This is a minor issue, but a little rewording of the install text could save some grief and time for first time drupal users/installers.

I'm specifically referring to the install.txt which is used in 6.15 and I think in 7.x (checked via api.drupal.org) as well...
// $Id: INSTALL.txt,v 1.61.2.4 2008/07/09 19:15:59 goba Exp $

The beginning of part 4 of the install text reads...

To run the install script point your browser to the base URL of your website
   (e.g., http://www.example.com).

It isn't clear to everyone that what you really mean is point your browser to http://www.example.com/install.php

Going to http://www.example.com during a new install prior to running install.php produces a white screen of death.

Comments

jhodgdon’s picture

jhodgdon
she/her
Primary language English
commented
Status: Active » Postponed (maintainer needs more info)

Really? It normally works for me to go to the intended home page directly, without the install.php suffix, prior to a new installation.

Can you give more information about what conditions might have led it to work for most people and not for you, or verify that it doesn't work? For instance, do you have drupal source files installed in a sub-directory instead of at the root, or something like that? What web server are you using (Apache, IIS, ???)?

s4j4n’s picture

s4j4n commented
Status: Postponed (maintainer needs more info) » Active

That is interesting that it works for you and not for me. I am curious what's causing this.

I encounter the behavior mentioned in my first post in MAMP as well as on my production server.

1. My MAMP is version 1.8.3, with...
- Apache/2.2.11
- PHP 5.2.10

In MAMP the directory containing my new drupal installation is a subdirectory within the htdocs directory. In MAMP - the directory htdocs is the DocumentRoot. So for me example.com is served from a drupal installation in a directory named "example", something like:
/Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example

You can navigate to example.com served by MAMP by pointing your browser at:
http://localhost:8888/example/

On my MAMP, prior to installation - navigating to http://localhost:8888/example/ produces a WSOD

The php error log file shows the following warnings/errors: 

Warning: Table 'example.access' doesn't exist query: SELECT 1 FROM access WHERE type = 'host' AND LOWER('::1') LIKE LOWER(mask) AND status = 0 LIMIT 0, 1 in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Warning: Table 'example.users' doesn't exist query: SELECT u.*, s.* FROM users u INNER JOIN sessions s ON u.uid = s.uid WHERE s.sid = '0a58bbc904d1bf5a56ac98a469dfa8af' in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc:128) in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 1037

Warning: Table 'example.cache' doesn't exist query: SELECT data, created, headers, expire, serialized FROM cache WHERE cid = 'variables' in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Warning: Table 'example.variable' doesn't exist query: SELECT * FROM variable in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Notice: Undefined variable: variables in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 480

Warning: Table 'example.cache' doesn't exist query: UPDATE cache SET data = '', created = 1262769518, expire = 0, headers = '', serialized = 0 WHERE cid = 'variables' in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Notice: Undefined variable: variables in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 487

Warning: Table 'example.system' doesn't exist query: SELECT name, filename, throttle FROM system WHERE type = 'module' AND status = 1 AND bootstrap = 1 ORDER BY weight ASC, filename ASC in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc:128) in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 636

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc:128) in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 637

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc:128) in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 638

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc:128) in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 639

Warning: Table 'example.url_alias' doesn't exist query: SELECT COUNT(pid) FROM url_alias in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/example/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

2. My production server is running OpenSolaris with...
- Apache/2.2.6 (Unix).
- PHP 5.2.4

The DocumentRoot is the /home/user/web/public directory. I extracted drupal in the web directory, renamed the drupal directory to public - so index.php of the drupal install is sitting in the web root.

Let's say that the URL example.com is served from this /home/user/web/public directory. With that assumption, on my production server, prior to installation - navigating to example.com produces a WSOD

More precisely, Safari and Firefox produce a WSOD, while Chrome produces a 404.

Using HTTP Live Headers in Firefox, once can see clearly that a 404 is returned for example.com

If I set PHP to display error messages, the following is displayed (note that ip addresses have been changed): 

Warning: Table 'example.access' doesn't exist query: SELECT 1 FROM access WHERE type = 'host' AND LOWER('64.222.222.111') LIKE LOWER(mask) AND status = 0 LIMIT 0, 1 in /home/user/web/public/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Warning: Table 'example.users' doesn't exist query: SELECT u.*, s.* FROM users u INNER JOIN sessions s ON u.uid = s.uid WHERE s.sid = '7ltk15i5dg4h2osrq2ir032foqd80u09' in /home/user/web/public/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Warning: Table 'example.cache' doesn't exist query: SELECT data, created, headers, expire, serialized FROM cache WHERE cid = 'variables' in /home/user/web/public/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Warning: Table 'example.variable' doesn't exist query: SELECT * FROM variable in /home/user/web/public/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Notice: Undefined variable: variables in /home/user/web/public/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 480

Warning: Table 'example.cache' doesn't exist query: UPDATE cache SET data = '', created = 1262757816, expire = 0, headers = '', serialized = 0 WHERE cid = 'variables' in /home/user/web/public/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Notice: Undefined variable: variables in /home/user/web/public/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 487

Warning: Table 'example.system' doesn't exist query: SELECT name, filename, throttle FROM system WHERE type = 'module' AND status = 1 AND bootstrap = 1 ORDER BY weight ASC, filename ASC in /home/user/web/public/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Warning: Table 'example.url_alias' doesn't exist query: SELECT COUNT(pid) FROM url_alias in /home/user/web/public/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

The database and user/user-privileges have been set up prior to navigating to the front page - and settings.php also has been setup. Navigating to example.com/install.php starts the installation process and the site installs successfully after that.

I hope some of this will be helpful. Please let me know if you need any more info or have further questions.

heine’s picture

heine commented

and settings.php also has been setup

Did you edit settings.php? All you should do is copy the stock default.settings.php to settings.php.

s4j4n’s picture

s4j4n commented
Status: Active » Closed (fixed)

Thank you Heine and jhodgdon for your replies. Yes I edited the settings.php file prior to loading the site for the first time. I guess I picked up some bad habits.