User:Rjhodson/phpBB Installation

PhpBB onto Engineering Servers

To add forum functionality to your site, you may wish to use pre-existing forum software. One such example is phpBB. PhpBB is a free, open-source, php-based internet forum software suite. Using phpBB on an Engineering server, however, requires a custom installation process.

Downloading phpBB

The first step to intalling phpBB on an engineering server is to download the most current stable release of phpBB2. Unzip this file to where you wish host the forum.

Compensating for basedir Restrictions

To compensate for basedir restrictions, you will have to copy the necessary included files to the subdirectories within the phpBB directory that calls them.

Both the install and admin directories need copies of the following:

• the db directory
• the includes directory
• the language directory
• the templates directory
• the contrib directory (for the install directory only)
• the common.php file
• the extension.inc file
• the config.php file

All instances of the PHP variable phpbb_root_path should be set to a blank state.

$phpbb_root_path = '';

Additionally, in the /install/install.php file, FTP should be disabled.

// Begin main prog
define('IN_PHPBB', true);
// Uncomment the following line to completely disable the ftp option...
// define('NO_FTP', true);
$phpbb_root_path = './../';
include($phpbb_root_path.'extension.inc');

should be changed to

// Begin main prog
define('IN_PHPBB', true);
// Uncomment the following line to completely disable the ftp option...
define('NO_FTP', true);
$phpbb_root_path = '';
include($phpbb_root_path.'extension.inc');

Setting up a database for phpBB

PhpBB requires a MySQL database to store much of it's information. Once a database has been created, the forum will need a username and password set up for it. Give the following permissions to this user:

• SELECT
• INSERT
• UPDATE
• DELETE
• CREATE (NOTE: this permission will be removed after installation)

Running the phpBB Installation script

Once all the above modifications have been made, it is time to install phpBB. To begin the installation process, visit the forum's web address. This will auto-direct you to the installation wizard. Once everything has been submitted to the wizard, you will be taken to a page that will prompt you to download a config.php file. Save this file to your forum directory, then put a copy of this file in your admin directory. This file should overwrite the existing config.php file.

Once that is done, visit the web address of the forum once again. The page will prompt you to delete the install directory and the contrib directory. Do this.

Congratulations, phpBB has successfully been installed!