phpBB 3.0.x Install
phpBB 3.0.x Installation, updating and conversion informations
Please read this document completely before proceeding with installation, updating or converting.
This document will walk you through the basics on installing, updating and converting the forum software.
A basic overview of running phpBB3 can be found in the accompanying README file. Please ensure you read that document in addition to this! For more detailed information on using, installing, updating and converting phpBB3 you should read the documentation available online.
Install
1. Quick install
config.php, replacing the new one. Another method is to just replace the existing files with the files from the full package - though make sure you do not overwrite your config.php file.
You should now run install/database_update.php which, depending on your previous version, will make a number of database changes. You may receive FAILURES during this procedure. They should not be a cause for concern unless you see an actual ERROR, in which case the script will stop (in this case you should seek help via our forums or bug tracker).
Once install/database_update.php has completed, you may proceed to the Administration Control Panel and then remove the install directory as advised.
4.ii. Changed files
This package is meant for those wanting to only replace the files that were changed between a previous version and the latest version.
This package contains a number of archives, each contains the files changed from a given release to the latest version. You should select the appropriate archive for your current version, e.g. if you currently have 3.0.13 you should select the appropriate phpBB-3.0.14-files.zip/tar.bz2 file.
The directory structure has been preserved, enabling you (if you wish) to simply upload the uncompressed contents of the archive to the appropriate location on your server, i.e. simply overwrite the existing files with the new versions. Do not forget that if you have installed any modifications (MODs) these files will overwrite the originals, possibly destroying them in the process. You will need to re-add MODs to any affected file before uploading.
As for the other update procedures, you should run install/database_update.php after you have finished updating the files. This will update your database schema and increment the version number.
4.iii. Patch file
The patch file package is for those wanting to update through the patch application, and should only be used by those who are comfortable with it.
The patch file is one solution for those with many Modifications (MODs) or other changes and do not want to re-add them back to all the changed files. To use this you will need command line access to a standard UNIX type patch application. If you do not have access to such an application, but still want to use this update approach, we strongly recommend the Automatic update package explained below. It is also the recommended update method.
A number of patch files are provided to allow you to update from previous stable releases. Select the correct patch, e.g. if your current version is 3.0.13, you need the phpBB-3.0.14-patch.zip/tar.bz2 file. Place the correct patch in the parent directory containing the phpBB core files (i.e. index.php, viewforum.php, etc.). With this done you should run the following command: patch -cl -d [PHPBB DIRECTORY] -p1 < [PATCH NAME] (where PHPBB DIRECTORY is the directory name your phpBB Installation resides in, for example phpBB, and where PATCH NAME is the relevant filename of the selected patch file). This should complete quickly, hopefully without any HUNK FAILED comments.
If you do get failures, you should look at using the Changed Files package to replace the files which failed to patch. Please note that you will need to manually re-add any MODs to these particular files. Alternatively, if you know how, you can examine the .rej files to determine what failed where and make manual adjustments to the relevant source.
You should, of course, delete the patch file (or files) after use. As for the other update procedures, you should run install/database_update.php after you have finished updating the files. This will update your database schema and data (if appropriate) and increment the version number.
4.iv. Automatic update package
This update method is the recommended method for updating. This package detects changed files automatically and merges in changes if needed.
The automatic update package will update the board from a given version to the latest version. A number of automatic update files are available, and you should choose the one that corresponds to the version of the board that you are currently running. For example, if your current version is 3.0.13, you need the phpBB-3.0.13_to_3.0.14.zip/tar.bz2 file.
To perform the update, either follow the instructions from the Administration Control Panel->System Tab - this should point out that you are running an outdated version and will guide you through the update - or follow the instructions listed below.
- Go to the downloads page and download the latest update package listed there, matching your current version.
- Upload the uncompressed archive contents to your phpBB installation - only the install folder is required. Upload the whole install folder, retaining the file structure.
- After the install folder is present, phpBB3 will go offline automatically.
- Point your browser to the install directory, for example
http://www.example.com/phpBB3/install/ - Choose the "Update" Tab and follow the instructions
4.v. All package types
If you have non-English language packs installed, you may want to see if a new version has been made available. A number of missing strings may have been added which, though not essential, may be beneficial to users. Please note that at this time not all language packs have been updated so you should be prepared to periodically check for updates.
These update methods will only update the standard styles, prosilver and subsilver2, any other styles you have installed for your board will usually also need to be updated.
5. Conversion from phpBB 2.0.x to phpBB 3.0.x
This paragraph explains the steps necessary to convert your existing phpBB2 installation to phpBB3.
5.i. Requirements before converting
Before converting, we heavily recommend you do a full backup of your database and files! If you are unsure how to achieve this, please ask your hosting provider for advice. You basically need to follow the instructions given for New installations. Please do not overwrite any old files - install phpBB3 at a different location.
Once you made a backup of everything and also have a brand new phpBB3 installation, you can now begin the conversion.
Note that the conversion requires CREATE and DROP privileges for the phpBB3 database user account.
5.ii. Converting
To begin the conversion, visit the install/ folder of your phpBB3 installation (the same as you have done for installing). Now you will see a new tab Convert. Click this tab.
As with install, the conversion is automated. Your previous 2.0.x database tables will not be changed and the original 2.0.x files will remain unaltered. The conversion is actually only filling your phpBB3 database tables and copying additional data over to your phpBB3 installation. This has the benefit that if something goes wrong, you are able to either re-run the conversion or continue a conversion, while your old board is still accessible. We really recommend that you disable your old installation while converting, else you may have inconsistent data after the conversion.
Please note that this conversion process may take quite some time and depending on your hosting provider this may result in it failing (due to web server resource limits or other timeout issues). If this is the case, you should ask your provider if they are willing to allow the convert script to temporarily exceed their limits (be nice and they will probably be quite helpful). If your host is unwilling to increase the limits to run the convertor, please see this article for performing the conversion on your local machine: Knowledge Base - Offline Conversions
Once completed, your board should be immediately available. If you encountered errors, you should report the problems to our bug tracker or seek help via our forums (see README for details).
5.iii. Things to do after conversion
After a successful conversion, there may be a few items you need to do - apart from checking if the installation is accessible and everything displayed correctly.
The first thing you may want to do is to go to the administration control panel and check every configuration item within the general tab. Thereafter, you may want to adjust the forum descriptions/names if you entered HTML there. You also may want to access the other administrative sections, e.g. adjusting permissions, smilies, icons, ranks, etc.
During the conversion, the search index is not created or transferred. This means after conversion you are not able to find any matches if you want to search for something. We recommend you rebuild your search index within Administration Control Panel -> Maintenance -> Database -> Search Index.
After verifying the settings in the ACP, you can delete the install directory to enable the board. The board will stay disabled until you do so.
Once you are pleased with your new installation, you may want to give it the name of your old installation, changing the directory name. With phpBB3 this is possible without any problems, but you may still want to check your cookie settings within the administration panel; in case your cookie path needs to be adjusted prior to renaming.
5.iv. Common conversion problems
Broken non-latin characters The conversion script assumes that the database encoding in the source phpBB2 matches the encoding defined in the lang_main.php file of the default language pack of the source installation. Edit that file to match the database's encoding and re-start the conversion procedure.
http 500 / white pages The conversion is a load-heavy procedure. Restrictions imposed by some server hosting providers can cause problems. The most common causes are: values too low for the PHP settings memory_limit and max_execution_time. Limits on the allowed CPU time are also a frequent cause for such errors, as are limits on the number of database queries allowed. If you cannot change such settings, then contact your hosting provider or run the conversion procedure on a different computer. The phpBB.com forums are also an excellent location to ask for support.
Password conversion Due to the utf-8 based handling of passwords in phpBB3, it is not always possible to transfer all passwords. For passwords "lost in translation" the easiest workaround is to use the I forgot my password link on the login page.
Path to your former board The convertor expects the relative path to your old board's files. So, for instance, if the old board is located at http://www.yourdomain.com/forum and the phpBB3 installation is located at http://www.yourdomain.com/phpBB3, then the correct value would be ../forum. Note that the webserver user must be able to access the source installation's files.
Missing images If your default board language's language pack does not include all images, then some images might be missing in your installation. Always use a complete language pack as default language.
Smilies During the conversion you might see warnings about image files where the copying failed. This can happen if the old board's smilies have the same file names as those on the new board. Copy those files manually after the conversion, if you want to continue using the old smilies.
6. Important (security related) post-Install tasks for all installation methods
Once you have successfully installed phpBB3 you MUST ensure you remove the entire install/ directory. Leaving the install directory in place is a very serious potential security issue which may lead to deletion or alteration of files, etc. Please note that until this directory is removed, phpBB will not operate and a warning message will be displayed. Beyond this essential deletion, you may also wish to delete the docs/ directory if you wish.
With these directories deleted, you should proceed to the administration panel. Depending on how the installation completed, you may have been directed there automatically. If not, login as the administrator you specified during install/conversion and click the Administration Control Panel link at the bottom of any page. Ensure that details specified on the General tab are correct!
6.i. Uploadable avatars
phpBB3 supports several methods for allowing users to select their own avatar (an avatar is a small image generally unique to a user and displayed just below their username in posts).
Two of these options allow users to upload an avatar from their machine or a remote location (via a URL). If you wish to enable this function you should first ensure the correct path for uploadable avatars is set in Administration Control Panel -> General -> Board Configuration -> Avatar settings. By default this is images/avatars/uploads, but you can set it to whatever you like, just ensure the configuration setting is updated. You must also ensure this directory can be written to by the webserver. Usually this means you have to alter its permissions to allow anyone to read and write to it. Exactly how you should do this depends on your FTP client or server operating system.
On UNIX systems, for example, you set the directory to a+rwx (or ugo+rwx or even 777). This can be done from a command line on your server using chmod or via your FTP client (using the Change Permissions, chmod or other Permissions dialog box, see your FTP client's documentation for help). Most FTP clients list permissions in the form of User (Read, Write, Execute), Group (Read, Write, Execute) and Other (Read, Write, Execute). You need to tick all of these boxes to set correct permissions.
On Windows systems, you need to ensure the directory is not write-protected and that it has global write permissions (see your server's documentation or contact your hosting provider if you are unsure on how to achieve this).
Please be aware that setting a directory's permissions to global write access is a potential security issue. While it is unlikely that anything nasty will occur (such as all the avatars being deleted) there are always people out there to cause trouble. Therefore you should monitor this directory and if possible make regular backups.
6.ii. Webserver configuration
Depending on your web server, you may have to configure your server to deny web access to the cache/, files/, store/ and other directories. This is to prevent users from accessing sensitive files.
For Apache there are .htaccess files already in place to do this for you. Similarly, for Windows based servers using IIS there are web.config files already in place to do this for you. For other webservers, you will have to adjust the configuration yourself. Sample files for nginx and lighttpd to help you get started may be found in docs/ directory.
7. Anti-Spam Measures
Like any online site that allows user input, your board could be subject to unwanted posts; often referred to as forum spam. The vast majority of these attacks will be from automated computer programs known as spambots. The attacks, generally, are not personal as the spammers are just trying to find accessible targets. phpBB has a number of anti-spam measures built in, including a range of CAPTCHAs. However, administrators are strongly urged to read and follow the advice for Preventing Spam in phpBB as soon as possible after completing the installation of your board.
8. Copyright and disclaimer
This application is opensource software released under the GNU General Public License v2. Please see the source code and docs/ directory for more details. This package and its contents are Copyright © phpBB Group, All Rights Reserved.