So I had to work with the Links v2.0 to modify the templates!

Now to give you the password, I have to create and change to a temporary password of the account. Then ofcourse in your busy schedule, you will perhaphs need couple of days (This is said not as a complain but an objective fact) Then since I give my password of the database, I need to inform that the password of the database if compromised and I need to change it after you install it. So for a couple of days I would end up in a chaos. More over there are some email forwarding related to my clients. We garantie them about the anonymity. When you logged in, I had to remove this service and inform all of them that it will be back again in the next couple of days. According to German law, it is called Datenschutz that obliges me to do so. So for a couple of days I would be once again in a chaos giving you the password. You see, it is not all that simple. It is therefore not a complain here, but and objective explaination and presentation.

Therefore I say myself where is my problem. This has been in the way of how a situation is developed. It is just a small handling problem that I beleive can be changed and avoided. If for e.g. after every order is placed for Links SQL, if you installed an auto answer saying, your order is received and placed in the waiting and in the mean time please send us your password + related details, databse info, etc, etc, it could be helpful. or by listing the features of Links SQL and Links v2.0, which version is current, which features and in the new version, etc, etc, it could be of great help. May I offer you listing of all the features with the text? I mean it and I can try to do it. It can really be helpful to many. I like your program and would like to do something if I can.

Alex, I am not complaining. All I am saying that there could be a possibility of an improvement.There could be a change. It could be better in terms of handling in general. I mean other than the script it self.

Quote:
If you don't feel the program meets your requirements, and are unable to wait, I'd be happy to refund you the script as you purchased it before there was a demo online.
Clear this out of your head. I am married with links SQL. (Apart from my girlfriend Smile Wink)!!!

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rajani











Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
In the add - category the following gives :

Content-type: text/html

Software error:

Can't connect, no database driver specified at Links/DBSQL.pm line 171

This error is with all the links in the admin menu. Do I have to configure the entire database again?

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rajani











Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
I'll take a stab at it.

line 170/1 is:
Code:
carp "DBSQL: Connected: DBI:$driver:$name:$host, '$user', 'password', $raise, $print\n" if ($DEBUG);
$DBH = DBI->connect ("DBI:$driver:$name:$host", $user, $pass, { RaiseError => $raise, PrintError => $print } ) or return $self->error ('CANTCONNECT', $DBI::errstr);

in my version. (I don't have an earlier version to compare it to).

That information should have been set by the SQL.pl when it created the database tables, and it writes that information out in the 'defs' directory (in each file at the top). Make sure the information is correct in those files.

Does your error_log give you any additional information?

Is the DBSQL.pm file the *ONLY* file you changed? Are it's permissions correct, and the permissions of any other file you used? Sometimes cryptic messages are due to file permissions.

I don't know what else to suggest... Sometimes it does help to reinstall everything.

My concern is that I'm still importing from links 2.0, not from a Links SQL backup. If all you have are LinkSQL back up files, I'd make sure they import properly before doing that.

If you want I can go over step by step what I did, but really the big things were file permissions and editing Links.pm and SQL.pl properly.

Robert





Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
To start clean again:

1. Erase *.def in your defs folder.
2. Drop and recreate your Links SQL database.
3. Run SQL.pl

and it will recreate your tables and your .def files. This is the quick way to get going if you don't have any data to preserve. I'm working on import tools which will make importing data much easier.

Cheers,

Alex
Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
Hello !

When I try to run the following :

perl SQL.pl it gives compilation errors @

Line 25,29,35,60,65

I have uploaded it in ASCI + chmod u+x SQL.pl

The same thing happens with all the scripts. It gives compilation errors. Now I beleive I should go through knowing how to upload and install this scripts as it has been discussed a lot here.

Thanks Robert and Alex. Now I will work on Droping or throwing this old table and geting to installing the database again. So Alex you see, this install waiting time for TEN days was basically for nothing. Ofcourse I do not regret at all as at that time the Multi_Cat was not there anyway.

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rajani











Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
I'm still running 2.0 on my main site. I'm not going to switch over until I get the SQL version working properly. I know I'm going to have to dump the tables, and reistall them several times before I'm done.

If you check the MySQL pages, there are some admin scripts that install without any fuss, and let you drop/add tables with a click.

Let's start a new thread for each problem Smile
I'm trying to do that so it will be easy to find help using search.
Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
I want to thank you all for your input, I was considering purchasing the sql version of links, but after reading this thread, it seems too much of a headache. Links 2.0 is a fantastic product much as Im sure Links SQL is a fantastic product, but I dont have the patience to have our site down, or waiting for someone else to update or upgrade everytime something new is put out and our knowledge of SQL is zip.
It is often said that 1 bad apple can spoil the barrel, I think of this on the forums, as one bad blasting and it's ruined for many people. When I see posts about, "we tweaking the code to make it do this and it's gonna be about another month" I don't mind this, but when I see posts like the ones in this board, I tend to shy away from the product. I don't think posts like the first one does the product any good, just makes people weary of purchasing it, as the man says, SQL is *NOT* for weaklings, this totaly blew my ideas of purchasing, to have a program that a novice can not work through doesn't do me any good, and just steers me away from it. I have modified tens of scripts, but not once have I worked on SQL, Im just thankfull to know that while my webhost does support it, I won't be working with it at this time. Perhaps in the future. Because I am so used to working with Links 2.0 and it's ease of administration and customization I just naturally assumed tha the sql product would be the same ease (Nope, Im one of those people who jump in the water first, then wonder where my life preserver is).
So, thanks for pointing out that it's not for novices.
Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
I think you are reading this wrong.

SQL is a _better_ script in many ways than Links 2.0. I don't belive there is a single place that Links 2.0 is _better_ than SQL.

That said, their audiences are different. There is no way Links 2.0 can do under any conditions what SQL is able to do without breaking a sweat.

With Links 2.0 you are working with a set of perl scripts that 'do it all.' The only thing they require is some sort of file-locking ability on the host. Links does all the database indexing (by brute force) and display.

Links SQL on the other hand, requires MySQL and several interfaces installed in perl. These interfaces allow the MySQL program to do a lot of the work. Links is still doing the display and creating the site, but all database management is done by MySQL.

So, to use Links 2.0 you just have to have PERL and access to your server. To use Links SQL you have to have perl, and the add in database interface modules. Then you have to have MySQL working. Then you have to install the Links scripts.

If you can get MySQL working, or if it's already installed on your ISP, then installing Links SQL is not really any more difficult than links 2.0.

I got it working in 4 hours.

If you want modifications to the program, there are perl consultants who can modify it for you, just like Links 2.0. The advantage of Links 2.0 is that it has less requirements to run, and can easily run small sites. That's all most people need.

LinkSQL is a different product than Links 2.0. It's designed to fill a different need.

So, if Links 2.0 fills your needs, there is no reason to have to want to upgrade to SQL. If you eventually need the SQL version, it shouldn't be too hard to migrate -- though custom modifications will have to be added into the SQL version.

But, I've made extensive modifications on my site, and am using Links to serve up images from my site, not links to other sites, and I was able to move to SQL in 4-6 hours.

If you know anything about software upgrades, especially one as significant as this, that's an _impressive_ claim.



------------------
Robert S. Pataki, MD
President, PUGDOG Enterprises, Inc.
http://www.postcards.com
Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
Hello Visionary!

I am sorry that you got a wrong impression from my message.

No wonder. However thats not the intention of this thread. I strictly beleive about certain things and sometimes I also go beyond than necessary when I am convinced about certain things.

Here there is an interesting situation I am facing. It is known in the world of perl that one faces thousands of problems starting from installation to coustomization. However here, I found sometimes, that there are certain factors things that can make life of others a little easier. My frustrations as a classic example. People who have a fair knowledge of Perl will be easily able to have a take off, but others like me will not be. They simply will need more time for the take off. This is ofcourse understandable and the creator or ther programmer of all programs cannot just take every situation in to account. Impossible.

However there is forever a possibility to make the life of weaklings like me a little easier. The software may be an award winning one but If I cannot use it, it is of no good to me. However I try.

Look for e.g. Today I am try to follow the three step "Holy steps" given by the guru Alex, above. But I cannot come further. Because now I have to first inform myself about how to create and drop the tables and then also try to understand how to get the SQL.pl not show compilation errors as described above. I have to inform myself. Once I have learned, its "Minites" far. They are all simple commands and thats it. No big deal at all. One simply has to find out and apply.

However, for e.g. if there was a little basic support in terms of readme file with the original and also update version, that would have helped me. But it was not. There is no readme file that helps me, without the help of anyone to give me step by step instructions. Mr. Pataki did above, perhaps in half an hour, the description of installation instructions. I ask myself, how kind of him, he filled in the input what Alex should have done in the first place. So this is not really a complain but to draw attention of Alex that it could help to someone like me and that it could be helpful to do it. Here one does not talk about support of MySQL or perl, but simple instructions of command line instructions of the entire installation process. Instead of saying Run SQL.pl, if one says >Perl SQL.pl and that helps. However if not then I have to hunt myself, ofcourse. Thats the problem, its me and not the related problems of the programs.

Links SQL is a program that you will be more than satisfied. I am also not able to take up the argument what Alex earlier said and also Mr. Pataki said above, that Update to Links SQL from Links v2.0 only if you need it. I am very much prejudiced to Links SQL and I think Links v2.0 is to my understanding really not the very best program as compared to Links SQL qualities. One can do a lot with Links v2.0 but the same people who played with Links v2.0, if all of them will sit down to understand Links SQL they will enjoy and will be satisfied many thousand times more with Links SQL. People who knows Links v1.1 can compare the quality change to Links v2.0. The same is with Links SQL. Its a complete different new world. Its great, comparing to what it can do.

To me Links SQL codes are FREAKY. They are so excellent, mature and well written and if I try to read the codes of Links v2.0 they are understandable but not all those of SQL. Probably I do not know more about mod_perl. Links SQL is such a robust and solid program that it can beat a lot many on the internet, an equivalent not easy to find.

Visionary, I have seen and read your reaction and answers on other threads and also have some impression of your knowledge. I can challenge that people like you would have NO PROBLEMS with Links SQL, I tell you. I am not at interested to be a salesman of Alex, but I take the oppurtunity to say this only because Links SQL as a product I like and respect it in terms of its design (Excluding the bugs and error part of it,if there are any). You may try to be modest like Mr. Pataki as above saying that I do not know very much. I do think that you would have no problems with this Lovely program, which I appreciate very very much, even though its more than 30 days that I have it in hand and am not able to use it due to MY lack of knowledge and time. People like you will come and say, In few hours - Install sucess like Mr. Pataki did. And then come and shoot on BBS, suggestions etc. People like me will need some years to come to this point!!!

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rajani











Quote Reply
Re: Links SQL : Alex, I am tired of waiting. In reply to
Hello Alex !

I always get this error :

Building Pages ...

Backing up database ...
Backing up links data ...
Content-type: text/html

Software error:

Can't connect, no database driver specified at Links/DBSQL.pm line 171

this is for everything I do from admin.

I also am not able to create a new database with sql.pl. Any tips?

Links.pm is correctly configured, sql.pl in user + password from the old is carried forward also.

Thanks



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rajani