[drupal-devel] files folder error
So, basically, since I know no one here likes long irrelevent stories, I would like to know why there isn't anything in the install file about making the 'files' folder... apparently it must be necessary, because you get a big red: The directory files does not exist. error. (Drupal 4.5.2 has this changed in 4.6?) It's not quite documentation, and I know what to do about it so it's not support. Just askin'. :) Anisa.
Op 15-mrt-05 om 13:32 heeft Anisa het volgende geschreven:
So, basically, since I know no one here likes long irrelevent stories, I would like to know why there isn't anything in the install file about making the 'files' folder... apparently it must be necessary, because you get a big red: The directory files does not exist. error. (Drupal 4.5.2 has this changed in 4.6?)
It's not quite documentation, and I know what to do about it so it's not support. Just askin'. :)
Anisa. With other words, you wanted to mention that thi should be inside the install.txt, right? I fully agree with you...
Stefan.
With other words, you wanted to mention that thi should be inside the
If anything be done about it, an empty files/ folder should be included with the installation itself. At the very least, it'll reduce the steps a bit. Currently, we've got: a) go to admin pages. b) read warning. curse. c) create files/. d) refresh admin page. e) wtf, dude?! f) change permission Adding it to the install, we have: a) read INSTALL. curse. b) create files/. c) go to admin page. d) wtf, dude?! e) change permission By shipping an empty files/, we get: a) go to admin pages. b) read permissions warning. curse. c) change permission -- Morbus Iff ( i think the "good book" is missing some pages ) Technical: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/779 Culture: http://www.disobey.com/ and http://www.gamegrene.com/ icq: 2927491 / aim: akaMorbus / yahoo: morbus_iff / jabber.org: morbus
Morbus Iff wrote:
By shipping an empty files/, we get:
a) go to admin pages. b) read permissions warning. curse. c) change permission
You can even skip that curse by pointing out in the install file that they need to change the permissions. This was my 3rd and smoothest drupal install yet, so it particularly annoyed me. ;p There should be no warnings like that out of the box. I think the reason that they don't give a default files directory is perhaps safety... technically, the way it is now, you can put files wherever you want. It may not be desirable to have everyone put it in the same place. Even so, it seems to be required, so it should be in the install text. :) Anisa.
By shipping an empty files/, we get:
a) go to admin pages. b) read permissions warning. curse. c) change permission
You can even skip that curse by pointing out in the install file that they need to change the permissions. This was my 3rd and smoothest drupal install yet, so it particularly annoyed me. ;p There should be no warnings like that out of the box.
I think the reason that they don't give a default files directory is perhaps safety... technically, the way it is now, you can put files wherever you want. It may not be desirable to have everyone put it in the same place. Even so, it seems to be required, so it should be in the install text. :)
The reason why there is no empty files dir IMHO is that some compression/decompression utils tend to remove empty folders on archive creation/extraction. So having an empty files folder given these tools will not help users, but would add a point to the confusion stream: a) go to admin pages b) read warning. curse. c) find files folder in archive, wonder why it is not extracted d) create files/. e) refresh admin page. f) wtf, dude?! g) change permission Goba
There are source code distributions that put a dummy file in empty directories for this reason. On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 14:12:18 +0000, Gabor Hojtsy <gabor@hojtsy.hu> wrote:
By shipping an empty files/, we get:
a) go to admin pages. b) read permissions warning. curse. c) change permission
You can even skip that curse by pointing out in the install file that they need to change the permissions. This was my 3rd and smoothest drupal install yet, so it particularly annoyed me. ;p There should be no warnings like that out of the box.
I think the reason that they don't give a default files directory is perhaps safety... technically, the way it is now, you can put files wherever you want. It may not be desirable to have everyone put it in the same place. Even so, it seems to be required, so it should be in the install text. :)
The reason why there is no empty files dir IMHO is that some compression/decompression utils tend to remove empty folders on archive creation/extraction. So having an empty files folder given these tools will not help users, but would add a point to the confusion stream:
a) go to admin pages b) read warning. curse. c) find files folder in archive, wonder why it is not extracted d) create files/. e) refresh admin page. f) wtf, dude?! g) change permission
Goba
I would not have to be a blank file. A nice readme.txt with some minor instructions is always appreciated. Carl McDade Gabor Hojtsy wrote:
There are source code distributions that put a dummy file in empty directories for this reason.
Yes, I know, but I keep thinking that these dummy files look, ... well .. dummy.
Goba
Op 15-mrt-05 om 16:23 heeft Carl McDade het volgende geschreven:
I would not have to be a blank file. A nice readme.txt with some minor instructions is always appreciated.
Carl McDade
Carl, please wake-up.. I am helping with support and development for about 3 or 4 years now, and I can tell you that almost 80% of all the questions there are, are nicely answered in some of the documentation or the forum we already have.. The biggest problems are: - people just ignore readme.txt or install.txt; - people are to stupid to search a website before asking questions; I just wanted to mention this... Stefan
And I thought girls were catty. ;p Having a readme file in the directory is not particularly intuitive. There are probably too many readmes in the world anyway. The easiest thing to do is to simply add one or two lines on the subject in the install text. See, watch. =============================== 5. CONFIGURE DRUPAL You can now launch your browser and point it to your Drupal site. Create an account and login. The first account will automatically become the main administrator account. You will need to add a 'files' folder to your Drupal site. This directory has to exist and be writable by Drupal. The default is yoursite.com/files . If you put the folder anywhere else, change the setting appropriately in administer > settings >> File system settings (near the end). See the file system settings for more details. =============================== Anisa. Stefan Nagtegaal wrote:
Op 15-mrt-05 om 16:23 heeft Carl McDade het volgende geschreven:
I would not have to be a blank file. A nice readme.txt with some minor instructions is always appreciated.
Carl McDade
Carl, please wake-up.. I am helping with support and development for about 3 or 4 years now, and I can tell you that almost 80% of all the questions there are, are nicely answered in some of the documentation or the forum we already have..
The biggest problems are: - people just ignore readme.txt or install.txt; - people are to stupid to search a website before asking questions;
I just wanted to mention this...
Stefan
It is a necessary evil. A blank file will get you more questions than a readme.txt with 60 characters in it. The purpose would not be to get people to read the file but to solve the empty directory problem. Carl McDade Stefan Nagtegaal wrote:
Op 15-mrt-05 om 16:23 heeft Carl McDade het volgende geschreven:
I would not have to be a blank file. A nice readme.txt with some minor instructions is always appreciated.
Carl McDade
Carl, please wake-up.. I am helping with support and development for about 3 or 4 years now, and I can tell you that almost 80% of all the questions there are, are nicely answered in some of the documentation or the forum we already have..
The biggest problems are: - people just ignore readme.txt or install.txt; - people are to stupid to search a website before asking questions;
I just wanted to mention this...
Stefan
How about a README.txt file that says what the directory is for, and about setting the permissions. I happen to think that every directory should have one of these. Gabor Hojtsy wrote:
There are source code distributions that put a dummy file in empty directories for this reason.
Yes, I know, but I keep thinking that these dummy files look, ... well ... dummy.
Goba
On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 15:01:48 +0000, Gabor Hojtsy <gabor@hojtsy.hu> wrote:
There are source code distributions that put a dummy file in empty directories for this reason.
Yes, I know, but I keep thinking that these dummy files look, ... well ... dummy.
:-) Okay. I noticed Drupal 4.6 automatically creates this directory if you don't do so beforehand. That means we're really trying to handle it all transparently...but I was on a shared server once where this would be a problem because the webserver was a different user than I was. An app would create a directory I couldn't delete...done badly I couldn't even access it. Looking at it functionally rather than stylistically a dummy file in the distribution handles it with no questions from anyone and no need to yell at people for not reading the fine manual.
I noticed Drupal 4.6 automatically creates this directory if you don't do so beforehand. That means we're really trying to handle it all transparently...but I was on a shared server once where this would be a problem because the webserver was a different user than I was. An app would create a directory I couldn't delete...done badly I couldn't
Yes, this is a known bug in Drupal, one which I've been tracking. More: http://drupal.org/node/10658 -- Morbus Iff ( you shouldn't have come here ) Technical: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/779 Culture: http://www.disobey.com/ and http://www.gamegrene.com/ icq: 2927491 / aim: akaMorbus / yahoo: morbus_iff / jabber.org: morbus
IMOP this is not a bug but developer error. All directories the are created without user input should be set to 777 so that they can be read and/or deleted. Or at the very least provide the user with a maintenance PHP file so they can clean up the mess. Carl McDade Morbus Iff wrote:
I noticed Drupal 4.6 automatically creates this directory if you don't do so beforehand. That means we're really trying to handle it all transparently...but I was on a shared server once where this would be a problem because the webserver was a different user than I was. An app would create a directory I couldn't delete...done badly I couldn't
Yes, this is a known bug in Drupal, one which I've been tracking. More: http://drupal.org/node/10658
IMOP this is not a bug but developer error. All directories the are created without user input should be set to 777 so that they can be read
This would be a bug. Under a suEXEC environment, this is giving everyone the ability to read or write the directory, when it'd only require 755. Giving too many permissions is never a good idea. -- Morbus Iff ( you are nothing without your robot car, NOTHING! ) Culture: http://www.disobey.com/ and http://www.gamegrene.com/ Spidering Hacks: http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596005776/disobeycom icq: 2927491 / aim: akaMorbus / yahoo: morbus_iff / jabber.org: morbus
Anyways, I just updated my INSTALL cleanup patch to include two updates per this mailing list thread. The crontab text now includes an example of what uses it (search, in this case, the most "oh, ok"): + Many Drupal modules (such as the search functionality) have periodic + tasks that must be triggered by a cron job. To activate these tasks, + call the cron page by visiting http://www.example.com/cron.php -- + this will pass control to the modules and the modules will decide if + and what they must do. And, added a block about the files/ directory: + You should consider creating a "files" subdirectory in your Drupal + installation directory. This subdirectory stores files such as + custom logos, user avatars, and other media associated with your + new site. The sub-directory requires "read and write" permission + by the Drupal server process. You can change the name of this + subdirectory at "Administer > Settings > File system settings". -- Morbus Iff ( you are nothing without your robot car, NOTHING! ) Culture: http://www.disobey.com/ and http://www.gamegrene.com/ Spidering Hacks: http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596005776/disobeycom icq: 2927491 / aim: akaMorbus / yahoo: morbus_iff / jabber.org: morbus
Morbus Iff wrote:
IMOP this is not a bug but developer error. All directories the are created without user input should be set to 777 so that they can be read
This would be a bug. Under a suEXEC environment, this is giving everyone the ability to read or write the directory, when it'd only require 755. Giving too many permissions is never a good idea.
Yep. No need to have this directory around if people aren't using the functionality. The real error might be that the config display shows a big red warning about not having the files folder setup when that might be your intent. Perhaps toning down the red warning to just a "No 'files' Folder Set" set would be another option. No need to worry people when they haven't done anything wrong. -Curtis
LOL, Yep, this scares the beginners and they will automatically turn to the forum. Heck, it scares me when I see those bright red areas appear. Carl McDade Curtis Nelson wrote:
IMOP this is not a bug but developer error. All directories the are created without user input should be set to 777 so that they can be read
This would be a bug. Under a suEXEC environment, this is giving everyone the ability to read or write the directory, when it'd only require
Morbus Iff wrote: 755.
Giving too many permissions is never a good idea.
Yep. No need to have this directory around if people aren't using the functionality. The real error might be that the config display shows a big red warning about not having the files folder setup when that might be your intent. Perhaps toning down the red warning to just a "No 'files' Folder Set" set would be another option. No need to worry people when they haven't done anything wrong.
-Curtis
Curtis Nelson wrote:
Yep. No need to have this directory around if people aren't using the functionality. The real error might be that the config display shows a big red warning about not having the files folder setup when that might be your intent. Perhaps toning down the red warning to just a "No 'files' Folder Set" set would be another option. No need to worry people when they haven't done anything wrong.
Agreed. I always ignore this superfluous error message because on most of my sites (1) I don't need the directory, and (2) on my host I can't create a directory that is writable by the web server anyway. -- Chris Johnson
Op woensdag 16 maart 2005 06:47, schreef Chris Johnson:
Agreed. I always ignore this superfluous error message because on most of my sites (1) I don't need the directory, and (2) on my host I can't create a directory that is writable by the web server anyway.
So do I. But i just found a realy ugly bug with this. admin/themes/settings will refuse to save anything if that files folder is not found or writable. Regards, Bèr -- [ Bèr Kessels | Drupal services www.webschuur.com ]
Anisa wrote:
So, basically, since I know no one here likes long irrelevent stories, I would like to know why there isn't anything in the install file about making the 'files' folder... apparently it must be necessary, because you get a big red: The directory /files/ does not exist. error. (Drupal 4.5.2 has this changed in 4.6?)
It's not quite documentation, and I know what to do about it so it's not support. Just askin'. :)
Anisa.
There was some talk about this on IRC a couple days ago. We came up with the idea to replace the simple warning "/files does not exist" with "The directory 'files', which is needed by Drupal, does not exist." followed by a [Create this directory] button. This has several advantages: - It is clear to users that the directory is needed. - People who still want to change/move the directory don't get it created by accident. - People who have special set ups get a chance to create it manually. Steven
We came up with the idea to replace the simple warning "/files does not exist" with "The directory 'files', which is needed by Drupal, does not exist." followed by a [Create this directory] button.
"required by Drupal" is much stronger than "which is needed by Drupal". -- Morbus Iff ( you shouldn't have come here ) Technical: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/779 Culture: http://www.disobey.com/ and http://www.gamegrene.com/ icq: 2927491 / aim: akaMorbus / yahoo: morbus_iff / jabber.org: morbus
Some people are saying it isn't needed in some cases, though... Which is true? I like the idea of the create directory thingy. Anisa. Morbus Iff wrote:
We came up with the idea to replace the simple warning "/files does not exist" with "The directory 'files', which is needed by Drupal, does not exist." followed by a [Create this directory] button.
"required by Drupal" is much stronger than "which is needed by Drupal".
Is there anyway of getting Current, Clear and Complete information about on going projects. Frequently people are told that their ideas conflict with another project. Currently there is no way to search for something like this and the projects area has a list of old, incomplete and without description projects many of which have already become part of Drupal as core or as a regularly maintained contribution. It looks a bit like a mini sourceforge. The cvs is not really a lot of help in this either. Does someone have this written on a paper napkin somewhere? Can I get a copy? Carl McDade
participants (12)
-
Anisa -
Bèr Kessels -
Carl McDade -
Chris Johnson -
Curtis Nelson -
Earl Dunovant -
Gabor Hojtsy -
Karoly Negyesi -
Morbus Iff -
Ross Kendall -
Stefan Nagtegaal -
Steven Wittens