DCForum2000 Installation guide for UNIX, LINUX, ..., NON-NT
=======================================================================

NOTE: If you are upgrading from DCForum99 Ver 1.1, please
use upgrade_99_00.txt

Installation notes for LINUX, FreeBSD, UNIX, and other UNIX variants 

Installing and setting up DCForum consists of following steps:

0) Installation overview
1) Basic Setup (recommended setup)
2) Edit *.cgi files and dcforum.setup
3) Upload files to your web server
4) Start dcadmin.cgi and register as admin
5) Create Conferences and Forums
6) Customize dcforum.htmlt, the template file

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTION EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED.

0. Installation Overview
========================================================================

   If you don't know what chmod is...
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   Typically, installing any Perl CGI programs on UNIX systems involves 
   creating directories, uploading files, and then changing file and
   directory permissions. If you know how to chmod or have done 
   CGI installation before, skip to the "Basic Setup" section below.  
   If you do not know what chmod is or how to specify it, then you 
   need to read the next couple paragraphs.
   
   In order for perl CGI programs to run on your web server, they must have
   proper file permissions.  Additionally, if your perl CGI program
   needs a permission to create files or to read/write to files,
   then directories and files must all have proper permissions.
   Without going into detail, this basically means that certain directories
   need to be set to 777, which grants read/write/execute permission to
   owner/group/world.  You also need to set *.cgi files to 755, which grants 
   read/write/execute permission to the owner and read/execute to the group 
   and world.
   
   If you have telnet access, you can just type:
   
   chmod 755 file.cgi
   
   Or, if you are using an FTP program, there should be a function that
   allow you to change the permission by selecting a file on your server.
   If you have more questions, please contact support@dcscripts.com
   
   At this point, if you are not sure where to start, let me suggest
   that you consider an installation option ($35 extra).  We'll
   install it for your on your web site usually within next 24 hours.
   

1) Basic Setup (recommended setup)
========================================================================
IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE MAKE SURE TO USE ASCII 
MODE FOR UPLOADING SCRIPTS FILES (EXCEPT IMAGE FILES, USE BINARY MODE)

   Directory vs URL
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------   
   Please recognize the difference between a "directory" and an "URL".
   By directory we mean the physical location of a folder on your server.
   For example, "/usr/home/https".  On the other hand, by URL we mean 
   the WWW address of your website.  For example, "http://www.yoursite.com"

   Setting up DCForum
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------   
   There are more than one way to setup DCForum system.
   The following setup what we recommend.

   /cgi-bin directory
      |---/dcforum (755)
              |---dcboard.cgi (755)
              |---dcadmin.cgi (755)
              |---dcforum.htmlt (644)
              |---dcforum.setup (644)
              |----/private_forums (777)
                      |----index.html
              |---User_info (777)
                      |---index.html (to hide directory)
              |---Lib (755)
                      |---all *.pl files (644)

   /htdocs directory
        |----/dcforum (777)
               |---/admin.html
               |---/Images (755)
                      |----index.html 
                      |----All gif files 

   NOTE:

   - /cgi-bin/dcforum must be set up to execute files as scripts
   - /cgi-bin/User_info must have 777 permission
   - /htdocs/dcforum must have 777 permission
   - /cgi-bin/dcforum/private_forums must have 777 permission
   - (Again)For image files, please us BINARY when you FTP your files For 
      all other file, please use ASCII mode.

   IMPORTANT SECURITY INFORMATION - On some servers, users can point 
   their browser to your /cgi-bin/dcforum/dcforum.setup and have the file
   display this page.  This is a major security problem since 
   dcforum.setup information contains your setup information such as
   User_info directory name and the user database name.  Knowing these
   information one can access your user database and know the administrator's
   username and password.
   
   To avoid this problem, do the following:
   - Rename User_info directory to some name difficult to guess
   - Edit dcforum.setup and make sure $password_file_dir is set to this
     new directory name
   - Rename dcforum.setup -- for example, dcforum_somerandomnumber.stup
   - For dcboard.cgi, and dcadmin.cgi, modify the
     'require' statement to require this new setup file

   
   Setting up your server
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------   
   Here is the step by step instruction on setting up DCForum.
   In this section, we use our recommended setup.
   
   a. Change directory to your root html directory.  By root html directory
      we mean the directory corresponding to your home site URL.

   b. Create a subdirectory called "dcforum" - this is where your
      public forums will be stored.  Chmod this directory to 777.

   c. Upload admin.html to "dcforum" directory.

   d. Create a subdirectory called "Images" in "dcforum" directory.

   e. Change directory to "Images" and upload all the image files to
      this directory. REMEMBER TO USE BINARY MODE WHEN YOU UPLOAD IMAGE FILES.
      You can either use the default icons or the netscape icons.

   f. Change directory to your root cgi-bin directory.  By root cgi-bin directory
      we mean the directory corresponding to your cgi-bin URL.

   g. In your cgi-bin directory, create a subdirectory named "dcforum".

   h. Change directory to "dcforum".

   i. Create a subdirectory called "private_forums" or some name that you
      make up - this is where your private forums will be stored.
      Chmod this directory to 777.

   j. Create a subdirectory  named "User_info" in "dcforum".
      Chmod this directory to 777.

   k. Upload index.html file to "User_info" directory - this will hide this directory

   l. Create a subdirectory  named "Lib" in "dcforum".

   m. Upload all *.pl files in /cgi-bin/dcforum/Lib directory of the unzipped package
      to this "Lib" directory - BE SURE TO USE ASCII MODE. 
      
   o. Change directory to your /cgi-bin/dcforum directory.


2) Edit *.cgi files and dcforum.setup
========================================================================
We need to edit all cgi files (those files that end with cgi extension) 
and dcforum.setup before we upload these files to the newly created 
/cgi-bin/dcforum directory.

   You'll need to know:
   - Full directory path to your cgi-bin and root html directory
     If you're not sure, ask your ISP.

   Editing *.cgi files
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
   a. Open all *.cgi files in your favorite text editor.  The files 
      you'll need to edit are:
   
      dcadmin.cgi
      dcboard.cgi

   b. Edit the very first line "#!/usr/bin/perl".  This is the location
      of Perl 5 on your server.  Usually, /usr/bin/perl will work.
      Sometime, it may be located in /usr/local/bin/perl...
      Ask you ISP if you can't start the forum due to error.

   c. Edit $cgidir variable - this is the path to the directory where
      all your cgi scripts are located.  The default value,
   
     $cgidir = ".";

     will work on must servers.  If it doesn't work, try using
     full directory paths.  If you're not sure, ask your ISP
     what the full directory path to your cgi-bin is.

     HINT: Consider using install_help.cgi to help you determine
     the correct values of $cgidir and $maindir

   Editing dcforum.setup
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
   This file is the most important file.  You must provide correct information
   or else DCForum will not work.  At minimum, you'll need to define
   the following variables:  See dcforum.setup for details.

   $homeurl - URL to your main site
   $platform - NT, UNIX or FREEBSD
   $maindir - Full directory path to your /htdocs/dcforum directory
   $mainurl - URL of $maindir
   $cgiurl - URL of $cgidir

   Upload files to your web server
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

   a. Upload (USING ASCII MODE)

           dcboard.cgi
           dcadmin.cgi
           dcforum.htmlt
           dcforum.setup

   to your /cgi-bin/dcforum directory.  Then, chmod *.cgi files to 755.


3) Start dcadmin.cgi and register yourself.
========================================================================
   Start dcadmin.cgi by opening this page in your browser.  The URL should be
   something like, http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcadmin.cgi.
   The firsttime you run this script, it will execute an init library file 
   that will generate directories and files used by DCForum2000.
   If all goes well, the login screen should show up.  If you get any errors, 
   please go back and check to make sure that all path 
   variables and permissions are set correctly.  If your not sure the paths
   are correct, use install_help.cgi to help you determine $cgidir.

   Also, check and make sure
   that you didn't use BINARY mode when you transfer the files.  If you're still
   stuck, use our support forum at 
   
   http://www.dcscripts.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi

   If you are successful, click on "New User? Click here to register and 
   create an account" link to register yourself.
   Since you are the first person to register, you will have 'admin' user group.
   All others will default to 'normal' user group.
   
4) Create Forums and other good stuff
========================================================================

   >>>Please refer to "Post Installation Configuration"
      in the administrator user's guide<<<

   The basic step to creating your forum is as follows:

   0) Log on as administrator
   1) Choose forum setting and set your preference - lots of stuff here.
      See section 2 of the administrator user's guide.
   3) Create conferences and forums - See section 3 of the 
      administrator user's guide

   Please refer to the administrator user's guide ($mainurl/admin.html)

5) Customize dcforum.htmlt, the template file
========================================================================
DCForum script uses one template file for all its output.  dcforum.htmlt
is just an HTML file that you can easily modify to customize the
look and feel of the board.  So long as you do not remove script tags
with "$" sign in front, you should be ok.
