Phormation Installation Problem

[amansker]

There are two possible solutions - either is fine if it works.

 

Need to install Phormation

http://www.phorm.com/phormation.php3

 

#1: From a browser

 

Instructions are:

If you are going to run the installer through your browser, remove the first line (the one beginning with #!) from phninstall.php unless you are using

cgiwrap (not php-cgiwrap), and point your browser to the regkey.html file.

Running from the browser, the installer **MUST** be run under your user ID.

I deleted the first line, uploaded, modified permissions.

 

Now I need to run the browser "under my user ID." I think they mean a URL command line and I have tried:

 

http://user:password@63.247.85.234/pathtoinstallfile.php

 

The result is a blank screen with no errors.

 

__________________________________

 

#2: From a command line

 

COMMAND LINE

For installation from the command line, execute phninstall.php for Unix or

phninstall.bat for DOS/Windows. You will need to edit the first line of the

file to point to your PHP interpreter. If you don't know where the PHP

interpreter is on your system, contact your system administrator. If you're

editing phninstall.php, be sure to leave the #! at the beginning of the line

and the -q at the end. Put the installer in the directory where you want

Phormation to be, and execute it. IMPORTANT: Do not install Phormation in the

same location as Phorm. The first time it runs, it will ask for your

registration key and validate it on the Phorm server. If the key is valid, you

can run the installer again, and Phormation will be downloaded and installed.

The installer will remember your key thereafter, even if you move it.

 

How do I run a command line?

What is the path to the PHP interpreter?

 

Thanks, I'm obviously a newbie at this.

[TCH-Dick]

www.******/regkey.html is where you need to go, enter the reg key and validate I just downloaded and installed it all I had to do was remove line one from phpinstall. I didn't register it, since I don't have any use for it so can't be much help after that since I don't have a key,

[amansker]

Sorry, I failed to clarify. I did exactly as you described, entered a valid reg key and it took me to the phninstall.php screen, said something like "program registered".

 

The next step is to refresh the phninstall.php screen which should evoke a download and install process. There was an error statement "cannot install" or something like that on the first attempt. Subsequent attempts resulted in a blank screen.

 

That's when I posted here.

 

I deleted the old files and uploaded new files in a fresh directory. After entering the reg key I go to phninstall.php and it says "unable to create". Evidently the first registration made a permanent change somewhere.

 

I believe that all I have to do is access the install file using user/pw to get it to install.

 

Can you clarify the Browser URL/command line to do that?

[TCH-Dick]

found this in their support forums

 

> I tried to install phormation but my host doesn't have

> a warpper so I can run the program under my user ID

> and they told me that tey would not install the

> wrapper for security reasons.

 

I have emailed you the Phormation distribution, but wanted to post my response here so others can see it.

 

You can run Phormation without your user ID, but be aware that you will have to give "world" access to all the directories and files where it will be working, and any files it creates will belong to the whatever user name the web server is running under. See Footnote 2 in the Phorm documentation for more details.

 

This is the reason that it is best to run these programs under your user ID - without it, you have to give "world" access to all your files, which means anyone can read them. This is a security hole. A properly installed script wrapper *increases* security, not decrease it. If your host doesn't understand this, you might consider finding a more competent one.

[borfast]

I moved this thread for better organization

[TCH-Don]

I wonder if they are referring to scgi?

In cpanel > cgi scripts you can create your own cgi wrapper folder to run scripts securely under you own id in the cpanel created scgi-bin folder.

 

from cpanel docs

Simple CGI Wrappper

The CGI Wrap script creates a scgi-bin folder at the public_html level of your web site. This allows you to run scripts with your own user ID.

 

The advantage of this is that you can run scripts that have the same permissions that you do - you can write, edit, and delete files as you normally do.

 

In a regular cgi-bin folder, you can only do this if you set your directory permissions to 777 (world access) and file permissions to 666, both of which are quite dangerous as anyone can now modify your web site.

The disadvantage of this is that if there is a security breach in your script that another person can exploit, they have access to your site in the same manner that you do - they can do anything.

 

However, as long as the scripts you run in the scgi-bin directory are secure, you have nothing to worry about.

 

Be sure to read the CGI Wrap user guide for more detailed information on using CGI Wrap.

 

For a more detailed description of the distinction between normal and wrapped cgi, refer to this article.

 

To install the Simple CGI Wrapper:

 

Click on the Simple CGI Wrapper link in the CGI Center area.

 

Your scgi-bin folder has now been set up. All cgi scripts that you would like to run under your own user ID should be placed in this folder.

Edited June 13, 2004 by TCH-Don

[amansker]

I did enable that cgi wrapper earlier, but have no idea how to use it! In fact, I'm in over my head right now and don't have hours to invest in this single app. I was installing Phormation to simplify/expedite creating Phorms . . . ha ha.

 

My first question was how to:

 

Running from the browser, the installer **MUST** be run under your user ID.

 

You guys know how to do this? If so, I can probably run the install. If not, I'm just going to drop this for now.

 

thanks!

[TCH-Don]

I would put the files in the scgi-bin folder and in your browser goto

your site/scgi-bin/regkey.html and see if that helps.

Remember to put back the first as it was in the phninstall.php file, as you will now be running under your own ID

[TCH-Dick]

OK, I went ahead and paid the 10 bucks to register this script to try and help a little more. Running it in the scgi-bin directory is a step in the right direction but still getting errors.

 

#!/usr/www/cgi-bin/php4.cgi -q Validation failed:

Registration not valid for requested package.

[TCH-Rick]

If the php script has to be run as the user in order to install, it is not going to work with our server setup. It looks like it requires configuring phpsuexec and that would create even more problems as it would break many other popular php scripts.

[TCH-Dick]

doesn't the scgi wrapper allow you to run scripts as the user? That's what it is supposed to do anyway

[TCH-Don]

Since it is just a friendly installer

I would just install myself as per the Phorm v3.0 docs.

 

I have installed the Phorm Jr version and had no trouble configuring it.

[TCH-Dick]

oh well, I tried...wonder if the guy will gimme my 10 bucks back? LOL

[TCH-Rick]

I believe the scgi wrapper is just for perl scripts. It is not really necessary since we run suexec for perl anyway. To run php scripts as the user rather than nobody we would need to configure the server with phpsuexec which, as I understand it, forces php to run as perl.

[samserv]

Not sure if anyone still needs this information but I did get this thing to work. Manually of course but here goes.

 

Install all of the phormation files to the base phorm directory. on my site that is /phorm.

 

chmod rsc and wbi directories to 777 as phorm wants to write to them.

 

Change the phormation.php4 file to read.

 

><?
 $PHN_SELF = "phormation.php4";
 include ("/home/your_tch_username/public_html/phorm/lib/main.php3");
?>

 

This will then work if you have put the phorm directory in the public_html folder otherwise you just need to alter the include path and then it works.

 

Pat

[TCH-Thomas]

Welcome to the forum, samserv.

 

Thanks for the info.

[TCH-Bruce]

Welcome to the forums Pat

[TCH-Don]

Welcome to the forums Pat

 

Thanks for the info.

[stevevan]

Welcome to the forums Pat. I'm sure your solution may help out somone in a similar situation. Thanks for sharing.

[TCH-Rob]

Thanks for the update Pat.