localhost / vista / xampp setup

[jcroughton]

hi community

i'm trying to setup my actinic and run it locally whilst it's in development. i'm having real trouble trying to get the permissions etc working. i've read a couple of threads on the forum already but have come to a halt.

this is the export of my network settings. also attached is a screen grab of the error i'm getting. any help much appreciated, this has already taken me too long :(

HTTPPROXYMODE 0
HTTPPROXYADDRESS
HTTPPROXYPORT 80
HTTPPROXYUSER
HTTPPROXYPASSWORD
FTPPROXYMODE 0
FTPPROXYADDRESS
FTPPROXYPORT 21
FTPPROXYUSER
FTPPROXYPASSWORD
SCRIPTID 1
SCRIPTEXT .pl
SMTPHOST localhost
WEBSITEURL http://localhost/
IGNOREPASSIVEERRORS true
USERELATIVECGIURLS false
PATHTOPERL /usr/bin/perl
USEENHANCEFTP false
FTPCLIENTTIMEOUT 15000
FTPRETRYDELAY 3000
FTPSILENT false
FTPMAXRETRIES 3
FTPCONNECTTIMEOUT 25000
SMTPAUTHREQUIRED false
SMTPUSERNAME
SMTPPASSWORD
COMPRESSIONPACKETSIZE 1024
COMPRESSEDUPLOAD true
CATALOGURL http://localhost/acatalog/
ONLINESTOREFOLDERNAME acatalog
CGIBINURL http://localhost/cgi-bin/
PATHFROMCGITOCATALOG ../htdocs/acatalog/
CODEBASE ./
FTPHOST localhost
FTPUSERNAME ausernamehere
FTPPASSWORD apasswordhere
PATHTOCGIBIN cgi-bin/
USEPASSIVEFTP false
FTPPATHFROMCGITOCATALOG

[leehack]

this is the export of my network settings. also attached is a screen grab of the error i'm getting. any help much appreciated, this has already taken me too long :(
Go conventional and the far more easy route then, either upload to a test domain or to the main domain and block the spiders if required. You also have test mode as a possibility. KISS.

[Duncan Rounding]

I've tried a number of times to get WAMP working on XP and never managed to get the file permissions correct. Gave up.

Take Lee's suggestion and upload to a test domain.

[rmorrow]

I've had xampp running successfully on an XP box for a while now. An absolute must for testing perl changes!
What permissions have you got on the cgi folder?

[jcroughton]

hi

i'm on vista (so that could be a cause for these issues) but my folder structure is thus

C:\xampp\htdocs\aclientnamehere

with the folders

C:\xampp\htdocs\aclientnamehere\cgi-bin
C:\xampp\htdocs\aclientnamehere\htdocs

i've given 'Eveyeryone' and IIS_USR full access on both folders

any ideas?

[rmorrow]

In your xammp Apache setup, which folder have you set as the cgi folder? I'm not sure you can have multiple folders for executing cgi....

There is an xammp forum and this thread might be helful: http://www.apachefriends.org/f/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=30705&hilit=+cgi+folder+

[rmorrow]

The Apache "httpd.conf" (in C:\xampp\apache\conf) configuration file is well annotated with explanations about setting up perl / cgi. You'll have to change the line in your network settings from: PATHTOPERL /usr/bin/perl to PATHTOPERL C:\xampp\perl\bin\perl if you use xammp's preinstalled perl or PATHTOPERL C:\Perl\bin\perl if you install ActivePerl for Windows.

[jcroughton]

hi all

i've finally solved this with the help of actinic support. part of the reason it wasn't working was because the version of perl in xampp is 5.10.0 which actinic doesn't currently support. solution as follows:

1 install xampp
2 create new folder for current client i.e. C:\xampp\htdocs\clientnamehere
3 copy C:\xampp\cgi-bin to C:\xampp\htdocs\clientnamehere\cgi-bin
4 create C:\xampp\htdocs\clientnamehere\htdocs
5 create C:\xampp\htdocs\clientnamehere\htdocs\acatalog
(note steps 4,5 may not be required as actinic may do this for you, i did it anyway)
6 install activestate active perl (all default settings) - http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/
7 amend C:\xampp\htdocs\clientnamehere\cgi-bin files (open with text editor) to point to the activeperl folder - #!"C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe"
8 amend C:\xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf file changing the defaults (i commented out the defaults for future ref) of the following lines to:

DocumentRoot "/xampp/htdocs/clientnamehere/htdocs"
<Directory "/xampp/htdocs/clientnamehere/htdocs">
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/xampp/htdocs/clientnamehere/cgi-bin/"
<Directory "/xampp/htdocs/clientnamehere/cgi-bin">
#!"C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe"

9 create an ftp user in the filezilla server (click admin from xampp control panel for the filezilla server, then edit/users)
10 give that user a password
11 assign the following shared folders to that user

C:\xampp\htdocs\clientnamehere - all files and directories checkboxes ticked, also set as home dir
C:\xampp\htdocs\fultonumbrellas\cgi-bin - files=read/write/delete, directories=list/+subdirs

12 make sure apache/mysql/filezilla are running in xampp control panel
13 finally set your actinic network settings as shown in the screenshot attachment and 'publish to web'

now when you test in network settings it should complete ok.

note the network settings wizard will still fail. i believe this is because there is no CHMOD command on windows so when actinic tries to change the permissions on a file uploaded by filezilla during the wizard it can't. this doesn't matter.

happy local dev'ing :)

[leehack]

Or for those who value your time, buy a cheap £30 test domain for the year and test your site in the exact type of scenario in which it will work. You also have a test domain for other things throughout the year :D. You have the patience of a saint sir.

[Duncan Rounding]

Thanks for sharing the solution Jonathan - a post for the knowledgebase I think please mods....

[jon1010]

Hi Jonathan
I have followed your instructions exactly how you stated. From the errors reported, it seems to be a CGI permission
When I publish to web in Actinic it does put some files to CGI Folder.
I have given read/write delete access to cgi folder in filezilla server.

I would be grateful for your input, please see below
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
few considerations
- Windows 7 64 bit (xampp is with apache 32 bit, but this should not make a difference as W7 allows 32 bit programs to run)
- Actinic V9.01
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ERRORS
1. When I go straight to http://localhost/cgi-bin/ in browser I get error 'Access forbidden! >> You don't have permission to access the requested directory>> error 403'.
2. Actinic error POP UP BOX 1 when I do TEST in NETWORK SETUP '>>
Actinic received a request forbidden error from the web server. The server is not properly configured to allow Actinic to run CGI scripts from the cgi-bin. Run Web | Configure Web Site Details... to review your web site configuration
Suggestions:
- Check that this folder exists on your server in the place specified in your 'Web | Network Setup' screen and that scripts are allowed to run in it (you may need to contact your host).
- Check the permissions:
On Linux/Unix based servers the permissions should be:
cgi-bin (755) – drwxr-xr-x
Online Store Folder (777) – drwxrwxrwx
On Windows based servers (need to be checked with the hosting company):
IIS
cgi-bin = read/execute
Online Store Folder = read/write/execute
NTFS
cgi-bin = Catalog's FTP account needs 'Change' permissions on the directory
Online Store Folder = Catalog's FTP account needs 'Change' permissions on the directory AND the IUSR_<servername> account needs to have 'Change' permissions on the directory

- There could be a setting in your firewall that could cause this problem. To test this try turning off your firewall while you perform the upload. If the upload goes through ok then you will need to find the setting that is causing the problem.

SECOND POP UP BOX >>>
The test script failed to execute on the web server. The error could be caused by several things. Check:
- the 'Path to the Perl shell'
- the 'CGI script extension'
- the 'Path to CGI-BIN'
- the 'CGI-BIN URL'
- the amount of web space left on your server
- if your server is configured to accept POSTs to CGI scripts
- the permissions on the server:
On Linux/Unix based servers the permissions should be:
cgi-bin (755)– drwxr-xr-x
Online Store Folder (777)– drwxrwxrwx
On Windows based servers (need to be checked with the hosting company):
IIS
cgi-bin = read/execute
Online Store Folder = read/write/execute
NTFS
cgi-bin = Catalog's FTP account needs 'Change' permissions on the directory
Online Store Folder = Catalog's FTP account needs 'Change' permissions on the directory AND the IUSR_<servername> account needs to have 'Change' permissions on the directory

Thanks
Jon

[jcroughton]

hi jon,

i'm afraid i don't have a great deal of in depth knowledge for this, just that i got it working on my machine.

i would note that you seem to be trying to access the cgi-bin folder directly, which i believe you're not actually supposed to be able to do, hence the error?

one additional note, i set my actinic to run on port 8080 so i could still run iis (for other web dev projects) at the same time.

best

jc

[jcroughton]

hi jon

i wondered if you ever solved this problem? i'm now on windows 7 and trying to set actinic back up but seem to be running in to the same problem as you?

best

jc