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Troubles installing the master branch of the vanillaforums

While installing the master branch downloaded from github I get almost immediately a "HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found" (the address bar shows http://localhost/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup), I don't even get to the screen where I have to insert all the database and forum data.

Following the same steps I have no problems installing vanillaforums 2.0.18. I use windows 7, webmatrix, PHP 5.2 and MySQL 5.5

What can I do to fix it?

Thanks

Comments

  • Can anybody help me out here? This is killing me...

    I have been google-ing for days, reading all the documents, discussions and questions related to Vanilla installation and installation problems, but I haven't been able to figure out why I can install Vanilla release 2.0.18.4 and I can't install Vanilla 2.0.18.rc3 (master branch), on the same platform and following the same steps.

    I need to install the master branch because the Multilingual plugin needs it to be used to its full potential.

    Thank you for all the help, suggestion and advice that you can give me.

  • Assuming you want 2 distinct versions...
    2.0.18.4 and 2.0.18.rc3

    clean out the directory where you placed, download 2.0.18.rc3 again.
    put the source in. Create new database with permissions for the adminstrator

    try again, making sure you assign a new database if that is what you want. You should see the install screen. report back...

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • Thanks Peregrine, I really appreciate your help.
    I've done what you are suggesting and repeated it five times but the 2.0.18.rc3 wouldn't install.

    I've got two 2.0.18.4 (and I've repeated the installation from the bottom up a couple of times without any problem), each one in a separate folder, with its own database and the web server responding on different port numbers, neither one is 80, and they both work.

    I followed the same steps with 2.0.18.rc3 to no avail and I think that the problem may be related to the port number of the web server, in fact it seems to me that during the installation the master branch keeps on searching files on localhost:80 and not on localhost:actual-port-number: if I type in the address bar http://localhost:13545/ it ends up looking for http://localhost/index.php?=p/dashboard/setup and with an HTTP 404 error...

    What do you think? Have you ever heard about any problem regarding server port numbers?
    Thanks again!

  • UnderDogUnderDog MVP
    edited May 2012

    First problem is that you want to install the master branch and according to the version number you quote, that version number is lower than the actual Vanilla version we use at the moment.

    Second problem is that you want to install a release candidate, not an actual version.

    I think you want to install the 2.1 version and not the 2.0.18.x version.

    That's this branch : https://github.com/vanillaforums/Garden/tree/develop so the latest and the greatest is not the master branch, but a separate, developers branch.

    If you really really want to install the master branch there's some debugging involved to figure out why it's looking for that specific port 80.

    By the way : what is webmatrix, is that a combination of php, mysql and apache? Or are you using IIS on Windows 7?

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  • edited May 2012

    Thanks UnderDog, I appreciate it.

    I really know very little about releases and such, I just downloaded the 2.0.18.rc3 (this is the number written on its folder) because Lincoln told me that to use properly his Multilingual plugin I had to download and use this 'master branch'. He also told me that I could have used the 2.1 release but I think that it isn't out yet or, at least, I can't find it.

    I saw the developer's release at GitHub I but shied away, I thought that I am too incompetent to use something for developer's, anyway I might try it if you say that it isn't gonna "bite" me!

    Yep, WebMatrix is a (MS) php, mysql and IIS/IIS Express evironment, it's easy and works pretty well with WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Vanilla 2 (even with port numbers different from 80)... except with the 2.0.18.rc3 of course!

    So, apart from trying the developer's release what do you think I should try to do with the master branch? Where should I look into?
    Thanks a lot!

  • @UnderDog, I've quickly downloaded the developer release, unpacked it under "webroot"/vanilladev, created a new database named vanilladev and a new database user with all privileges, 'connected' through WebMatrix web server (localhost:13640, database and vanilla folder). Now, if everything goes well, visiting http://localhost:13640 I should see the setup page... nope, HTTP Error 404 Page not found! And the address has changed to http://localhost/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup.

    If I try to write directly in the address bar http://localhost:13640/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup then I arrive to the setup page but, after having filled all the fields, when I click on continue I get another HTTP Error 404 and the address bar shows again http://localhost/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup.
    I am at a loss... :-(

  • Why don't you, if you can install under port 80, just to get it installed and then change the port to what you want after installation.

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • ToddTodd Chief Product Officer Vanilla Staff

    We really don't test on other ports so I'm not surprised you're having problems.

  • lucabarbetti said:
    @UnderDog, I've quickly downloaded the developer release, unpacked it under "webroot"/vanilladev, created a new database named vanilladev and a new database user with all privileges, 'connected' through WebMatrix web server (localhost:13640, database and vanilla folder). Now, if everything goes well, visiting http://localhost:13640 I should see the setup page... nope, HTTP Error 404 Page not found! And the address has changed to http://localhost/index.php?p=/dashboard/setup.

    I have a few problems, but first I want to doublecheck something. You are working on your local computer, but after you have correctly installed Vanilla, will you bring your site over to your host, to show to the world? Will that host be a Linux host or a Windows (IIS) host?

    The problems I'm having is that you keep installing on your localhost and not in a directory on your localhost. It's not towards working on the solution that I have this problem, but it's just something I noticed.

    When I want to test some things I make 'virtual hosts', it's an apache term and I don't know the IIS / WebMatrix term for that. For example I have a virtualhost called 'vanilladev' and I install all the Vanilla Development versions on that virtual host. I guess you're doing that with the ports, but that requires adjustments inside vanilla, which will be highly unlikely to actually be done (maybe too honest here, but ok...)

    If you keep installing on your localhost (or virtualhost for that matter, so not on a webhost server) then you can keep installing the actual developer branch, since that's going to be one of the next versions anyway (my personal opinion).

    We don't have much experience with IIS and Vanilla and I don't think that will change soon either. I do know of someone who has his own IIS hosting, so he got things working on IIS...

    Lastly. My personal opnion : Step away from changing ports and find another way to install several versions of Vanilla. I install it in different directories and that works amazing. Find a way to use virtual hosts if you like.


    Every change regarding ports will probably result in changes in the sourcecode, which is a situation which you don't want to get into.

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  • First of all I'd like to thank you guys for your support, it's always encouraging to see experienced and proficient people to use their precious time to help somebody like me. Thank you!

    @peregrine, I would do that if I didn't have my development multilingual WordPress installation on that port, it works pretty well in all its aspects and I'd rather not touch it because I'am afraid to 'break' it. It took a long time to optimize it as I wanted, being neither a web developer nor a programmer it's been a long trial and error process.

    @Todd, I understand what you say, I've alse read several posts about Vanilla not being tested on other ports than 80 but, since I had no problem with the 2.0.18.4 release, I thought that you guys had found a way to to make it work regardless of the port number. I understand that this is not a Vanilla shortcoming but rather a problem related to my little knowledge and personal settings, and I'm only looking for a possible workaround.
    @UnderDog, yep I'm developing my personal website on localhost and hopefully it'll be public one day. I don't know if it's gonna be a unix-like or windows host. For me this is also a studying and learning process, in fact I started with XAMPP and Drupal (which is a great CMS but I got frustrated with it because of the issues among Drupal releases a plugins versions, there seemed to be always a conflict when adding a new piece), then I moved to XAMPP and WordPress, then I read an article about WebMatrix and I wanted to try it and now I'm kind of stuck with it because I've built the most part of my website with it and I'd like to finish it before another change.

    I don't know the inner details of WebMatrix but indeed it looks like it's making the 'virtualization' through the ports. In fact to create a website a need to create a folder for Vanilla under the webroot and a (new) database, then through WebMatrix I select the Vanilla folder and I create the database connection selecting the corresponding database, and then WebMatrix opens the website in http://localhost:port-number/, which is the same as http://web-root/vanilla/ (if I type in the address bar htpp://localhost:port-number/vanilla/ the browser says that can't find anything in http://web-root/vanilla/vanilla/). So, with WebMatrix every Vanilla (or CMS for that matters) installation has its own (real) folder and its own (virtual) website through a different port number.
    Maybe I could try to install the developer's release of Vanilla in a subdirectory of the WordPress Multisite but, honestly, I'd feel more confident without mixing them (especially their databases)...
    Thanks again!

  • ToddTodd Chief Product Officer Vanilla Staff
    via Email
    Getting Vanilla to work with another port is possible, but we are
    completely busy right now (which is a good thing for the project).

    Your install worked on 2.0.18 because we formatted many urls just using a
    path rather than the full domain. We've recently changed this as you often
    have external applications requesting stuff and they need the full domain.
    As an unintended consequence it messes with strange ports.
  • I don't know the inner details of WebMatrix but indeed it looks like it's making the 'virtualization' through the ports. In fact to create a website a need to create a folder for Vanilla under the webroot and a (new) database, then through WebMatrix I select the Vanilla folder and I create the database connection selecting the corresponding database, and then WebMatrix opens the website in http://localhost:port-number/, which is the same as http://web-root/vanilla/ (if I type in the address bar htpp://localhost:port-number/vanilla/ the browser says that can't find anything in http://web-root/vanilla/vanilla/). So, with WebMatrix every Vanilla (or CMS for that matters) installation has its own (real) folder and its own (virtual) website through a different port number.

    You're so close to the solution, at least it feels like you're close.

    Write down the actual addresses of all your vanilla try-outs : http://web-root/vanilla/ so forget about those pesky ports for a while :-)


    For example http://web-root/vanilla-dev/ http://web-root/vanilla-devmore/ etcetera

    Now try and access those directories (Urls) in your browser. What happens?

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  • @Todd... well, at least now I know that there is an absolutely reasonable reason why the master and developer releases can't get along with unusal port numbers and not just because of a 'whimsical' behaviour. Ultimately, in real situations, Vanilla isn't going to be used on unusual port numbers 99% of times, therefore making it work on whatever port number would probably be just an 'academic' plus. I'm glad to hear that the project is doing really well!!!!

    @UnderDog... I think that I've said something silly in my previous post:

    ..."the browser says that can't find anything in http://web-root/vanilla/vanilla/"...

    Actually I should have said that the browser says that it can't find anything in:

    Requested URL http://localhost:port-number/vanilla/

    Physical Path C:\Users\User\Documents\My Web Sites\vanilla\vanilla\

    As my understanding of WebMatrix goes, it associates:

    htpp://localhost:port-number/vanilla/ to C:\Users\User\Documents\My Web Sites\vanilla\;

    htpp://localhost:another-port-number/ to C:\Users\User\Documents\My Web Sites\vanilladev\;

    htpp://localhost:another-port-number-again/vanillamaster/ to C:\Users\User\Documents\My Web Sites\vanillamaster\;

    and so on, and there isn't a 'web-root' that I can use in the URL, I've got to use the port number to specify which local vanilla forum I want to vist... oh man, this thing makes me feel like a dummy!


    Thanks a lot guys!!!

  • lucabarbetti said:
    and so on, and there isn't a 'web-root' that I can use in the URL, I've got to use the port number to specify which local vanilla forum I want to vist... oh man, this thing makes me feel like a dummy!

    Don't worry, you just have an exotic installation with your WebMatrix environment.


    Type in http://localhost and see what you get :-)

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  • I get a sound "HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found"... :)
    That is because WebMatrix 'opens' only one website at a time, to have more websites running at the same time I need to start as many WebMatrix istances as are the websites, each one on its own port; therefore if I had the running istance of WebMatrix pointing at localost (localhost:80), then my WordPress Multisite would answer at http://localhost/.
    In this respect WebMatrix is not very flexible and becomes a pain in the butt when one needs to use several websites all at once.

  • Just to note, I'm having the same issues regarding losing the port number running on Nginx. Issues have only begun occurring with the master version from Github.
    The reason I'm using localhost:9090 is that I have the development version of Vanilla Forums running in a Vagrant virtual machine and forward port 80 on that machine to 9090 on my real machine.
    The primary issue this causes the Facebook plugin to end up with the wrong redirect URI and Facebook is sensitive to the port it returns you on (for good reason).
    Unfortunately PHP isn't my "native tongue" but if I get a little more time and concentration I'll try to fix the issue and submit a pull request.

  • edited June 2012

    Found it. See this pull request on Github.
    HOST was exploded (localhost:9090 => [localhost, 9090]) and then the port discarded, resulting in some of the paths missing the port if they use Request->Host directly.
    There may be some specific reason this was done, so it would be best for someone knowledgeable with that code (such as tburry who wrote that specific code section) to comment before merging it in. It has fixed all the issues I was having locally however and I'm not sure where one would want to discard port numbers generally.

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