By forumer on

Reading the instillation manual, can somebody explain the following?

2. CREATE THE CONFIGURATION FILE AND GRANT WRITE PERMISSIONS

Drupal comes with a default.settings.php file in the sites/default
directory. The installer uses this file as a template to create your
settings file using the details you provide through the install process.
To avoid problems when upgrading, Drupal is not packaged with an actual
settings file. You must create a file named settings.php. You may do so
by making a copy of default.settings.php (or create an empty file with
this name in the same directory). For example, (from the installation
directory) make a copy of the default.settings.php file with the command:

cp sites/default/default.settings.php sites/default/settings.php

Next, give the web server write privileges to the sites/default/settings.php
file with the command (from the installation directory):

I'm only installing a new 6.4 Drupal, not upgrading. I find the above ambiguous because it mentions upgrade.

So for instillation only, what do I do for this step? Do I configure the default.settings.php, and go with that? Or do I create a settings.php, and configure that? Or do I do both, or neither?

Please elaborate.

⋅ Categories: Drupal 6.x

Comments

nevets’s picture

nevets commented

Easy way, copy default.settings.php to settings.php, make sure settings.php is writable by the world. Now visit your site, it should run the install script and prompt you for needed information.

forumer’s picture

forumer commented

So for instillation, and before install script is ran, the sites/default/ route will have both default.settings.php and settings.php present?

nevets’s picture

nevets commented

Correct

forumer’s picture

forumer commented

make sure settings.php is writable by the world

By that do you mean chmod to 777 ?

Will this be good enough for the instillation?

hollybeary’s picture

hollybeary commented

yes, that's correct

forumer’s picture

forumer commented

After i copy default.settings.php to settings.php, do I then edit settings.php to input my database name, user name, password, etc. ? Or I do nothing?

nevets’s picture

nevets commented

Just visit your site and the install script should run.

forumer’s picture

forumer commented

What about inputting database details, User, database, and password into settings.php? To connect Drupal site to database?

nevets’s picture

nevets commented

Just run the install script, it will prompt for the needed information.

hollybeary’s picture

hollybeary commented

When you visit the site it will change your settings.php file for you, hence why you need to make it writable :)

forumer’s picture

forumer commented

In that manual task, it also says the following:

So that the files directory can be created automatically, give the web server
write privileges to the sites/default directory with the command (from the
installation directory):

chmod o+w sites/default

Does that mean, also, as well as settings.php, sites/default needs to be CHMOD to 777 too?

Two separate CHMOD of 777, one for settings.php, and one for sites/default ?

hollybeary’s picture

hollybeary commented

Yes, that's what the means OR else you can manually create a new folder under the directory default and just change the write permissions of the file folder to 777.

mrtoner’s picture

mrtoner commented

"Write privileges" means 666; 777 is execute privileges and may cause problems with some hosts. In many cases you don't even need this step. Here's the process:

1) Create a blank settings.php file in the sites/default folder.
2) Load your website in your browser and follow the instructions.

If Drupal indicates it has a problem, change the permissions.

forumer’s picture

forumer commented

Create a blank settings.php file in the sites/default folder

By blank settings.php do you mean a complete blank new settings.php file with no text at all, or did you mean a copy of default.settings.php renamed settings.php, but without inputting user name, database name, and user password?

hollybeary’s picture

hollybeary commented

copy of the default. Have you still not been able to get it up and running?

mrtoner’s picture

mrtoner commented

Actually, I meant blank. Absolutely, positively nothing in it. This sentence from the instructions that you quoted is unambiguous:

You must create a file named settings.php. You may do so
by making a copy of default.settings.php (or create an empty file with
this name in the same directory).

It's been eight days since you opened this topic. Quit stalling! :-)

jbarchuk’s picture

jbarchuk commented

HiHi!

(I was very pleased with the clarity of the chmod instructions in the install page, because personally I can't -read- those a-w or whatevers, prefer the octals. LOL!)

But while your instructions here -are- perfectly clear they are 80% down this page, and joe yoozer has to -find- it (and filter down that 80% ambiguity,) and there's not the slightest reason it couldn't be in the main installation instruction page. It (one or the other) certainly -has- to be done. Maybe wunna them 'rites of passage' things.' :)

I figured out that I should copy the default.settings before I found this page, but still kept looking because I wasn't -sure- it was the right way to go. It's also still unclear if copying or touching an empty fill is the 'rightest' way to do it, or which will be supported in the future.

Have a :) day!

jim barchuk

denniszen’s picture

denniszen commented

Requirements problem
The following error must be resolved before you can continue the installation process:
The Drupal installer requires that you create a settings file as part of the installation process.

1. Copy the ./sites/default/default.settings.php file to ./sites/default/settings.php.
2. Change file permissions so that it is writable by the web server. If you are unsure how to grant file permissions, please consult the on-line handbook.

More details about installing Drupal are available in INSTALL.txt.

Please check the error messages and try again.

(I tried to reinstall but it didn't work. I have default.settings.php and settings.php. Didn't work. I tried to see permissions on my Windows, could not find the advanced settings, as indicated. I also could not find IIS with the wwwroot. The answer may be starting me in my face but not being a programmer, I cannot see the problem.)

Windows XP's security tab is hidden by default, so before the permissions can be set you need to:

1. Go to My Computer.
2. Click on the Tools>Folder Options menu item.
3. Select the View tab.
4. Under Advanced settings, scroll down to the bottom and uncheck Use simple file sharing (Recommended).
5. Click Ok.
6. Navigate to the file or folder that needs its permissions changed.
7. Right-click on the file or folder and click on Properties.
8. Select the Security tab.
9. Click on the Internet Guest Account and make sure that the Allow checkbox is set for Write permissions.
10. If you are changing these permissions for the Drupal install process, when the installation is complete, for security reasons, you should revoke write permissions on the files or folders that Drupal no longer needs to write to.
11. To revoke write permissions, just uncheck it.

wesinbrooklyn’s picture

wesinbrooklyn commented

I am just pulling my hair out with this problem:

"The Drupal installer requires that you create a settings file as part of the installation process.

1. Copy the ./sites/default/default.settings.php file to ./sites/default/settings.php.
2. Change file permissions so that it is writable by the web server. If you are unsure how to grant file permissions, please consult the on-line handbook.

More details about installing Drupal are available in INSTALL.txt."

I am trying to install Drupal locally on Xampp on Vista Home. I am an industrial designer and have better than average understanding of making stuff work on my computer, following directions, but I have tried everything that I have read here and everywhere to get drupal working, and can not get past this error message. I have spent literally hours on this.

-I have copied, not written over default.settings.php
-I have set permissions on the files via properties/security
-I have run notepad as admin, and built a new "sites" directory, with new settings files properly named, with content pasted from originals, and all permissions given.

I can't even name all the other ways I have tried to fix this. I have started from scratch like 7 times. I've kind of given up, maybe I'll give drupal another attempt in a month or two, I just don't understand why it is this hard to set it up locally. I hope in the future it is easier, it has been super frustrating.

-Cursed-’s picture

-Cursed- commented

I can't seem to get past the settings.php check on the installation. I have checked the write permissions on the file and folder and actually now have them set at 777 for the sites folder and everything below it. I followed the the install.txt to the letter and still could not get this to work. I am running this on a Fedora Core 10 box. I am getting the SELINUX error about the "httpd_unified" but have already set it to 1 and I have checked it several times and it is still 1.

I copied the default.settings.php to settings.php and then changed the permission initially with the command o+w. When that didn't work I changed the permission to 777 and that didn't work.

I had drupal-6.12 up and running on Fedora Core 9 with out any problems and now that I have "upgraded the server to Fedora Core 10" and attempted to install a "new" drupal site I think I have lost way to much hair.

Any ideas?