Can't we fix these base_dir restrictions and be done?

[gholsie]

Hi guys,

I've had problems with all three of your products. First it was Photopost, next was the Classifieds, and now it's with ReviewPost.

All three of these items I've seen some kind of "base_dir" issue during installation and with general use. This seems to be biting all of the support guys in the arse (just do a search on base_dir and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Now, I just downloaded ReviewPost and here's the error I am seeing. Can someone please help me with this? I own the server, but, everything is managed through Plesk.

Warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/bin/mogrify) is not within the allowed path(s): (/home/httpd/vhosts/classiczcars.com/httpdocs:/tmp) in /home/httpd/vhosts/classiczcars.com/httpdocs/reviews/install.php on line 498



Step 2: Checking Your Server

This set will try to verify the location of MOGRIFY in your config-inc.php. If you have set these variables properly, you should get a OK FOUND message. This indicates that reviewpost can see those files (but did not execute them). If you get a WARNING, you should edit your config-inc.php file to fill in proper path (remember, they should point to the file - not just the directory!).

Paths to executables may not contain spaces - if using long filenames, use the short version.

Testing MOGRIFY at: /usr/bin/mogrify.... WARNING!
Cannot find ImagicMagick's MOGRIFY command listed as: /usr/bin/mogrify
Be sure that the name of the executable is listed in this variable and that there are no spaces in the path to mogrify.There were 1 WARNING message(s). If you are okay with the warnings, you may continue, otherwise GO BACK to change your config-inc.php or click refresh to try again!
Verification Completed!

The next step will configure your database.

[Chuck S]

Well I would not say anything is biting us in the arse

We are here to answer questions. As far as open_basedir restrictions this has nothing to do with our program. This is a server related setting in PHP and basically it means if you have this variable turned on in your PHP then you can not call and run a program outside of the server path that open_basedir is set to.

So that means users whose hosts have this set can not use ImageMagick or jpegtran jhead or any other variable that is outside their files.

Now you own your own server so you would edit your php.ini file and clear the server path out of the open_basedir setting so it is empty save the file and then restart your server. If you dont know how to do this you might want to ask your host to do it for you.

[gholsie]

Ok, just trying to make your lives a little easier. I know there will be a lot more of these questions in the future -- this seems to be a common restriction by many providers.

Hey, how about creating a sticky message in the forums similar to --> "How to fix base_dir error messages"

Thanks for the support Chuck... I know that a tech support engineer's job is not always fun (I work with you guys at work every day).

-- Mike

[Chuck S]

Tech support is not bad most of the times from a support person's perspective. I do alot more than tech support but for the most part I like helping people out. It only is bad when you get an unreasonable customer whose expections are not realistic.

I am actually working on an idea to create a whole new forum just for top support answers so that people don't need to ask over and over the same thing. They can search that forum and get an answer. Now if I could just make people search before posting

[gholsie]

That's a great idea! A top listing of support questions would be used quite a bit! Search does work, but, it usually produces a ton of similar issues that aren't 'quite' the same.

I've been able to derive (from this problem anyway) that bogus sample directories need to be removed in order to get this the base_dir error to go away. It did fix my problem.

However, I still wanted to make the suggestion anyway...

-- Mike