Table of Contents
I. Installing VBPro
1. Introduction
2. Pre-install decisions
3. Editing the files
(a) cgi files
(b) config files
4. Uploading the files
5. Setting permissions
6. Testing the setup
II. Creating and Maintaining Books
1. Using the Master Admin program
2. Creating a new book
(a) using a template
(b) using custom options
3. Modifying a book
(a) book options
(b) field options
(c) html and templates
(d) banning options
4. Deleting a book
III. The User Admin Program
1. Controlling user access
2. Overview of user abilities
Setting the permissions of your folders and files is another crucial step in starting you VBPro system. Your UNIX-based host relies on a system of permissions in order to control what users on your system can access and run specific files and programs. While it is not necessary (in our estimation) to describe the typical permissions system in its entirety and in detail, we will explain what you need to know to understand how to set the VBPro permissions correctly.
When you or anyone visiting your web site uses one of the VBPro CGI scripts, the web server runs the script and attempts the desired task (such as adding an entry to a guest book. In most setups, you will need to change the settings on files and folders on your server -- which are called permissions -- in order to allow the web server to view and edit text files, create and view directories, and execute scripts (the three main programs).
So what permissions exactly does the web server need? Well, for many of the text files, the web server needs to be able to view and edit them. For most directories, the web server needs the permissions to list the contents and create new files in it. For all of the scripts, the web server needs to be able to execute them.
Looking at each file, we could tell you exactly what permissions are needed and what are not necessary. However, doing this would take you much more time to set up, and would not be guarateed to work uniformly across all servers that run VBPro. So, we will tell you some groups of files and what permissions to assign them; if you wish to be more specific in setting permissions so as to enhance the security of your setup, we encourage you to experiment with your setup and/or contact your server admin. Basically, if you are on a shared system, some of the files below could potentially be accessed and/or modified by a knowledgable user (specifically, files where the last number of the permission mode is 7). Again, we encourage you to learn more about permissions from your service provider and how they apply to your on your setup.
File list
Set the following files according to the permissions in brackets.
/usr/local/apache/vbfiles [755] /books [777] /vbtemplates [755] /Standard_Guestbook cgi-lib.pl [755] masteradmin.pass [777] vb.shared.lib.pl [755] /usr/local/apache/cgi-bin/vbpro vb.config.pl [755] vbadmin.cgi [755] vbmasteradmin.cgi [755]
How to set the permissions
To set the permissions for the files using a telnet/shell account, follow the example below. Type the following command in to the telnet window for each file (be sure to change the permission mode/numbers as necessary).
chmod 777 /path/to/file_or_directory
There are two ways to set the permissions using an FTP client, depending on your computer platform.
On a Macintosh, we use Fetch 3.0. Find the file you want to change, and click once on it. Go to the "Directory" menu, and select "Set Permissions..." Select all of the boxes for 777, and click OK. For 755 files, click all of the boxes in the first column, the top box only in the middle column, and all of the boxes in the last column. Repeat this process for all files and directories as needed.
On a Windows machine, a popular way to do it is using WS FTP. Go to the directory that contains the file you want. Right click with your mouse, and select "Site" from the window that pops up. Then, type "chmod 777 books" (or whatever the mode/file is). Repeat this process for all the files and directories as needed.
If you feel comfortable after completing this chapter, you're finally ready for the last chapter, Testing the setup.