Serendipity Forums

used my web-host's click-n-build app to install serendipity. the host restricts my access to the folder structure.

on the serendipity admin backend, i added spartacus. no problem there.

then, i received an error trying to add plug-ins provided on the serendipity back-end. received error with Recaptcha and Weather. Did not try others.

Cannot write to directory /homepages/36/d176208770/htdocs/app258602944//plugins/. Please check the permissions.

the plugins folder has NO write permissions. because of the way my host, 1and1.com, controls the serendipity, i cannot change the permissions on this folder.

all other functionality is normal, just cannot add new plugins.

Hi!

In that case, you cannot use Spartacus nor install any new plugins. You would need to change write permissions to make this work.

BTW, this applies to any PHP application that would try to load plugins to your server - also WordPress or Typo3 would not work on your host.

Best regards,
garvin

Can you change the folder's permissions from FTP?

nope, my host blocked my attempt to change permissions via ftp.

i always have the option to do my own manual install, and then i have total freedom and write permissions.

i tried that. i did a manual install, and it worked. but i found i had to type "index.php" in the url to get serendipity to load-- if i just typed my top-level domain, the app could not find index.php.

index.php was listed in the serendipity config screen, so that was not the problem.

i experimented with changing the path settings on the serendipity config page to fix the problem, and then my admin pages lost their css.

at that point i got frustrated -- i dont have time to mess around with troubleshooting, i need an app that just works. that's why i opted for my host's automated install.

i have installed and customized wordpress more than once-- actually i'm a professional programmer. so it's not an issue of ability-- it's an issue of time.

Hi!

Exactly, your provider did not setup your server so that "index.php" is regarded as a default starting index. You must then fix this manually via .htaccess, like RobA mentioned:
HTH,
Garvin

would it be possible for for s9y to write to that htaccess file FOR me, since s9y includes "name of index file" in the config screen, and wouldn't that make the most sense?

what DOES that field do, then, if it doesn't now write to htaccess?

Hi!

johnywhy wrote:would it be possible for for s9y to write to that htaccess file FOR me, since s9y includes "name of index file" in the config screen, and wouldn't that make the most sense?

s9y could write that, but usually it honours what the webserver configuration is. Many users have a custom index.html file prepended to the serendipity file. If s9y now always used "index.php" as the directoryindex, this would conflict with existing users having their own startpage.

So the proper way to fix this would be on your webserver setup, not the application itself, because it is actually not really responsible and cannot guess what file you usually want to display...

what DOES that field do, then, if it doesn't now write to htaccess?

It is there for embedding mechanisms, if you use output buffering and redirect serendipty content. This is actually different than a start directoryindex instruction, because this value tells serendipity which file it should access for the BLOG content, not the startup content of the directory.

People could have an index.html that is loaded as an introduction, then they could have a blog.php file that contains their embed instructions (if you want more info on this, look at http://www.s9y.org/123.html) to mix their own application with s9y, and the s9y index.php file. In this case, .htaccess would still point to index.html and not the given indexfile "blog.php" because that would load up the blog immediately instead of the startpage that a user has configured/given precedence on his webserver.

Editing the .htaccess manually to insert DirectoryIndex because it does not exist properly on the webserver is the best way to go. It is minimal work for you to do, and does not disturb any vital other functions that other users might have used for SErendipity.

Regards,
Garvin

my app is a one-click app on my webhost-- they do not allow me to write to that directory.

i have asked them to fix this, but they have not responded.

could this be resolved by setting any of the spartacus fields?

• Owner of downloaded files
• Permissions downloaded files
• Permissions downloaded directories
• Use directory creating using ftp in safe_mode?
• FTP server address
• FTP username
• FTP password
• FTP serendipity directory

or, is it possible to point one of these fields to a directory outside of serendipity?

judebert wrote:Can you change the folder's permissions from FTP?

exactly what permissions should be set, minimally, so that SPARTACUS can install new plugins, but neither i nor anyone else can?

my host will want to apply the absolute minimum permissions to allow spartacus to work, without compromising the security of their click'n'build application.

Hi!

No, the settings won't help you until the permissions allow writing to your /plugins directory.

/plugins must have write privileges for the apache user (www-run, www-data, www or usually something like that). Setting it to 0777 should work in all cases, even if you don't know the exact user/group setting.

Maybe it could help if your host joined the discussion.

Regards,
Garvin

garvinhicking wrote:must have write privileges for the apache user ...777 should work in all cases, even if you don't know the exact user/group setting.

Maybe it could help if your host joined the discussion.

i'm pretty sure there's no way my host will allow 777 on any clicknbuild directory. i've referred them to this discussion.

is the "apache user" like the "system" user? if it's possible to give serendipity internal permission somehow, without giving user's direct access, then i think they would allow that.

Hi!

is the "apache user" like the "system" user?

That depends on the setup and what you refer to as "system" user.

In your case, I would simply refrain from using Spartacus, and upload the plugins and themes via FTP?

About your prior DirectoryIndex question: Usually s9y does that for you. If you could tell us how your .htaccess file looked like, we could try to track the exact problem. It works for others, see blog.s9y.org - it does not require you to type "index.php". Read my posting on 2008-06-26 for more info again.

Regards,
Garvin

garvinhicking wrote:In your case, I would simply refrain from using Spartacus, and upload the plugins and themes via FTP?

i do not have ftp access to serendipity. my host is running serendipity as a hosted, locked-down app. that's why i dont think they will do 777.

the only hope is that Spartacus can have just enough permissions to work, no more.

i'm asking if 'apache user' is something like iusr on iis, or the 'system' account on windows, or is there an identity representing the serendipity app? is it possible, on apache, to give an app or script special directory permissions?

johnywhy wrote:i always have the option to do my own manual install, and then i have total freedom and write permissions.

This is your best long-term option.... You might want to reconsider it.

thanks, i have considered it, and it will simplify my admin tasks if i let my host manage the install and maintenance. so i'm hoping it will be possible to work out a solution which will allow spartacus to function, without compromising security.