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I have my own CentOS 6.3 servers and apache installed with MySQL. I've setup dozens of CentOS servers from 5.2 to 6.2 and installed Joomla 1.5 without any problem.

I've now setup a new server 6.3 and trying to install Joomla 2.5. MySQL is working. root and my public user both have access. I can connect to the MySQL server with Navicat from a remote computer and view and create databases and tables, so it isn't a Firewall problem.

The first problem is that on the second page of the install, I get TWO errors : -

1. configuration.php is not writeable, but there is NO configuration.php file, only configuration.php-dist! Only by copying (manually) the -dist file and renaming to configuration.php was I able to get rid of this error

2. Database support NO. I've checked that there is MySQL and MySQLi headers in the php.ini. I have NO idea what to do next. I just can't understand why it's suddenly become so difficult to install Joomla 2.5 in comparison to 1.5. I'm HOPING it's something I've missed, because if it isn't, I think I'll stick with 1.5 or move to a different CMS

Anyone got any ideas?

Stab in the dark.....do you have suPHP running on the server? If not, install it and enable before you try to install J2.5 and see if it goes in okay.

_________________
A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society...than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. Paine 1776

I have never had suPHP on any of my servers.
I have no idea what it is. It SEEMS to be yet another so-called 'security' add on to make life even more difficult.
I have no idea why I would want it. I've been running Joomla 1.5 since it was first released on versions of CentOS and never had a problem.
Are you telling me that suPHP is a prerequisite to Joomla 2.5?
Is Joomla 2.5 less secure that 1.5 and this is why it needs this add-on?

Please use the Forum Post assistant.

What is your php to web server interface?

http://docs.joomla.org/Installing_Joomla_on_Debian_Linux
http://docs.joomla.org/Why_can't_you_install_any_extensions%3F

suPHP is an Apache module that prevents many of the ownership and permission issues that bedeviled J1.5 unless the FTP layer was enabled.
The FTP layer is to be deprecated as suPHP and better all round server configuration has made it unnecessary.
It is far from
If you run the FPA as Per Yngve Berg suggests we will see what your server config looks like.

_________________
A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society...than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. Paine 1776

First, I'm not sure what the Forum Post Assistant has to do with my description of the problem. It isn't that difficult to understand and I just dont have the time to remove all references to my IP, site name and other info, I have enough would-be hackers without advertising.

Second, as I made clear, this is not the first time I've installed a Centos Server and Joomla, I was trying to count the times and it exceeds 50 and I have NEVER had this problem before, so it's pretty obvious to my tiny mind that it has something to do with 2.5 and NOT CentOS, nor is it my installation or version numbers and to prove this, I installed a 6.2 server (which was running 1.5) and I get the exact same problem.

I installed CentOS exactly the same as I have done with previous installations. I have MySQL 5.1.61 and it works perfectly. I have PHP 5.3.3 I have run phpinfo() and there are no issues that I can see. I have also run phpsecinfo and apart from the usual suspects, there is no problem there either.

I fail to see what an article about installing on Debian has to do with CentOS or what installing extensions has to do with not being able to get past the second page of the Joomla installation. I can only guess that the author was upset about something and decided to have a 'go' at me to relieve his/her frustration.

You seem to be telling me that Joomla 2.5 won't work without this additional layer of suPHP. I've spent the last 4 years fighting would-be hackers and I have more than 15,000 IP addresses blocked on the Firewall at one time I was getting up to 70 hack attempts per DAY. Every time someone suggested an additional security layer, it INCREASED my workload and even though the attacks are now only 2 or 3 per day, I can live without yet another "security" addition. I would rather close down the sites completely. In 4 years not one single attempt has been successful, so more layers of "security" do not impress me at all. I get all the info I want from phpsecinfo.

I'm really sorry that I upset you by daring to ask the question, but just forget it and I'll stick with 1.5 rather than indulge in a meaningless firefight and flaming each other because I'm obviously too dumb and inexperienced to help.

If you had read the forum rules, you would have known where the FPA is. The link is on the line below the forun rules. Raise your eyes and watch the top of this forum.

Some sub-system of php must be missing, as you do not get through the installation. The FPA will show witch.

I am sorry to hear that you think the freely given advice on this is to relieve our frustrations or deliberately give you more work.
What your original post described looks suspiciously like a server misconfiguration issue in some way but as you have installed Joomla over 50 times then you hardly need our assistance or the FPA.

There is nothing intrinsically different in J2.5.6 in the installation routine from J1.5 although the installer files have been upgraded and improved to better match a modern well configured server.
You are welcome to remain at J1.5 although you should be aware that it goes to end of life in September 2012.

_________________
A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society...than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. Paine 1776

As I suspected, the is ONLY a Joomla 2.5 problem. I downloaded 1.5 and it installed perfectly.

I downloaded and ran the FPA, but it was interesting that there is a warning that it won't give correct results without a configuration.php, which seems to indicate that it isn't going to give valid results on an uninstalled version. According to the FPA

APPLICATION INSTANCE :: DISCOVERY
CMS FOUND
Joomla!
2.5.6
Stable
PLATFORM
Joomla Platform
11.4.0
Stable
CONFIG EXISTS
No
CONFIG VERSION
Unknown

DATABASE INSTANCE :: DISCOVERY
VERSION:Server: Unknown Client: Unknown
HOSTNAME:[ -- protected -- ]
CONNECTION TYPE:Unknown
PHP SUPPORT:PHP 5.3.3 support is Unknown
CONNECT TO : Not Attempted, Not Configured
CHARACTER SET: Unknown
DEFAULT CHARACTER SET: Unknown
DATABASE COLLATION: Unknown
DATABASE SIZE: Unknown

DATABASE INSTANCE :: PERFORMANCE
Not Connected
No Database Instance Performance tests performed

SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT :: DISCOVERY
PLATFORM:Linux
KERNEL VERSION:2.6.32-279.2.1.el6.x86_64
TECHNOLOGY:x86_64
HOSTNAME:[ -- protected -- ]
TOTAL DISK SPACE:49.22 GiB
FREE DISK SPACE:(86%) 42.25 GiB
SERVER:[ -- protected -- ]
SERVER IP:[ -- protected -- ]
SERVER SIGNATURE:Apache/2.2.15 (CentOS)
SERVER ENCODING:gzip,deflate,sdch
EXECUTING USER:root
SERVER USER:apache

DOC ROOT:/var/www/support
SERVER TEMP:/tmp
SERVER TEMP WRITABLE:Yes
SWITCH USER CONFIGURATION:
SUEXEC
NOPHP SUEXEC
NOCUSTOM SU
NOOWNERSHIP PROBS
MAYBE

Which is probably due to having no configuration.php file.

Seems that 2.5 does NOT install in the same way as 1.5 because 1.5 installed perfectly on the same host after I deleted all the 2.5 files and replaced then with 1.5.

I have a sneaking suspicion that CentOS (and Joomla - and everything else) is heading the same way as Microsoft Vista. There will soon be so much "security" b.s that the entire system will become unuseable. All this security is NOT helping anyone, because the spammers are even more prolific now and so are the would-be hackers and the reason is because people (even big companies) allow users to use passwords like 'password' or 'xxxxxx' or their name and very few have any real idea how to install a firewall or virus checker. The anti-virus software is fast becoming unusable also, because now it wants to update itself every few minutes and it causes massive problems with speed and access to work.

I looked at usPHP and it's yet another big pain in the rear to install and configure. Every time I manage to configure rkhunter to stop the irritating (meaningless) errors in the logs, then another patch comes along which screws it up again.

In short, I'm getting thoroughly SICK of the endless 'security updates and add-ons' and I'm not far from the point where I kill off all the webservers, forums and everything else that we run and just keep my Mac workstation.

2.5 is NOT working out of the box, so until it does, without me having to install more and more levels of b.s I'm not intending to use it and when 1.5 reaches end of life, I'll probably close all my sites down or move to a different CMS.

Congratulations on ruining what used to be a very good CMS!

FYI - A colleague just sent me a copy of Joomla 2.5.4. I installed that and it works PERFECTLY. Seems that the idea is to make it more and more unuseable with every release!

Just for curiosity, did you run step 24?
http://manyrootsofallevilrants.[URL banned] ... os-62.html

_________________
A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society...than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. Paine 1776

Step 24 of what?

Can you post the FPA output with formatting. It's supposed to look like the one in this thread.

http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=622&t=728572

I would be prepared to PM a copy to you, but I will NOT have any data other than what I gave you already published. There are reasons for this.

OK

Sorry, I had to go to a different site this morning and by the time I got back, they had already trashed the server and installed a Windows IIS system - When I get a bit of time, I'll try to duplicate the problem on one of my own servers.