Configuration and directories not writable

[hdu]

I've installed Joomla 1.0.13 and gone through the web installer. It had the warning configuration.php is not writable but with option to upload it after the installation is complete, which is what I did. However, after logging into the admin backend, it still says configuration.php not writable, and also I cannot install components because many other directories are also not writable.

I tried changing the user for the site from root to apache.apache and permissions to 755 for directories and 644 for files, and checking that the server is running as apache. I even tried changing permissions for configuration.php to 777, but it still says not writable.

Anybody had a similar problem?

[numinousmedia]

The server you are using may not allow PHP application write access. If this is the case, you may need to set up the FTP layer on your Joomla. I've never used 1.0, but in later versions, this is done in the Global Configuration settings.

I would also suggest making the move to Joomla 2.5. J! 1.0 is long out of date, and is definitely no longer supported, either by Joomla updates, or by most extensions.

[hdu]

The server you are using may not allow PHP application write access.

I am just using my computer as a test server, so I can modify the files and their permission directly as root. Or do you mean there is some other way the server is not allowing this?

If this is the case, you may need to set up the FTP layer on your Joomla. I've never used 1.0, but in later versions, this is done in the Global Configuration settings.

I've checked on the configuration page, but there is no setting for ftp. Anyways I wouldn't be able to change it because it says the configuration file is not writable.

I would also suggest making the move to Joomla 2.5. J! 1.0 is long out of date, and is definitely no longer supported, either by Joomla updates, or by most extensions.

Yes, that is just what I am trying to do. I set up Joomla 1.0.13 on the test environment, but because of this 'not writable' error, I can't install the migrator component for migrating to Joomla 1.5 since it can't write to any directories.

[numinousmedia]

I don't think I understand. You currently have a 1.0 site in a real hosting environment, and you made a copy of your site on your computer (to use it as a testing environment), to test migrating to 1.5? Is that correct?

Also, you can change your configuration.php file manually by editing it in a text editor. Notepad works fine, although I personally like Programmer's Notepad better.

[numinousmedia]

Also, are you trying to install Joomla into WAMP on your computer? What's your testing environment?

[hdu]

I don't think I understand. You currently have a 1.0 site in a real hosting environment, and you made a copy of your site on your computer (to use it as a testing environment), to test migrating to 1.5? Is that correct?

That is correct.

Also, you can change your configuration.php file manually by editing it in a text editor. Notepad works fine, although I personally like Programmer's Notepad better.

Yes, I didn't think of that. However, I still didn't don't have any ftp option.

Also, are you trying to install Joomla into WAMP on your computer? What's your testing environment?

I guess mine would be LAMP? Linux - Fedora 17, Apache 2.2, MySQL 5.5, PHP 5.4

[numinousmedia]

Hmm... when it comes to Linux OS, I'm not much help. I'm definitely a Windows guy.

The only other thing I can think of, is running a test site on the same server as your current website. This would mean copying your files over to a subfolder, like: http://www.example.com/testing. You would also want to create a second database, and copy your information to that new DB, and link the DB to your testing Joomla site.

This should help you avoid the issues you are seeing in LAMP.

[hdu]

Thanks, Ryan. I may consider setting up the test site on the same server. Maybe it's the different environment that's causing the problem.

[numinousmedia]

Yeah, that's my thought. A year or so ago I worked with a client that had their server hosted on a Ubuntu machine, and it seemed very problematic (permissions issues were a big chunk of the problems). Ubuntu should work fine, but moving to a different server cleared up all the issues. Hopefully that works for you.

[hdu]

It turns out the permission issues were caused by SELinux. After setting it to permissible, I was then able to write to the config and directories:

%> getenforce
Enforcing
%> setenforce 0
%> getenforce
Permissible