Phorum
http://www.phorum.org

If you are upgrading an existing Phorum, see one of the upgrade*.txt files.

**********************************************
*  READ security.txt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!           *
**********************************************

Contents:

0. PRE-Installation
1. Installation
2. Creating a forum.
3. Features
4. Support
5. Add-on Scripts
6. Upgrading

****************************
*** 0. PRE-Installation  ***
****************************

    Read security.txt after you complete the installation.

 1. Make sure you have PHP (www.php.net) installed.  We recommend version 3.0.12
    or higher.  Phorum has been known to work with 3.0.6, but we have also seen
    problems with this version.  Phorum 3.2.x was tested with version 4.0.3.

 2. Make sure you have one of the supported databases installed.  At the time
    this was written the ones tested by the Phorum team are:
    MySQL version 3.22.x or higher. (www.tcx.se)
    PostgreSQL 6.4.1 or higher (www.postgresql.org)

    There are also database modules for other databases.  These are not tested
    by the Phorum team.

    Sybase SQL Server
    Microsoft SQL Server

 3. If you do not have a database already, create a database.  In MySQL you
    use the "mysqladmin" program like this:

    mysqladmin -uuser -ppaswword create mydb

 4. Be sure that you have a user for that database which has the rights to
    select, insert, update, delete, create, alter and drop.  A MySQL Grant
    statment for this user would look like this:

    GRANT
      select, insert, update, create, alter, delete, drop
    ON
      database.*
    TO
      user@localhost
    IDENTIFIED BY
      'password';


************************
*** 1. Installation  ***
************************

    Read security.txt after you complete the installation.

******* There is a script in the scripts dir called install.sh.  If you are on
******* a Unix system please use this script to set up Phorum.  This script
******* make many of the following steps unnecessary.

 1. Edit common.php.

    a) Change $inf_path to the dir where you will put forums.php.  See
       security.txt for more on why you should move it.

    b) Change $include_path to the dir where you will put the included
       files.  There is no real risk in leaving these where they are.
       If you are uncomfortable about people possibly reading code on
       your server you may want to move them.  Simply changing the dir
       name to something unique would do.

    c) Change $admindir to the dir where you will put the admin files.  See
       security.txt for more on why you should move it and how to protect it.
       If you move the admin directory to somewhere other than one level down
       from the current location, see security.txt for details on how you must
       change the admin/index.php to reflect these changes.

    e) Set the name ($admin_page) of the main admin script (index.php by default).

    f) Configure Phorum to interface with your DBMS.

       This means uncommenting the line in common.php that corresponds to your
       database system.  MySQL is selected by default.  The variable that needs
       to be changed is $db_file

       NOTE FOR POSTGRESQL USERS:  If you are using PostgreSQL 6.5 or newer use
       the postgresql65.php file.  Others use the postgresql.php file.

    g) If you want to use a different base tablename that "forums" change the
       value of $pho_main to reflect this.

 2. Give write permissions to the webserver on the admin/forums dir.

     > cd admin
     > chmod 707 forums

    This is only secure if you are on a dedicated server.  If you are on a
    shared server, see security.txt for more detail on securing your files.

 3. Give write permissions to the webserver on the configuration files.

     > cd [inf_path]
     > chmod 707 forums.php
     > chmod 706 forums.bak.php

    This is only secure if you are on a dedicated server.  If you are on a
    shared server, see security.txt for more detail on securing your files.

 4. Move the files into your web tree.  Be sure you move forums.php and
    forums.php.bak to the location you designated in common.php for
    $inf_path.  By default these files are in the include dir.

    NOTE: If this is a first time install you will need to rename the following:
      forums.php-dist => forums.php
      forums.bak.php-dist => forums.bak.php
      header.php-dist => header.php
      footer.php-dist => footer.php

    In most cases, changes to your existing forums.php can be included by
    upgrading the admin files and selecting "Rebuild INF file".

 5. Secure forums.php and forums.php.bak according to your setup as laid out
    in security.txt.

 6. Goto the admin from a web browser.  This is admin/index.php by default.

 7. Now select 'Main'.  Then, select 'Change Password'.  Fill in your new
    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