certain FTP is not _required_ for installation?

[sgbeal]

Hello, all!

The past hour i've been scouring through the docs trying to found out one simple thing: how do i do a manual install of Contao, without the FTP login which install.php demands. (i haven't hosted ftp on one of my machines in 10 years - it's insecure and barbaric.)

i've tried to do a manual install, but:

a) The docs don't say which sql needs to be imported.
b) The docs reference a sample site db (example_*.sql) which does not exist in the source tree.
c) The docs tell us the default password but not the default user name.

Is there a doc somewhere explaining how to set up Contao manually? i am a very experience Unix administrator and i'm not afraid to get my hands dirty in config/php/whatever files. i AM, however, afraid of FTP and refuse to host an FTP server just to run a web site.

:-?

----- stephan beal
http://wanderinghorse.net/home/stephan/

[jan.theofel]

Hello,

if the webserver (or more exactly the PHP process) is able to write/change files in the Contao directory you don't need the FTP access. The install tool will not prompt for the if they are not necessary.

Jan

[sgbeal]

Hi!

The PHP process is running as the www user and Contao will (if i can get it installed) be running under my home directory, meaning that Contao does not (and should not) have ANY write access to my filesystem.

Is there a way to manually install it? i haven't found any docs about any installation technique except for the ftp approach. i did in fact try ftp (despite being, as a system admin, anti-ftp since 10+ years), and the install process always tells me "cannot find directory so and so" (no matter what relative path i give for the install). That said, ftp is not an option for me long-term. Nor is write access by the Contao process to my directory structure.

Can Contao function without write access to the filesystem? (If not, i'm in the wrong place.)

[jan.theofel]

Hi,

The PHP process is running as the www user and Contao will (if i can get it installed) be running under my home directory, meaning that Contao does not (and should not) have ANY write access to my filesystem.

You can store the files in your home directory but have to give Contao write access to them. You might consider using "www" as group instead of user and grant write access to that group. Or you grant write access to anyone which is insecure but you could do this as a test.

Can Contao function without write access to the filesystem? (If not, i'm in the wrong place.)

No. Contao as to be able to write files. Either directly or using FTP (so called save mode hack).

Jan

[xchs]

Hi sgbeal,

you can run the PHP process in a user context using CGI/FastCGI or whatever. That said, Contao (as a PHP application) runs always with the same access rights as the (FTP) user, therefore - in this case - you don't need the SMH anymore.

Can Contao function without write access to the filesystem? (If not, i'm in the wrong place.)

Anyway, Contao of course must have write access to the own configuration files (and some temporary directories as well)! How else Contao should write and save the own configuration settings?