this is the error I am recieving when I run admin.cgi
"Error including libraries: Substitution replacement not terminated at /home/public_html/cgi-bin/admin/links.cfg line 190."

If this helps I am being hosted by www.virtualave.net, I have downloaded the extended version of the file permissions from the faq section and set them. There were some abnormalities between this faq and the zip I downloaded from gossomer, he listed directories called Html, & LWP and a file validator.pm. I was guessing the the html dir was going to be created during the first run of the admin script so I proably don't need to worry about that and the dir LWP is part of a program that the script needs for house keeping (not needed but greatly recomended) and the validator.pm, well did I loose it or something?

I don't know, I know that this topic (or the download box topic) has been rehashed on this board a ton but I couldn't find a thread that could help me, I did try changing the path to the links.cfg file in the admin.cgi file to be absolute but that dosent help. I don't know, I am pretty resourceful but I can't quite get this script to work.

Thanks

Jako
Tim Graves

Let me just say this. Is it me or don't hypermart.net and virtualave.net have a condition in their TOS that says you can't run scripts like Links 2 on their server?

As stated in section 17 in Hypermarts TOS (part of Virtualave.net);

17.1 Except as provided below, HyperMart makes CGI processes available as part of all Hosting Services. HyperMart maintains the right to disable any CGI script and, if necessary, the Member's account without prior notice if HyperMart determines the script presents a security risk or a server overload. HyperMart also prohibits the use of any scripts that automatically update a links listing. Any CGI scripts that are determined to be inherently malicious may result in termination of the Member's account and the pursuit of any and all legal remedies available to HyperMart.

Andy

webmaster@ace-installer.com
http://www.ace-installer.com

Have you added any mods to links.cfg?



Replace links.cfg with an original or make it web-accessible.



Installs:http://www.wiredon.net/gt/
MODS:http://wiredon.net/gt/download.shtml

The way I understand Links is that you have to tell it to build the pages, this is not performed by some cron job that refreshes the page every 10 minutes. Any way, I have seen tons of top sites on virtualave.

[edit]

I forgot to post my admin and links.cfg file.

start admin.cgi .....

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
# -------------
# Links
# -------------
# Links Manager
#
# File: admin.cgi
# Description: This is the administrative interface for the links program.
# Author: Alex Krohn
# Email: alex@gossamer-threads.com
# Web: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/
# Version: 2.01
#
# (c) 1998 Gossamer Threads Inc.
#
# This script is not freeware! Please read the README for full details
# on registration and terms of use.
# =====================================================================
#
# Required Librariers
# --------------------------------------------------------
eval {
($0 =~ m,(.*)/[^/]+,) && unshift (@INC, "$1"); # Get the script location: UNIX /
($0 =~ m,(.*)\\[^\\]+,) && unshift (@INC, "$1"); # Get the script location: Windows \

require 5.001; # Make sure we have at least perl 5.001.
require "links.cfg"; # Change this to full path to links.cfg if you have problems.
require "$db_lib_path/db.pl"; # Database Routines.
require "$db_lib_path/db_utils.pl"; # Database Support utilities.
require "$db_lib_path/admin_html.pl"; # Admin HTML routines.
};

if ($@) {
print "Content-type: text/plain\n\n";
print "Error including libraries: $@\n";
print "Make sure they exist, permissions are set properly, and paths are set correctly.";
exit;
}

# ========================================================
eval { &main; }; # Trap any fatal errors so the program hopefully
if ($@) { &cgierr("fatal error: $@"); } # never produces that nasty 500 server error page.
exit; # There are only two exit calls in the script, here and in in &cgierr.
# ========================================================

sub main {
# --------------------------------------------------------
$| = 1; # Flush Output Right Away

# Main Menu. Check to see what the user requested, then if he has permission for that
# request, do it. Otherwise send the user off to an unauthorized request page.
%in = &parse_form; # Get form input so we know which database to load.

# Load the database definition file and set the link url.
$in{'db'} ?
require "$db_lib_path/$in{'db'}.def" :
require "$db_lib_path/links.def";

$db_script_link_url = "$db_script_url?db=$in{'db'}";

# The functions beginning with &html_ can be found in admin_html.pl, while the other
# functions can be found in db.pl

if ($in{'add_form'}) { &html_add_form; } # Display the Add Record Form.
elsif ($in{'add_record'}) { &add_record; } # Add the Actual Record.
elsif ($in{'add_record_mult'}) { &add_record_mult; } # Add Multiple Records at once (beta).
elsif ($in{'view_search'}) { &html_view_search; } # Display form to search database.
elsif ($in{'view_records'}) { &view_records; } # Search database and print results.
elsif ($in{'delete_search'}) { &html_delete_search; } # Display the form to search for records to delete.
elsif ($in{'delete_form'}) { &html_delete_form; } # Display the form to pick records to delete.
elsif ($in{'delete_records'}) { &delete_records; } # Delete records.
elsif ($in{'modify_search'}) { &html_modify_search; } # Display the form to search for records to modify.
elsif ($in{'modify_mult_form'}) { &html_modify_mult_form; } # Display multiple records to modify at one time.
elsif ($in{'modify_form'}) { &html_modify_form; } # Display the form to pick record to modify.
elsif ($in{'modify_form_record'}) { &html_modify_form_record; } # Display the form to modify a record.
elsif ($in{'modify_record'}) { &modify_record; } # Modify the record.
elsif ($in{'modify_mult_record'}) { &modify_mult_record; } # Modify multiple records at once.
elsif ($in{'validate_form'}) { &html_validate_form; } # Display the Validation Form.
elsif ($in{'validate_records'}) { &validate_records; } # Validate records.
elsif ($in{'check_links'}) { &check_links; } # Display/Check to make sure links have matching catgories.
elsif ($in{'fix_links'}) { &fix_links; } # Fixes up any errors found in check links.
elsif ($in{'check_duplicates'}) { &check_duplicates; } # Display/Check for duplicate links.
elsif ($in{'html_mail_target'}) { &html_mail_target; } # Form to do targeted mass mailing.
elsif ($in{'html_mail_form'}) { &html_mail_form; } # Form to do mass mailing.
elsif ($in{'html_mail_update'}) { &html_mail_update; } # Form to do email updates.
elsif ($in{'html_edit_template'}) { &html_edit_template; } # Edit Templates
elsif ($in{'save_template'}) { &save_template; } # Save templates.
elsif ($in{'html_template_help'}) { &html_template_help; } # Template Help.
elsif ($in{'display'} eq 'navigation') { &html_navigation; } # Display HTML Header
elsif ($in{'display'} eq 'body') { &html_body; } # Display HTML Body
elsif ($in{'display'} eq 'top') { &html_top; } # Display HTML Top
else { &html_home; } # Display Frame Index page.

# &cgierr("Done"); # Uncomment this line for Debugging... Will tack on form variables and environment variables
# to the end of every page. Quite Useful.
}
end admin.cgi

start links.cfg
# -------------
# Links
# -------------
# Links Manager
#
# File: links.cfg
# Description: Contains all the setup variables.
# Author: Alex Krohn
# Email: alex@gossamer-threads.com
# Web: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/
# Version: 2.01
#
# (c) 1998 Gossamer Threads Inc.
#
# This script is not freeware! Please read the README for full details
# on registration and terms of use.
# =====================================================================

# Paths and URL's to Important Stuff
# --------------------------------------------------------
# PATH and URL of Admin CGI directory. No Trailing Slash.
$db_script_path = "/data1/virtualave.net/novawebmaster/public_html/cgi-bin/admin";
$db_dir_url = "http://novawebmaster.virtualave.net/cgi-bin/admin";

# URL of User CGI directory. No Trailing Slash.
$db_cgi_url = "http://novawebmaster.virtualave.net/cgi-bin";

# PATH and URL of Pages to be built. No Trailing Slash.
$build_root_path = "/data1/virtualave.net/novawebmaster/public_html";
$build_root_url = "http://novawebmaster.virtualave.net";

# PATH and URL of What's New page. No Trailing slash.
$build_new_path = "$build_root_path/New";
$build_new_url = "$build_root_url/New";

# PATH and URL of What's Cool page. No Trailing slash.
$build_cool_path = "$build_root_path/Cool";
$build_cool_url = "$build_root_url/Cool";

# PATH and URL of What's Rating page. No Trailing slash.
$build_ratings_path = "$build_root_path/Ratings";
$build_ratings_url = "$build_root_url/Ratings";

# Database Options
# --------------------------------------------------------
# You really need to use flock(). However if your system doesn't support it (Win95),
# then turn this off at your own risk!
$db_use_flock = 1;
# Use Pragma: no-cache to stop browsers from caching output? (0 = cache, 1 = nocache)
$db_nocache = 1;
# Use IIS headers? Set this to 1 if your web server needs the full headers (HTTP/1.0 etc.)
$db_iis = 0;
# Field number of category in category.db
$db_main_category = 1;
# Referers -- which hosts are allowed to add to your database.
@db_referers = ();

# Email Options
# --------------------------------------------------------
# NOTE: Be sure to edit the text of the message. It can be found
# in the templates directory: email-add.txt, email-del.txt and
# email-mod.txt respectively.

# Set only ONE of either $db_mail_path which should go to a
# mail program like sendmail, or $db_smtp_server which will use
# a SMTP server. Do not set both at once!

# PATH of sendmail. # SMTP Server
$db_mail_path = '/usr/sbin/sendmail'; $db_smtp_server = '';

# Email address of the administrator. BE SURE TO SET!
$db_admin_email = 'NovaDeath@operamail.com';

# Notify visitors automatically when their links are validated?
$db_email_add = 1;

# Notify visitors automatically when their links are modified?
$db_email_modify = 0;

# Log all outgoing messages? Put the full path to a logfile and make sure it
# exists and is writeable (chmod 666 -rw-rw-rw-). This logfile can get pretty
# big!
$db_mailer_log = '';

# Build Options
# --------------------------------------------------------
# Setting for popular cutoff, can either be a percent (i.e. top 3%), or
# a fixed value (i.e. top 10). Enter 0.03 or 10 respectively.
$db_popular_cutoff = 0.10; # Top 10%
# Number of days a link is considered New.
$db_new_cutoff = 14; # 14 days old.
# Return search results bolded (1 = yes, 0 = no).
$search_bold = 1;
# The name of an index file.
$build_index = "index.html";
# The extension to use for non index files:
$build_extension = ".html";

# Should your add.cgi automatically select what category the user
# is adding his link into?
$db_single_category = 1;

# Directory Permissions. Do NOT put quotes around it. Set to 0777
# for world writeable. If you put this at 0755, you might need a
# script to remove any directories created as they will be owned
# by the web server or user nobody. Better solution might be to
# run the nph-build routine from the command shell.
$build_dir_per = 0777;

# The script can now break up category pages that have more then x
# number of links in it. It will also create next and previous links
# to help navigate. Set this to 1 if you want to break up pages or 0 if
# you want to have only one page per category.
# Setting this to one, will also break up the What's New pages into
# per day sections (not affected by number of links per page).
$build_span_pages = 1;

# Number of links per page.
$build_links_per_page = 20;

# Detailed View: The script can build a single html page per link. This is
# great if you have a review in your database. To enable, you must set
# the directory where all the pages will be stored, the url to that directory
# and set the enable option.
$build_detailed = 1;
$build_detail_path = "$build_root_path/Detailed";
$build_detail_url = "$build_root_url/Detailed";

# Use Templates: instead of editing site_html.pl, you can edit regular html pages
# encoded with special <%links_tags%>. It's not as flexible as site_html.pl, but it
# may be easier.
$build_use_templates = 1;

# Site Title, the default title to use. You should really spend some time customizing
# the directory though!
$build_site_title = 'NovaDeath's Webmaster Resources';

# Date Routines
# --------------------------------------------------------
# Your date format can be whatever you like, as long as the following
# two functions are defined &date_to_unix and &unix_to_date:
# The default is dd-mmm-yyyy.

sub date_to_unix {
# --------------------------------------------------------
# This routine must take your date format and return the time a la UNIX time().
# Some things to be careful about..
# timelocal does not like to be in array context, don't do my($time) = timelocal (..)
# int your values just in case to remove spaces, etc.
# catch the fatal error timelocal will generate if you have a bad date..
# don't forget that the month is indexed from 0!
#
my $date = shift; my $i;
my %months = map { $_ => $i++ } qw!Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec!;
my ($day, $mon, $year) = split(/-/, $date);

exists $months{$mon} or return undef;
$day = int($day); $year = $year - 1900;

require Time::Local;
my $time = 0;
eval {
$time = &Time::Local::timelocal(0,0,0, $day, $months{$mon}, $year);
};
if ($@) { die "invalid date format: $date - parsed as (day: $day, month: $months{$mon}, year: $year). Reason: $@"; }
return $time;
}

sub unix_to_date {
# --------------------------------------------------------
# This routine must take a unix time and return your date format
# A much simpler routine, just make sure your format isn't so complex that
# you can't get it back into unix time.
#
my $time = shift;
my ($sec, $min, $hour, $day, $mon, $year, $dweek, $dyear, $tz) = localtime $time;
my @months = qw!Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec!;
$year = $year + 1900;
return "$day-$months[$mon]-$year";
}

sub long_date {
# --------------------------------------------------------
# This routine is for printing a nicer date format on the what's new page. It should
# take in a date in your current format and return a new one.
my $time = shift;
$time = &date_to_unix ($time);
my ($sec, $min, $hour, $day, $mon, $year, $dweek, $dyear, $tz) = localtime $time;
my @months = qw!January February March April May June July August September October November December!;
my @days = qw!Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday!;
$year = $year + 1900;
return "$days[$dweek], $months[$mon] $day $year";
}

# -------------------------------------------------------------
# Extra Paths -- unless you feel the need to rename files, you
# can leave this as is.
# -------------------------------------------------------------
$db_script_url = $db_dir_url . "/admin.cgi"; # Admin script.
$db_header_path = $db_script_path . "/header"; # Place to store header and footers.
$db_footer_path = $db_script_path . "/footer";
$build_search_url = $db_cgi_url . "/search.cgi"; # URL of search script.
$build_add_url = $db_cgi_url . "/add.cgi"; # URL of add script.
$build_modify_url = $db_cgi_url . "/modify.cgi"; # URL of modify script.
$build_jump_url = $db_cgi_url . "/jump.cgi"; # URL of jump script.
$build_email_url = $db_cgi_url . "/subscribe.cgi"; # URL of email update script.
$build_rate_url = $db_cgi_url . "/rate.cgi"; # URL of rate script.
$db_mail_url = $db_dir_url . "/nph-email.cgi"; # URL of admin mass mail script.
$build_css_url = $build_root_url . "/links.css"; # URL to your CSS file.

$db_lib_path = $db_script_path; # PATH of library files.
$db_links_name = "$db_script_path/data/links.db"; # PATH to links database.
$db_category_name = "$db_script_path/data/categories.db"; # PATH to category database.
$db_valid_name = "$db_script_path/data/validate.db"; # PATH to validation database.
$db_modified_name = "$db_script_path/data/modified.db"; # PATH to modification database.
$db_url_name = "$db_script_path/data/url.db"; # PATH to URL lookup database.
$db_email_name = "$db_script_path/data/email.db"; # PATH to email database.
$db_links_id_file_name = "$db_script_path/data/linksid.txt"; # PATH to links counter file.
$db_category_id_file_name = "$db_script_path/data/categoryid.txt"; # PATH to category counter file.
$db_hits_path = "$db_script_path/data/hits"; # PATH to hits directory.
$db_template_path = "$db_script_path/templates"; # PATH to templates.
$db_rates_path = "$db_script_path/data/rates"; # PATH to ratings.
1;

end links.cfg

you tell Links to build the pages, thus, the process of building the directory is automatic. That takes a LOT of server resources and most (free) hosting providers don't like that.

BTW, the error is in this line... see if you can spot it.
--Drew
Free, hot camel soup for Links hackers...
http://www.camelsoup.com

Hey. Just because you have seen loads of sites with it running, doesn't rean it is right to use it. The people who run virtual ave have to make a living to, and if people such as you, and others who abuse the service by breaking the TOS, keep on doing that, you will probably find they will just have to stop offering the free service.

I don't suppose you have noticed, but they now offer paid hosting. This is probably down to the drop in advertising revenue which used to keep them going. Many of the 'free' sites now day are running into trouble, so the last thing they need is people abusing their service.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not 'telling' you what to do, but just use your common sense. If they do see your site with it running, how would you feel if the decided to sue you?

Just my input.

Andy

webmaster@ace-installer.com
http://www.ace-installer.com