##############################################################################
# WWWBoard Version 2.0 ALPHA 2.1 #
# Copyright 1996 Matt Wright mattw@scriptarchive.com #
# Created 10/21/95 Last Modified 11/25/95 #
# Security Patches/Bug Fixes: January 07, 2000 #
# Scripts Archive at: http://www.scriptarchive.com/ #
##############################################################################
# If you run into any problems while trying to configure this scripts, help #
# is available. The steps you should take to get the fastest results, are: #
# 1) Read this file thoroughly #
# 2) Consult the Matt's Script Archive Frequently Asked Questions: #
# http://www.scriptarchive.com/faq/ #
# 3) If you are still having difficulty installing this script, #
# you may wish to look at the resources listed here: #
# http://www.scriptarchive.com/help/ #
# #
# Hopefully that will be able to help you solve your problems. Due to time #
# constraints I can no longer offer technical support for this code. #
##############################################################################
# COPYRIGHT NOTICE #
# Copyright 1996 Matthew M. Wright All Rights Reserved. #
# #
# WWWBoard may be used and modified free of charge by anyone so long as #
# this copyright notice and the comments above remain intact. By using this #
# code you agree to indemnify Matthew M. Wright from any liability that #
# might arise from it's use. #
# #
# Selling the code for this program without prior written consent is #
# expressly forbidden. In other words, please ask first before you try and #
# make money off of my program. #
# #
# Obtain permission before redistributing this software over the Internet or #
# in any other medium. In all cases copyright and header must remain intact.#
##############################################################################
WWWBoard is the Version 2.0 of my Bulletin Board Message System. I think
that the name is much better, and a lot fewer characters. Version 2.0
has many enhancements, which were never put into version 1.0. MANY of
the bugs in version 1.0 were fixed, although I am sure you will probably
find more.
This version of the message system is a complete re-write over the last
one, and is not at all backwards compatible. To use this new version,
you will just need to remove all past messages and start again. I think
it is definitely worth it.
WWWBoard Version 2.0 has managed to reduce the number of scripts required
to run the bulletin board from three down t one. This makes it much more
efficient.
The following files should have come with WWWBoard Version 2.0 ALPHA 2:
a. ALPHA-2 - READ THIS.
1. README - The necessary Install Instructions. This file.
2. wwwboard.pl - The Perl CGI script that runs everything.
3. wwwboard.html - The HTML WWWBoard file that users will see.
4. faq.html - An FAQ file displayed for users of wwwboard.
5. data.txt - Where the file number is stored.
6. messages/ - Where the messages will be created and stored.
7. wwwadmin.pl - An Admin tool to delete messages.
8. passwd.txt - The encoded password and username for WWWAdmin
9. ADMIN_README - WWWAdmin README file.
You will need to edit by hand several of the files that come with
WWWBoard Version 2.0. Below is a description of how to modify all of the
necessary files:
___________________________________________________________________________
WWWBOARD.PL
===========
This file must be placed in your server's cgi-bin, or if your server has
.cgi extensions allowed, you can simply rename this file to wwwboard.cgi,
changing the $cgi_url variable below to reflect this. The file must also
be chmoded 755. Ask your system administrator for more information on
either the cgi-bin or chmod command.
This is the most complicated file you will need to modify. It comes with
a lot of variables and many options. Below is a summary of how to
configure all of the variables and what the options do:
###########################################################################
# Define Variables
$basedir = "/path/to/wwwboard";
This variable should contain the absolute system path to your
wwwboard directory. So if you keep all of your files in
/home/yourname/public_html and you make a directory under there
called 'wwwboard', then $basedir would be set to:
/home/yourname/public_html/wwwboard.
$baseurl = "http://your.host.xxx/wwwboard";
This is the base URL to the directory where wwwboard is kept. So
staying with the example above, if your main directory is called
by: http://your.host.xxx/~yourname/, the $baseurl would be set to:
http://your.host.xxx/~yourname/wwwboard/.
$cgi_url = "http://your.host.xxx/cgi-bin/wwwboard.pl";
This is the URL that points to wwwboard.pl. This will be used in
followup form responses, so this must be correct.
$mesgdir = "messages";
This is the name of your messages directory which will be appended
to $basedir. All of the messages for wwwboard will be created and
held in this directory.
$datafile = "data.txt";
This is the name of the data file which will also be appended to
$basedir. It will hold the current filename count, and the script
will read this in and determine the message filename from this file.
$mesgfile = "wwwboard.html";
This is the name of the wwwboard.html file, which you might want to
rename to index.html for the sake of a shorter URL. It will be
appended to both $basedir and $baseurl to determine the URL and the
absolute path to this file, both for URL references by the script
and for editing of this file by the script.
$faqfile = "faq.html";
This is the path to the faq.html file which will be appended to
$baseurl so users can find their way to the Frequently Asked
Questions file about WWWBoard.
$ext = "html";
This is the ext with which all individual files will be created
with. Most of the time it should be left as html, but on the
occasion when you may be suing this on a dos based platform you can
switch it to 'htm'.
$date_command = "/bin/date";
This needs to be the path to your 'date' command. This script uses
the date command to time stamp the messages individually with along
date and to place a short 'added' date on the wwwboard.html page.
$title = "WWWBoard Version 2.0 Test";
This is the title of your WWWBoard, which will be used on the
individual message pages. Call your message board whatever you
like, but I do recommend changing the above to something a little
more catchy. :-)
# Done
###########################################################################
There are also several options you will need to configure:
###########################################################################
# Configure Options
$show_faq = 1; # 1 - YES; 0 = NO
This option allows you to choose whether or not you want to display
a link to the FAQ on every individual message page or not. It
defaults to 1 and the link will be put in at the top of the message
along with links to Followups, Post Followup and Back to $title.
Setting this to 0 will turn it off, and keeping it at 1 will keep
the link.
$allow_html = 1; # 1 = YES; 0 = NO
This option lets you choose whether or not you want to allow HTML
mark-up in your posts. If you do not want to allow it, then
everything that a user submits that has <>'s around it will be cut
out of the message. Setting this option to '1' will allow HTML in
the posts and you can turn this option off by setting it to '0'.
$quote_text = 1; # 1 = YES; 0 = NO
By keeping this option set to 1, the previous message will be
quoted in the followup text input box. The quoted text will have a
':' placed in front of it so you can distinguish what had been said
in the previous posts from what the current poster is trying to get
across. Setting this option to '0' will leave the followup text
box empty for the new poster.
$subject_line = 0; # 0 = Quote Subject Editable; 1 = Quote Subject
# UnEditable; 2 = Don't Quote Subject, Editable.
There are three options for the way that you can display the
subject line for the user posting a followup. Leaving this option
at '0' which is the default value, will put the previous subject
line into the followup form and allow users to edit the subject
however they like. Setting this option to '1', however, will quote
the subject, but simply display it to the user, not allowing him or
her to edit the subject line. The third and final option can be
achieved by setting the $subject_line variable to '2'. If it is
set to '2' the subject will not be quoted and instead the user will
be prompted with an empty subject block in their followup subject
line.
$use_time = 1; # 1 = YES; 0 = NO
This option allows you to choose whether or not you want to use the
hour:minute:second time with the day/month/year time on the main
page. Day/Month/Year will automatically be placed on the main
wwwboard.html page when a new entry is added, but if you leave this
variable at '1' the hour:minute:second time will also be put there.
This is very useful for message boards that get a lot of posts,
but if you would like to save space on your main page, you can set
this to '0' causing the hour:minute:second display not to be added.
$show_poster_ip = 1; # 1 = Show the IP of every poster; 0 = Don't
If this option is turned on (set to 1), the IP of the user who
posted the message will be shown after the name on each post.
$enforce_max_len = 0; # 2 = YES, error; 1 = YES, truncate; 0 = NO
This feature allows you to enforce a maximum length on the fields
in the post form. If you wish to have it produce an error when
the lengths are surpassed, then set it to 2, if you wish for the
data to be truncated instead of an error accurring, set it to 1
and only the max length of data will be posted. Setting this to
0 will not restrict the size of messages. The max size of each
field can be configured with %max_len.
%max_len = ('name', 50, This sets the maximum length of each field
'email', 70, in terms of the maximum number of characters.
'subject', 80, So as default, the name can have a max size
'url', 150, of 50 charactersm the mail address 70, and so
'url_title', 80, on. The part in quotes corresponds to the
'img', 150, field name in the post form, and the number
'body', 3000, corresponds to the max size of the field.
'origsubject', 80,
'origname', 50,
'origemail', 70,
'origdate', 50);
# Done
###########################################################################
WOW! You made it through all that. That was the hardest file to edit.
___________________________________________________________________________
WWWBOARD.HTML
=============
wwwboard.html must be placed in the directory that you defined in
$basedir of your wwwboard.pl file. It must be chmoded 777 so that your
web server's uid (User ID) has permission to write to this file.
This file needs much less editing than the wwwboard.pl script. There are
three things that you will want to edit in this file. The first two are
simply the title of your WWWBoard. Currently the two lines look like:
WWWBoard Version 2.0! and WWWBoard Version 2.0!
You will want to change the title and header "WWWBoard Version 2.0!" to
whatever you want to call your WWWBoard. This should probably be the
same as the variable $title that you defined in wwwboard.pl.
The third line in this file that you will need to edit is the one that
looks like: