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Blank screen when running setup

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Anonymous
2003-08-23
2003-10-05
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous - 2003-08-23

    When I run the initial setup, I only get a blank screen.  I have set the write permissions specified, and I have used the test script to verify that php works on my site.  Thanks in advance for any suggestions on how to fix this.

     
    • John Finlay

      John Finlay - 2003-08-23

      Do you mean that when you go to phpgedview/editconfig.php you get a blank screen?

      Are you using the standard version or the mysql version?  What browser are you using?

      --John

       
    • Anonymous

      Anonymous - 2003-08-23

      I am pointing my web browser to the phpgedView folder
      (http://www.yourserver.com/phpGedView/).  I am using the standard version.  I have tried with both IE 6.0 and Netscape 7.1.

      Thanks!

       
    • John Finlay

      John Finlay - 2003-08-25

      PhpGedView tries to automatically detect if it has been configured.  If it hasn't then it will automatically forward you to the phpGedView/editconfig.php configuration script.  It seems that this automatic redirection is not happening.  Try manually going to the phpGedView/editconfig.php script and let me know what comes up.

      --John

       
      • Anonymous

        Anonymous - 2003-08-25

        Tried that, got the same blank screen.

        - Rod

         
    • John Finlay

      John Finlay - 2003-08-25

      I'm not sure what is going on and feel like I am shooting in the dark, but here are some other things that I think will help understand the cause of the problem:

      What happens if you try to view the source on one of the blank pages?  Is there anything in the source or is it blank too?

      What platform are you running on?  Linux? Windows?  What webserver and php versions?

      My current thoughts about why this might be happening are: PHP is not installed properly or it is crashing in the middle of the script.

      --John

       
      • Anonymous

        Anonymous - 2003-08-30

        Page source:  <html><body></body></html>
        Platform:  SunOS 5.8
        Webserver:  Apache 2.0.45
        PHP version:  4.3.0

        I did some experimentation, namely I tried loading a completely different php script package and got the same problem, so the issue is more general, I am guessing in my setup or permissions.

        I can load and execute simple scripts, so at least I know php works.  I plan to learn more about php this weekend and do some more investigation, if I can find the time (I don't want to take up any more of yours, you have been quite generous with it!).

         
        • Anonymous

          Anonymous - 2003-08-31

          I did some experimentation and found that I cannot successfully call a script from another script using require() or include(), even when the called script executes fine on its own.  For example, even with something as simple as

          test.php:
          <?php require("subtest.php"); ?>

          subtest.php:
          <?php print "subtest running..."; ?>

          I can directly run subtest.php successfully, but test.php fails.  Is there something I need to define/set/turn on?

          I promise I will donate to where ever you specify if I can get this running....

          Thanks,
          Rod

           
    • Anonymous

      Anonymous - 2003-08-29

      looks (sic) like the problem I had when I messed up my themes path.  Have you adjusted this?

       
      • Anonymous

        Anonymous - 2003-08-30

        I haven't changed any settings yet, this was my first install.

        I did some experimentation, namely I tried loading a completely php script package and got the same problem, so the issue is more general, I am guessing in my setup or permissions.  I can load and execute simple scripts, so I plan to learn more about php this weekend and do some more investigation, if I can find the time.

         
    • John Finlay

      John Finlay - 2003-09-01

      Hi Rod,

      Now we are getting somewhere.  Does it work if you try using a full path when you do the include?  You might also try adding the following line in one of your test scripts:
      print getcwd();
      This will print out the current working directory.

      Create a phpinfo.php file with the following lines:
      <?php
      phpinfo();
      ?>

      Then point to that file and look for the "include_path" setting under the "PHP Core" section.  Double check that "." is part of the include path.  If it isn't then it needs to be added in the php.ini file.

      Assuming we get this working, you can donate via PayPal by sending money to yalnifj@users.sourceforge.net
      Sorry, no credit cards.

      --John

       
      • Anonymous

        Anonymous - 2003-09-02

        Hi John,

        Very strange:
        - No change when the full path is added.
        - print getcwd(); does not return the directory:  when I run

        <?php
        print "subtest starting";
        print getcwd();
        print "subtest running...";
        ?>

        I get

        subtest startingsubtest running...

        - . is in the include_path
        - PayPal is cool.

        Thanks,
        Rod

         
        • Anonymous

          Anonymous - 2003-09-02

          Correction:  typing the full path in _does_ work (at least it does when I type it in correctly...).

          Still, I don't understand the other behavior.

           
    • John Finlay

      John Finlay - 2003-09-02

      Create a test file that prints out the realpath function.  Something like this:

      <?php
      print realpath("./");
      ?>

      Hopefully, this will tell you the exact path of your working directory.  Check if it is the same as you placed your file in.

      You should also check if your host has disabled any functions.  Look at the "disable_functions" option in your phpinfo file.

      --John

       
      • Anonymous

        Anonymous - 2003-09-03

        print realpath("./"); returned nothing.

        "disable_functions" was "no value".

        Hmm, I'm guessing at this point I'll need to talk to my provider, unless you have any other ideas.

        Thanks for your patience with all this.

        Rod

         
        • Anonymous

          Anonymous - 2003-09-09

          My provider thought that it might be related to the fact that they have safe_mode turned on.  However, he admitted that he was not very php savvy.  I took a look at online docs for safe mode and did not think this was the problem, but I am clearly not php savvy either.

          Any thoughts if this could be the issue?  If so, any ideas for a workaround (other than going in and entering the full path for each file call)?

          Thanks,
          Rod

           
    • John Finlay

      John Finlay - 2003-09-10

      This isn't an issue that I am aware of with running PHP in safe mode.  For my testing environment, I have php set up in safe mode with strict error reporting and haven't experienced this problem before.

      In your phpinfo page what is the value of "safe_mode_include_dir"?  Does it include the "." directory?

      Create another test.php page and include the following lines:
      <?php
          print "PHP_SELF: ".$_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]."</br>";
          print "SCRIPT_FILENAME: ".$_SERVER["SCRIPT_FILENAME"]."</br>";
          print "DOCUMENT_ROOT: ".$_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]."</br>";
          print "PATH_TRANSLATED: ".$_SERVER["PATH_TRANSLATED"]."</br>";
      ?>

      I'm particularly interested if there is a difference between the SCRIPT_FILENAME and the PATH_TRANSLATED

      --John

       
      • Anonymous

        Anonymous - 2003-09-11

        Hi John,

        "safe_mode_include_dir" includes (and only includes) the "." directory.

        Test script result:

        PHP_SELF: /~rodbrown/test1.php
        SCRIPT_FILENAME: /users1/rodbrown/WWW/test1.php
        DOCUMENT_ROOT: /var/apache/htdocs
        PATH_TRANSLATED:

        [there was nothing after "PATH_TRANSLATED:"]

        Thanks,
        Rod

         
    • John Finlay

      John Finlay - 2003-09-11

      I'm concerned about the PATH_TRANSLATED being empty.  I'm wondering if the PHP user doesn't have the necessary permissions to read all of the files that it needs to?

      The PATH_TRANSLATED should have been the same as the SCRIPT_FILENAME or it should have replaced all virtual directories in the SCRIPT_FILENAME with where they pointed.  Something like this I would think:
      /var/apache/htdocs/~rodbrown/test1.php

      You should have your host check permissions on all the virtual directories.

      Another thing could be the way the virtualhost has been setup in the Apache httpd.conf file.  I would expect DOCUMENT_ROOT to be /users1/rodbrown/WWW/ for your virtual domain.

      Here is a sample virtualhost setup from a httpd.conf file (it may be of help to your host):

      <VirtualHost IPADDRESS>
      ServerName www.yourserver.com
      ServerAdmin webmaster@yourserver.com
      DocumentRoot /home/USERNAME/public_html
      User USERNAME
      Group USERNAME
      </VirtualHost>

      I don't know how your host has configured your server, so I can't be certain that this will be of any use to them.  The problem is obviously with the way they have configured the server and my thoughts are that it is a permissions problem or an apache misconfiguration problem maybe a little of both.

      --John

       
      • Anonymous

        Anonymous - 2003-10-05

        John,

        Finally got this problem resolved and the program up and running.  Below is the comment from my provider that fixed it.  Thanks for your help and patience!

        Rod

        The only significant fact that comes to mind is that /users1/rodbrown is not
        *readable* by the PHP user (www). It is *executable*, which is generally all
        a directory needs to be. It is possible that PHP wants to force a read of
        every intermediate directory and is upset if it can't. I don't know why
        they'd want to do this, and in my opinion they should gracefully deal with
        an unreadable but executable intermediate directory. But I've seen other
        things break due to that.

        To debug it, try this:

        chmod g+r /users1/rodbrown

         

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