SMF Packages Not Installing
On two
Simple Machines Forum (SMF)
forums, whenever I tried to install a package, I would see a message that
the package installed successfully, but whenever I checked
Installed
Packages, I would see "No mods currently installed".
I would click on Browse Packages, then click on Apply
Mod.
In some cases, if there was no forum/Packages/temp
directory,
I would see the message below:
An Error Has Occured!
You cannot download or install new packages because the Packages directory or
one of the files in it are not writable!
If I created the temp
directory and gave it permissions
of 777 with mkdir temp; chmod 777 temp
, I would be able
to click on Apply Mod and see the Installation Readme
page where I could click on Install Now. I would then see
a message that I would be redirected to the application's configuration page,
if it had one, but I would instead just be redirected to the forum's main page
or, if the package didn't have a configuration page, I would see the message
below:
Extracting Package
The package was installed successfully. You should now be able to use whatever
functionality it adds or changes; or not be able to use functionality it
removes.
But when I would check Installed Packages afterwards, the package
would never be there.
When I checked the Forum Error Log which is under the Admin
link for the forum, I would see lots of entries similar to the following:
fopen(/home/jdoe/example/forum/Sources/ManagePermissions.php) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: Permission denied
File: /home/amy/www/moondreaming/forum/Sources/Subs-Package.php
Line: 1918
Some entries might have fclose
, copy
, or
gzwrite
instead of fopen
. E.g.,
2: gzwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource
File: /home/jdoe/example/forum/Sources/Subs-Package.php
Line: 2098
Under
Download Packages for
FTP Information Required,
I saw "To download packages, the Packages directory and files in it need to be
writable - and they are not currently. The package manager can use your FTP
information to fix this." I put in the FTP username, password, and forum
information. I replaced "/forum" with the full path to the forum in the
Local path to SMF field, e.g.,
"/home/jdoe/example/forum". The message went away when I tested the settings.
I was then able to select a package from beneath Browse Packages,
choose Apply Mod, then Install Now and then see the package
appear when I checked Installed Packages.
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Adding httpBL to Block Forum Spammers
There is a
Simple Machines Forum
(SMF) module,
MOD httpBL, that can help you combat forum spammers. This mod uses the
http:BL API from
Project Honey Pot to stop spammers from accesing your forum. The mod
is completely compatible with M-DVD's
MOD Stop
Spammer. You can have both mods installed or only one of them to stop the
spammers in your forum, but I would recommend you use both.
The developer of the httpBL module describes the differences between
the two modules as follows:
- MOD Stop Spammer checks
the database from Stop Forum Spam
while MOD httpBL checks the database from
Project Honey Pot. A lot of spammers are already in both databases,
but some spammers are only in one of them, so it won't be a bad idea
anyway to check both databases.
- MOD Stop Spammer cheks if the visitor is a spammer when
they try to register inside the forum while MOD httpBL
checks them as soon as they arrive to the forum and redirect them
to a file called warning.php making the whole site
invisible to them. This way even harvesters (robots that never
post in a forum, but search for email addresses to send them spam
later) and any other kind of malicious web robots cannot even see
any part of the site.
As recommended on the
httpBL mod webpage, you should read the well-written
tutorial prior to installing the module.
There are some steps you need to take prior to using the module as is
explained in the tutorial.
Once you've taken the above steps, you can install the
httpBL module the way you normally would install an SMF module.
E.g., you could take the following steps to install it after you
download
the httpBL module.
- Log into your SMF forum with an administrator account.
- Click on Admin.
- Click on Packages.
- Click on Download Packages.
- Under Upload a Package, click on the Browse button
to browse to where you've downloaded the module then click on the
Upload button once you've selected the zip file you downloaded.
- To the right of the module name, which is httpBL, you will
see an Apply Mod link; click on it.
- You will then see the installation readme file. Click on the
Install Now button at the bottom of the page. Provide the
password for the administrator account, if prompted. You should then
be taken to a forum webpage where you can configure http:BL. If
you need to reconfigure it later, you should see the option
Mod httpBL
listed under Members when you click
on Admin.
Note: if you aren't using the default theme, you may need to edit
index.template.php
manually as explained in the
tutorial.
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