UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums UBB.classic UBB.classic 5 Support Can't get past General Settings!

Hi, I am trying to install a freeware version of UBB to test it on my site before buying the full version. Everything is fine until I get to the General Settings page. Once there, clicking on the links just brings up some page from my ISP.

I have installed as per the Unix instructions via Fetch (Mac) FTP client.

My url: http://www.snoooz.com/ubb/cp.html

Can anybody help???? Please!!

Jonathan

Here are some common problems to re-check:

1. Make sure all files (except .jpg and .gif) have been uploaded in ASCII. Some FTP programs have an Auto mode, but if certain extensions like .cgi or .pl have not been explicitly set to upload in ASCII, the FTP program will upload them in Binary.

2. Check your permissions. All files in the UBBCGI directory need to be chmod to 755 (except for the four variables files. Those need to be 777). The Members directory and Admin5.cgi also need to be chmod to 777. The NONCGI directory needs to be chmod 777.

3. Unix is case-sensitive. That means that your files need to be uploaded exactly the way they are in the UBB distribution (some FTP programs default to uploading everything in lowercase. This is not good.). The Members directory must have a capitol M on the front, and Admin5.cgi must have a capitol A.

4. Make sure you have the correct path to perl defined in your .cgi files. Most systems are #!/usr/bin/perl or #!/usr/local/bin/perl. If you have telnet access, you can type which perl or whereis perl and find out which you have. It's also a good idea to try perl -v to make sure that perl 5 is running.

I noticed you're running your script from a cgi-bin directory, make sure your web host allows 3rd party scripts to run from that directory.

Finally, check to see if there are any .htaccess files on your site that might be causing redirects whenever accessing files in your cgi-bin.

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Doug
darksaber.hispeed.com
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Thanks so much for your fast and lengthy reply.

I re-checked your points and I have done them correctly - uploading files as is, capital M and A, chmod settings etc.

I am not sure whether or not this ISP allows 3rd party scripts, but they should as the cgi-bin is included with the account.

The perl settings appear fine - I checked a few of the cgi files. There is a .htaccess file though, inside the "webstats" directory which comes with the account. It doesn't open - "Invalid Filename: '.htaccess'. Reason: no leading '.' in file names". Should I just delete the file?

Thanks, Jonathan

You don't need to delete it, but you might want to download it and open it in a text editor and see what's in it. The .htaccess file is simply a text file with server commands in it.

I also meant to ask if you're using FrontPage in any way with UBB?

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Doug
darksaber.hispeed.com
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

[This message has been edited by SWFan (edited 11-05-2000).]

I can't open the file, nor download it via FTP. In the ISP file manager, it does not open (I get the message as above in my previous post), and when I open my FTP client, the .htaccess file dows not appear in the "webstats" directory where it resides.

I do not use FrontPage, so there are no extension problems. I used Dreamweaver.

Jonathan

Quite fun... I have the same problem at http://tagesen.xoasis.com/ubb/cp.html as Jstubbs. :/ I cant go to the general settings and everything is set up correctly (I believe).

jstubbs, have you tried uploading the couple of cgi files in the help directory (in the ZIP file) to your cgi-bin and seeing if they work?

------------------
Doug
darksaber.hispeed.com
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Tried that too just now. I uploaded hello.cgi, hello.pl and ubb_test.cgi into first the ubb folder. I could open at least one of the files in the server's file manager to edit it, but nothing happened in the "general settings" window.

Then I realised that perhaps I should put the help files into the ubbcgi folder inside the cgi folder, so I did that too. Same thing as above.

I'm wondering if it is just a case of Xoasis not accepting 3rd party scripts....I've emailed them but no reply as yet after several days....

I signed up with Xoasis in order to have a "placeholder" page up before my site goes into operation - any ideas on decent web hosting providers? I see that Interland is not popular..... <img src="https://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Jonathan

Jood_le, have you managed to get your site up and running? If you did everything correctly as I did (I think!) then maybe it's Xoasis that is causing the problem.

Have you emailed them?

Jonathan

PS Copenhagen is a lovely place, and the airport one of the best around.... <img src="https://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

jstubbs, load the hello.cgi and ubb_test.cgi files somewhere inside your CGI directory. After loading them go to your web browser and type in the full url to the hello.cgi file first and see what happens. Then try the ubb_test.cgi file next (again, typing the full URL to that file in your web browser's address field).

Once they're loaded, let us know where they're at so we can try them too.

------------------
Doug
darksaber.hispeed.com
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Tried that just now Doug - same file comes up every time - an Xoasis page.

I loaded the two above mentioned files first into the cgi-bin folder and tried accessing the files via the web browser, then tried putting them into the ubbcgi folder inside the cgi-bin folder, which is where they are now:
http://www.snoooz.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/hello.cgi

Let me know what you come up with!!

Jonathan

There is definitely something unique to xoasis setup or how the cgi-bin is working. From what I'm seeing I think they have mapped page not found errors (404's) to redirect to their main page instead of displaying a 404 error. I know if you now try joodl_e's cp.html address above it redirects to the xoasis homepage. I think he/she has removed their UBB files and so instead of a file not found error it redirects to xoasis' main page.

You'll definitely need to talk to them about running scripts to see if there is anything special to do. One thing to check is if they use cgiwrap, thus calling a file from your cgi-bin would be typed as follows:
http//www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/yourusername/thescript.cgi

------------------
Doug
darksaber.hispeed.com
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

jstubbs:

I deleted my ubb at xoasis.com and continued to http://www.netfirms.com/ which is much better than xoasis!
I set up my ubb at this place and it worked well in the first try. nice. Netfirms is fast, has ftp, it seems to be very reliable and they have a very good explanation for the cgi-bin.

Thanks for your nice words about Copenhagen but you should try out Helsinki (finland). <img src="https://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

[This message has been edited by joodl_e (edited 11-07-2000).]

Thanks to Doug and Joodl_e for the tips. It definitely appears to be an Xoasis thing.

I think I'll hold off trying to install UBB until I change my hosting service. Xoasis I think are unlikely to answer my email to them about installing cgi-scripts, and as I live in Singapore, and Xoasis is a free service, I think it would be a waste of time contacting them by phone!

Any ideas on good web hosters? (I'll check out the other board on this topic)

Jonathan