[SOLVED] Getting Module Manager to work on sites hosted at pair.com?

[Paul J]

I hope someone can help with this: sort of two problems rolled into one. Earlier in the year I moved one of my CMSMS sites to pair.com. Ever since I did so, in the system info there has been a red X next to:

root_path
/usr/www/users/[username]        (0755)

And I've been unable to upgrade any modules using the Module Manager: it lists upgraded modules, but just says 'cannot download' next to them.

It seems to be a permissions problem. I've been in touch with pair.com. They've checked that all files are owned by my user name and not by 'nobody'. They suggested installing something called php-cgiwrap into the directory where the script resides (so modules > ModuleManager), but I've been unable to get this to work so far. I searched this forum and there were a few posts about php-cgiwrap back in 2006-2007, but without a solution.

So I went back to fiddling with permissions and file creation mask settings. This is currently set as 022. I've also tried 002 and 000. In all instances, when I test it, it says that the owner IS 'nobody'.

In the file manager, if permissions for directories are set to 755, there's a padlock at the side of them. But even if the modules/ModuleManager directories are set to 777, the Module Manager still won't let me upgrade any modules.

I've recently upgraded the site to CMSMS 1.8, but the same problems were on earlier versions (1.7 etc).

Has anybody else managed to get Module Manager working on pair.com hosting, or does anyone else have any suggestions? This has been baffling me for most of the day.

Thanks in advance  :)

[spcherub]

@Paul 3: The issue is not always with the ownership of the file itself. For instance, if you FTP your files, they are most probably created with ownership pointing to your user id. When the programs are execute by the Apache (or other webserver) process, they may be running as another user altogether and may not have permissions to write into the files and folders that are owned by you.

So first question to ask the admins is what user id does the web-server process run as. Also check if this userid belongs to the same groupid as your own userid.

Then alter your file/folder permissions to the /modules folder to allow that userid to have write and execute permissions.
- If the userid of the webserver process is the same as yours, then make sure the folders (including the parent) is set to at least 755
- If the userid is different from yours but in the same group, then set folder for 775
- If the userid and groupid are completely different, then you may have to set the folders for 777 just before doing the module upgrades, then set them back to 755 to prevent any unwanted intrusions from other users on your shared server.

You may also have to set these permissions on the folder that lead to the CMSMS install - so it may start all the way up on your home directory/folder.

Apologies if you've already tried some or all of the above, but I hope it will be of some help.

S

[Paul J]

Thanks ever so much for your helpful and clear reply 

That largely covers what I'd already done, but it was good to see such a clear explanation  . I double checked with the host and they say:

The Web server runs as the username 'nobody' and is in the 'nobody' and 'www' groups.  You are in the 'users' group.

So based on your reply, I would expect 777 permissions to work. Unfortunately, they don't. I don't have access to the home directory to change permissions of that. That's probably why the host suggested the php-cgiwrap. They mentioned it again just now. I'll have to have another go at getting that to work.

Meanwhile, I've been updating modules manually. It's a bit time-consuming but a couple of people in this thread on the German forum: http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php/topic,49010.0.html recommend doing this rather than using the Module Manager!

Thanks again 

[Rolf]

@ Paul J

Do you want to train your Dutch some more 
Try this:
http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/index.ph ... 569.0.html

Groet, Rolf 

[Paul J]

@ Paul J

Do you want to train your Dutch some more 
Try this:
http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/index.ph ... 569.0.html

Groet, Rolf 

Rolf, that was exactly what I was after!  The linked post from Calguy1000 gave me some useful background info and your post prompted me to check the upload settings in config.php. So, after editing that and changing a load of permissions of files and directories within the modules directory, I once again have the ability to upgrade modules automatically!

I should visit the Dutch forum more often 

Alvast bedankt en groetjes

Paul