Cannot open file for writing log

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bobarn
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Cannot open file for writing log

Post by bobarn » Sat Apr 19, 2014 3:15 am

BRAND NEW to Joomla and got stopped right out of the box when trying to login at the "Your Joomla! Site hosted with cloud access" page, by this response after putting in my username and password: "Cannot open file for writing log" (I did get the original confirmation email so I know that I was logging in correctly)

And then it suggested I contact the "system"administrator whoever that might be.

Sorry, I am sure it's a dumb question...

THANK YOU

cmscoding
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Re: Cannot open file for writing log

Post by cmscoding » Sat Apr 19, 2014 3:48 am

check correct path of folders: tmp and logs?

bobarn
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Re: Cannot open file for writing log

Post by bobarn » Sat Apr 19, 2014 3:30 pm

All Joomla! files were extracted to single folder (and the sub folders that it created) within that folder on my C drive. I don't know what the path was supposed to be or how to change it.

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TMDHosting
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Re: Cannot open file for writing log

Post by TMDHosting » Tue Apr 29, 2014 4:26 pm

Access the root folder of your Joomla, there you will locate a file with name "configuration.php". Open the file and search for the following lines which are showing the path to the logs and tmp folders:

public $log_path = '/path/to/the/joomla/logs';
public $tmp_path = '/path/to/the/jooomla/tmp';

Also please check the permissions of the above folders.
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bobarn
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Re: Cannot open file for writing log

Post by bobarn » Tue Apr 29, 2014 5:02 pm

Thanks for responding.

(I am BRAND NEW to Joomla!) Turns out I was somehow following cloudaccess.net's instructions on setting up my site on my computer--and of course that's not how it works. I subsequently realized that and that I had to create an 30-day trial account on their server. I wanted a little more time before committing to a host. In the meantime I found and installed XXAMP on my machine and things seem to now be running on my localhost (and with no immediate time constraints)

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Re: Cannot open file for writing log

Post by jim1061 » Mon Sep 01, 2014 2:25 am

I too decided to learn Joomla with a local installation. I was able to get the first sample site working and made some changes. Its now two days later and when I try to log in I cannot get in and am getting the "Cannot open file for writing log" error. I checked the configuration.php file and the paths to log_path and tmp_path are correct. So, I followed that path and when I landed inside the log folder there was no log files at all. The only file I found was index.html. Why wouldn't there be anything else in there?

In other words, there seem to be no logs at all. Any suggestions?

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Re: Cannot open file for writing log

Post by jim1061 » Mon Sep 01, 2014 2:50 am

OK… here is something a bit confusing. I had added a second site locally and i "think" the configuration.php files may have caused the problem although I am still not sure why since the paths were correct in at least one. I fixed the paths in the other but still got the error so just for the heck of it went into a different browser and was able to get in to both admin pages. I failed to get in using Safari and succeeded with Firefox. No idea why.

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Re: Cannot open file for writing log

Post by jim1061 » Tue Sep 02, 2014 4:43 am

SOLVED... :)

When I figure something out I like to complete my forum inquiry with the solution. I have two books and used the online info and none of them gave step by step instructions for a local installation especially when it comes to establishing the database. I read a lot and experimented and found a way to get through. Docs tell you what to do when you have an online database by creating it in a MySQL wizard but that doesn't exist locally so there is no easy set of steps... which I find disappointing. So, here is what I did and perhaps it will help someone else.

I installed the XAMPP server locally. When entering "localhost/XAMPP" into my browser I am brought to the XAMPP home page. No where is there a link to SQL which confused me since I am not familiar with SQL or PHP. Since there WAS a link to phpMyAdmin, I decided to go there. Indeed there was a place to create a database in there but I could not find a place for a name and password. Later when logging in I ended up using the admin name and password created on the first Joomla installation page and it worked. As suggested on that page I used "root" for the name and made up my own password. It is very important to write down all your steps, names and passwords for logging in later and as a guide for future sites.

So, I created the database in phpMyAdmin and wrote down the name I established. On the second Joomla installation page I inserted that information along with the rest as instructed and was able to get through the rest of the installation. At the end of the installation (last page) it gives the option to delete installation folder but mine would not do so (I surmised it had something to do with local installation) I deleted the folder manually as per the instructions. When I refreshed the page, I was told at the bottom that the configuration.php file was not created but it gave me all the proper lines for the document and instructed me to copy and paste to a basic text editor and save as configuration.php which I did. It then instructed me to place that document in the root folder. For some of us newbies, that is not always a basic instruction. Where is that root folder for the local installation? For me it was in "Applications/XAMPP/htdocs/xampp/... to me that is not necessarily an easy or natural assumption. In fact on my first attempt I put the file inside the folder I created to hold all the website files so I actually went one folder too deep.

Perhaps none of this occurs in a Joomla-ready web server installation but I wanted to learn offline and create websites to test locally before putting them online. The reason is that the websites already exist and since they are already constructed live in HTML, I do not want to upload anything while I learn Joomla. When it is ready as a complete Joomla site I will upload then at which time it will replace my site completely.

I am not sure if anyone else has gone down this same path but maybe my explanation will help somebody who has. I think that even with the Joomla for beginners documentation, too much is assumed especially when working offline locally. There should be a doc specifically listing every step in the local installation especially creating a database.

Once I creating everything correctly I went in the admin page and started experimenting. Thats where i have had a good time so far. I have no idea what it will be like when i try to download modules and integrate them but i am hoping it is a bit easier than my local installation experience. My first attempt will be inserting a slideshow so I may be in here within a different forum looking for help and maybe even providing the solution.

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Re: Cannot open file for writing log

Post by TMDHosting » Tue Sep 02, 2014 12:01 pm

That's great! I am glad to hear that you were able to resolve the issue. Good luck building your website :)
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