Ringlink Hosting Instructions

Introduction

Ringlink is a CGI Perl program that provides the tools necessary to run and administrate rings of websites. You are permitted to make use of it for free, but if you intend to copy, modify or redistribute Ringlink, you must make sure that your actions are in compliance with the terms of the GNU General Public License, included in the file LICENSE.TXT  in this distribution.

The address of the Ringlink homepage is http://www.gunnar.cc/ringlink/. If you encounter problems when installing or using Ringlink, you find a couple of tips at the homepage about how to get help. You are strongly recommended to subscribe to the Ringlink Mailing List in order to keeping yourself posted on the development of Ringlink. (See the homepage for info about how to subscribe.)

INSTALL

You should have received the following files with this distribution:

README.TXT (this file) LICENSE.TXT

ringlink.html

/cgi-bin/ringlink/admin.pl /goto.pl /home.pl /list.pl /newring.pl /newsite.pl /next.pl /next5.pl /prev.pl /prev5.pl /rand.pl /ringadmin.pl /siteadmin.pl

/cgi-bin/ringlink/lib/admhtml.pm /gentools.pm /mailhtml.pm /mainhtml.pm /ring.pm /rlconfig.pm /site.pm

/cgi-bin/ringlink/lib/Mail/Sender.pm

/cgi-bin/ringlink/lib/MIME/Base64.pm /QuotedPrint.pm

All the files are exact copies of the files from the installation at my own site (Gunnar's Ringlink). Consequently you will need to do some editing before you upload them on your own server:

  1. If you are going to install Ringlink in a Unix environment, you must make sure that the first line of each executable file, i.e. those with the file extension .pl, points to the Perl program on your server.

  2. The second line of the executable files tells Perl where to look for program specific Perl modules (the *.pm files in the distribution). When installing Ringlink in a Unix or Linux environment, this line will normally not need to be edited. However, when installing it on a NT server, you should edit the second line of each executable file to include the full path to the Ringlink library. It may look something like this:

use lib 'd:/scripts/ringlink/lib';

Note, though, that there may be cases when the full path is required or advisable when installing Ringlink in a Unix or Linux environment as well.

  1. Some systems need the file extension .cgi instead of .pl in the names of the executable files in order to understand that they shall be executed. If that's the case for you, you have to rename all the *.pl files to *.cgi.

  2. You will need to edit the rlconfig.pm file, but before you do that you have to decide in which directories the files are going to be placed. (The structure above is identical with the structure at my own site.)
  • Placing the executable files somewhere under the cgi-bin directory is common practice, and required by some systems. If your system allows it, you can put them whereever you like, as long as you put all the 13 files in the same directory.
  • If you have not entered the full path to the Ringlink library at the second line of the executable files (see 2. above), the *.pm files must be placed in a subdirectory to the directory with the *.pl or *.cgi files, and the subdirectory must be named 'lib'. Note, though, that irrespective of where you locate the Ringlink library, Sender.pm shall be placed in a subdirectory to the library named 'Mail', and Base64.pm and QuotedPrint.pm shall be placed in a subdirectory to the library named 'MIME'.
  • As regards the location of the Ringlink library, there is also a security aspect to take into consideration. The rlconfig.pm file, as well as certain files generated by the program, contains password information which of course shall not be readable from the web. You are recommended to study the discussion about this at http://rachelle.net/ringlink/miscellany.html#8
  • The ringlink.html file can be put wherever you like, as long as it can be read by the visitors of your site. (Unlike the executable files and the *.pm files you are also free to rename ringlink.html to whatever you prefer.)
  • You should create a separate data directory, where the files with the registered ring and site info will be saved.

When you have made these decisions, you should edit the rlconfig.pm file accordingly.

  1. The ringlink.html file is intended to work as a template when you create the "homepage" of your Ringlink installation. The need to change at least the title, contact info and some of the links should be apparent.

Now you are ready to create the necessary directories and upload the files.

  • Make sure that you upload the files in ASCII mode.
  • Chmod the executable files 755.
  • Chmod the data directory 777.

That should be it. Enjoy your Ringlink installation! And, when it's up and running, I'd appreciate if you go to the Ringlink Systems Directory at http://ringlink.netfirms.com/ringlink.html and submit your installation.

November 25, 2000

Gunnar Hjalmarsson mailbox@gunnar.cc

P.S. Don't forget to backup the data files.

 

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