Conventions Install Learn Advanced Alphabetical
Fake FAQ TODO

pabulumba

The manual

1. Download any of the pabulumba packages. All versions of pabulumba can be downloaded from here.

2. Extract the contents of the pabulumba package and place in any location accessible to a web server and PHP, e.g. "http://localhost/pabulumba/".

3. Create a new MySQL database (shown here using mysql command line). Substitute chosen database name for [new_database] (removing the '[' and ']' as well).

mysql> CREATE DATABASE [new_database];

4. Allocate an existing, or create a new MySQL user

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON [new_database].* TO '[username]'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '[password]';

5. Edit the pabulumba "config/database.php" file. Make the following four changes at the very top of the "database.php" file. Replace everything between the brackets, including the brackets themselves. It is unlikely that "localhost" will have to change.

$DATABASE_USER_NAME = '[new or existing username]';
$DATABASE_PASSWORD = '[new or existing password]';
$DATABASE_NAME = '[new database name]';
$DATABASE_SERVER_NAME = 'localhost';

6. Assuming pabulumba is to be served from "http://localhost/pabulumba/", append this with "install_pabulumba.php" in a web browser.

http://localhost/pabulumba/install_pabulumba.php

7. To install pabulumba, the installer must agree with the Terms and Conditions of the GNU General Public License 3.0. Please read the Terms and Conditions, ensure the four "config/database.php" variables are set correctly, tick all the checkboxes from 1-6 to confirm agreement, and click the button to install pabulumba into your nominated database. A final confirmation will ask, "Are you sure?". If the "OK" is clicked, the database tables will be created. If a new user, it is highly recommended that checkbox 7 is also ticked; this will load the demonstration database records. Note that these demonstration records do use tables in common with the rest of pabulumba; if a pristine environment is required, either load up a different database or simply unpack the files and run "install_pabulumba.php" again after inspecting how pabulumba works (and not loading the demonstration records)

NOTE: Running the "install_pabulumba.php" file deletes any existing records in the database nominated. It should be run once and then deleted from the server. If the file is left in position, anyone could run it and remove all customisation to the database.

8. If there was a problem creating any of the tables, the name of the table and the operation will be shown in red. Investigate the relevant line in the "install.php" file, try running that line directly in MySQL, and see what error is returned. If all tables were created successfully, click either the REMOVE button or the RENAME button to remove the "install_pabulumba" file, and pabulumba will start.

9. If wishing to use the demonstration files, ensure checkbox 7 is ticked, as this will install the database records required. Copy all the files found in the demo folder and put them into the config folder. There should only be one file to overwrite ("menu.xml").

Potential issues

The REMOVE and RENAME functionality may be problematic when using IIS (Windows web server); in this case, the "install_pabulumba.php" file should be removed from the server completely.

When installing on a cPanel site running PHP 5.2.17, a phpinfo() page was displayed offering no reason why the install script would not even run. It turned out to be complaining about the "config/database.php" file, and would "run" with the "include_once..." line commented out. However, after spending hours trying to add to the "include_path" and it having no effect whatsoever, I (with no logical justification) tried removing the "php" at the end of "<?php in both the "install_pabulumba.php" file and the "config/database.php" file, and it then ran. I can't remember in what version the "php" became compulsory, but after it ran once in 5.2.17, I replaced the "php" and it continued to run. Bizarre.