Folders that need "write" permisssions...

[lockwiz]

Hi all...I'm new to the forum and Serendipity, I had installed an earlier version and it worked perfectly.

Recently wiped my website and started over, downloaded the newest version of Serendipity and installed, can get to the admin page but the regular blog page draws a blank page.

I have two questions:

1. The install notes say that these folders (among others) need to be "write enabled":

archives/
templates_c/
uploads/

I see those folders in the root Serendipity folder, but I also see those same folders in another folder called "deployment". So my question is: Do we need to "write enable" those 3 folders in BOTH locations?

2. Also...I don't see the "archives" folder in the root Serendipity folder until after the installation is completed, so the "archives" folder in the root folder is "created during installation", is that correct? It doesn't say that in the instructions which will cause some (like me) to look for it "berfore" it's created, trying to write enable it.

Thanks for any help you can give on this.

P.S. Just finished installing Serendipity again, got the "successfully installed page" but still, when I go to the blog page, it is blank, I can see the admin page but not the "blog" page.

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

You only need access to the three core directory; the "deployment" directory is only needed when you use shared installation to install multiple blogs from the same sourcecode. That's advanced stuff, so you should leave it at that for the time being

The 'archives' folder is usually tried to be created by s9y after the installation; you can create it prior to installation though, if you like.

HTH,
Garvin

[lockwiz]

Hi!

You only need access to the three core directory; the "deployment" directory is only needed when you use shared installation to install multiple blogs from the same sourcecode. That's advanced stuff, so you should leave it at that for the time being

The 'archives' folder is usually tried to be created by s9y after the installation; you can create it prior to installation though, if you like.

HTH,
Garvin

Thanks Garvin...

Guess I left out an important 3rd question:

After successful installation page shows, and I click the link to go to the "blog" page...all I get it is a "blank page". I can see the admin page, but the blog page just comes up completely blank...any ideas???

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

A blank page usually means a fatal PHP error on your page, but your PHP is configured to not show errors ("display_errors" directive in php.ini or .htaccess).

Usually this error that is invisible would tell you about bad directory write permissions or failed includes of the PEAR framework, maybe even open_basedir errors.

If possible please enable displaying errors (you might need to ask your provider) or check if you have a PHP error log somewhere.

Another try would be to disable the PEAR inclusion by editing your serendipity_config.inc.php file and setting $serendipity['use_PEAR'] = false;.

HTH,
Garvin

[lockwiz]

Thanks Garvin...I will give that a try, all new stuff for me, but I give it a go and see what happens.

Thanks,

Lockwiz

[lockwiz]

Hi Garvin,

I edited the "serendipity_config.inc.php file and set the----$serendipity['use_PEAR'] = false;. I set that to "false" and now the blog page displays... should I "leave it" that way???

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

Yes, you can leave it that way! It only means that serendipity will use its own bundled versions of PEAR modules and not look to find other ones on your server instead.

All should be well in this case.

Best regards,
Garvin

[lockwiz]

Thanks Garvin...will do. Really good to see it working again.

A closing question, in the "former" version the "quick search" always returned a "No Entries Found for Query" and I notice this version is also doing that. I remember reading a post from someone on this forum that it takes a few pages of posts before the search will begin to return results, is that correct???

Thanks,

Lockwiz

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

That's true, our fulltext search is based on MYSQL which will only yield results after a few entries, and only if the current query string will not return more than 70% or so of your entries. Like if you always use "serendipity" in your entries and that would then return all of your entries in a search, MySQL refues to return results

Best regards,
Garvin

[lockwiz]

Interesting, I'm sure in my half awake state this morning (stayed up way too late in cyber space last night) I am probably not seeing the whole reason for the search working that way, I'm guessing it is to cut down on server load when a lot of people / bloggers may be accessing the search feature and using a search term or word that may bring back a result showing almost every entry in the database?

Thanks,

Lockwiz

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

Exactly, MySQL thinks to be smart to not return so many rows of your database, as it also would have a huge performance impact, yes.

Best regards,
Garvin

[lockwiz]

I'm surprised I got that correct using "half a brain" this morning.

That sounds like a great / smart feature then.

Thanks for all your help this morning Garvin!

...Lockwiz