httpBL

[snoopy_virtual]

Great Mod!  But I'm not sure why I keep getting this warning:

Mod httpBL is ON but there is no connection just now with HoneyPot. Please try later.

Is this normal for new activations?

No, that's not normal at all.

The servers in Project Honey Pot were off for maintenance a few times last week, so maybe that's why you were getting that error, but as far as I know they have finished the work and the servers are back on again as normal. I have just checked again and all my forums have perfect connection.

Please try again and, if your server still cannot connect now to Project Honey Pot's servers that means there is something wrong somewhere.

If you keep getting that error we will need to investigate it, so try to get me through Skype to do it together or give us here more info about your version of SMF, the version of mod httpBL you are using, other mods installed, the kind of server you have, etc, etc.

[SumolX]

I've sent you a PM with my Skype handle.  Again Thank You very much for you help.  As for the details you requested:

Current Installed Mods:

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2.5.1 - httpBL (First mod I installed and the issue was there already)
1.3.8 - Downloads System
1.2   - Enhancements to purge inactive members
2.3.9 - Stop Spammer
2.09  - Treasury
2.3.3 - SimplePortal                           
1.2.1 - AvatarSelect                           
2.0   - KeyCAPTCHA for SMF                     
1.0.1 - Simple Spoiler                         
3.2   - Custom Action Mod     


Site:

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    Powered by SMF 2.0 RC5 | SMF © 2006–2011, Simple Machines LLC
    SimplePortal 2.3.3 © 2008-2010, SimplePortal


Server:

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Ubuntu 11.04
Linux ubuntu 2.6.38-8-server #42-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 11 03:49:04 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux


[SumolX]

Not sure what caused this problem but reseting my router back to the default configuration fixed the dns lookup issue.  Strange that it was only with that specific host. 

snoopy_virtual, I would have never have guessed it was a dns lookup error since all my other machines were running fine.

Thank You very much snoopy_virtual for all your help.

[snoopy_virtual]

You're welcome.

As I told you yesterday in Skype, it can be a bug in Ubuntu 11.04 (the server you are running). That particular version of Ubuntu is not really stable yet and we are still finding and sorting a lot of bugs in it (in Linux forums).

Personally I am only using that version of Ubuntu in one test computer, but in my main machines I use Ubuntu 10.10 or even 10.04 (the more stable and recommended).

Anyway, if you get any more problems you know where to get me. 

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I'm happy to report that since installed, a few months back, we've only had one spammer, and this person (I believe) was an actual person (not a bot) that registered and then used the registration to spam (in Chinese in an English-speaking forum, no less).

Although it was a huge spam attack (took a few minutes to clean up the spam), it had nothing to do with this awesome mod, which, as someone else has stated, when combined with stopforumspam, pretty much annihilates most spambot attack.

Kudos to the developer, yet again.

[snoopy_virtual]

My pleasure. (Love to give the spammers a headache) 

[JRSofty]

First off Great Mod. I've found it quite useful, and since I didn't know of the Honeypot Project before that is double kudos for you.

What I would like to see however, in the Spammer log instead of getting the IP Track page from SMF when clicking on a logged IP, it would really be good if it opened the information from the Honeypot Project about the IP.

Thanks again.

[snoopy_virtual]

You can get that very easy adding also this another mod:

http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1849

Clicking on the IP link will take you to the page with all the info about the activity of that particular IP inside your forum and, inside that "Track IP" page, you will have a link to Project Honey Pot's database so you can check out the data they have for the IP you are tracking.

That's how I do it in my forums, because I use a very complicated "Track IP" page that give me also a lot more info about every IP.

==========

Another possibility will be to add next to that IP link another link to Project Honey Pot's database. I explained a few weeks ago somebody else how to add a link there, so you can see the question here:

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=366399.msg3027355#msg3027355

And the explanation is just a few post after that.

You will need to change the link he was doing to this one instead:

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<a href="http://www.projecthoneypot.org/ip_'. $log['ip']. '" target="_blank">


And to do the link nicely you could use for example the Project Honey Pot icon. 

[outdoors-stuff]

Hi, new member here, please be gentle 

Just tried to install httpBL, but needed to wait for the owner of the webserver to agree to putting the honeypot on it (they're our webdeveloper so it only seemed fair to ask them first!). Having got an API key, it looked like I could install the mod, then add our own honeypot later on.  And when I discovered that the mod remains "switched off" until our own honeypot is running, I left the forum (still apparently working fine) part-modded and awaiting the honeypot in a few days time.

But within an hour, our forum users were complaining - access to the forum wasn't possible - it was broken Have managed to fix it (thanks for leaving backup copies of the main root dir files that were changed - very handy when things go wrong!  ) but it looks like the mods version of "settings.php" is an empty file. And the stuff that was in the original settings.php file is clearly much needed!

Did something go wrong in my particular download/install (seems most likely - just can't see this not being picked up earlier if the file's normally empty in the modded version) or is this something that's gone wrong very recently?

[busterone]

This mod doesn't edit anything in settings.php. That file is crucial to your forum's operation. It contains the database connection info, absolute forum path and url info. Something else has gone wrong if your settings.php file got emptied.  There is an old bug relating to saving the latest error to the file -  ($db_last_error) Under certain circumstances, if a rewrite is attempted before the last attempt was complete, settings.php gets wiped clean.
See these topics to get an idea of what happens. There are more links and info in the topics. 
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=354582.msg2410248#msg2410248
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=213201.0

[snoopy_virtual]

@busterone

I was writing an answer myself when suddenly I saw you had already done it, and your answer has a lot more info than mine.

Yep, I think that's the problem, because this mod doesn't touch Settings.php at all, and the mod hasn't been changed at all since the 3rd of March.

@outdoors-stuff

Let us know if you get your problem sorted with the links busterone gave you. If you don't, tell us what happen and we will try to sort it.

[outdoors-stuff]

Many thanks to both of you for a really quick reply on that - I thought it was far too big and glaringly obvious an issue to be in the mod unless something unexpected had gone wrong while it installed.

But that rather sounds like it was coincidence it happened then and could well happen randomly again

Very surprised its still around in v1.1.13 if it was first reported back in v1.1.5 but will get the chmod 444 fix applied and hope that resolves it.

Many thanks

[busterone]

Best of luck with your forum. 

[virtual_al]

Hi everybody, and especially snoopy.

I'm really new here, so excuse any noob mistakes I might make. Been a 3-year SMF "user", up to and including 1.1.13 and I am now considering to making the jump to 2.0 which has just been released, and have httpBL installed too 

Before I go that way, I have two Qs:

1. Do I need to install httpBL before I upgrade to 2.0? if yes, which version?
2. One for snoopy: when do you plan to release a httpBL which is fully compatible with SMF 2.0?

Many thanks for your help.

virtual_al

[snoopy_virtual]

Hi everybody, and especially snoopy.

I'm really new here, so excuse any noob mistakes I might make. Been a 3-year SMF "user", up to and including 1.1.13 and I am now considering to making the jump to 2.0 which has just been released, and have httpBL installed too 

Hi. You don't need to excuse yourself. All of us started here as noobs and the only way of learning (apart from reading a lot) is asking questions. We all did it 

Before I go that way, I have two Qs:

1. Do I need to install httpBL before I upgrade to 2.0? if yes, which version?

I think somebody has done a tutorial explaining how to do that particular upgrade (don't know exactly where but I don't think is difficult to find) but when a forum has mods, the best way to do any kind of upgrade is this one:

1.- Un-install all the mods you have.

2.- Follow the guidelines to do the upgrade you want.

3.- Install again all the mods (checking first that they are compatible with the new SMF version you are using).

Mod httpBL is not fully compatible just now with SMF 2.0 (final version). The last version I did (2.5.1) was compatible with 2.0 RC5 so if you want to install this mod in a forum with 2.0 final you will need to wait until I have time to do a new version or do a manual install editing whatever files had been changed from RC5 to final.

And this take us to your next question:

2. One for snoopy: when do you plan to release a httpBL which is fully compatible with SMF 2.0?

I have really no idea at all. Maybe soon, maybe later or even maybe never.

Let me try to explain it a little more:

The problem (as I have already said somewhere else) is that I normally only have time to develop the programs/plug-ins/mods that I actually use myself in my own (or my customers) forums/web-sites. And even with those, I never manage to find enough time to do everything I would like to.

Just now I have 8 forums with SMF 1.1.13 and one forum with SMF 2.0 RC5 and I am not planning to upgrade any of them to 2.0 final just now.

The forum with RC5 is just a test forum, so it's not really important and it's the last one I always care about.

In the 8 forums I have 1.1.13 I suppose I will do (whenever I have some spare time) the small upgrade to 1.1.14 (it's a very small one so I don't think I will need to un-install and re-install any mods) and will wait until Wedge is ready to upgrade them from SMF to Wedge.

I don't see any point in upgrading a forum from SMF 1.1.x to 2.0 and then again upgrade it to Wedge later.

The only chance that maybe I release a new version of httpBL fully compatible with 2.0 final is if Wedge takes too long to be ready.

I will need first time to upgrade all my forums to 1.1.14 and check that both my 2 mods are fully compatible with it. (I suspect they are just now, but would need to fully check it myself).

I will need also to check that all the rest of the mods and Themes I use in those 8 forums are fully compatible with 1.1.14 and do all the manual edits required to make them compatible if they aren't.

When I finish all that, if there is already even an alpha version of Wedge available I will start upgrading some of my forums to Wedge and will be very busy translating Wedge into Spanish. If not (and if I have some time) I will upgrade my test RC5 forum to 2.0 final and I will check then what changes need to be done to my mods to make them compatible with that.

So, as you can see, everything depends on too many things so, as I was saying before, the best answer I can give you is "I have no idea at all."

[snoopy_virtual]

I was planning on doing it myself.

I need to upgrade 8 forums from SMF 1.1.x to Wedge, so I will need to find the way to do it as easy as possible.

Maybe it will be easier to upgrade them first from SMF 1.1.x to SMF 2.0 and after that from SMF 2.0 to Wedge (as far as I know there is already people working on that one) or maybe it will be easier to do the importer myself. I don't know.

I suppose I will use my own personal forum as a test forum as soon as I get a version of Wedge and see what happen.

Anyway I suppose it would be better if we continue talking about this topic in the another forum.

[virtual_al]

Thanks for the very fast reply snoopy! Much appreciated!

So what I could make it between the lines is "stay with 1.1.13" for now since there is no real need/advantage to moving on to 2.0. Correct?

The rest of my post is a rant so you can safely ignore

Kind regards,
virtual_al

/rant on/
Since you mentioned Wedge quite a few times in your reply, and me never having heard of it before, I had a look at the hxxp:wedge.org [nonactive] site and was taken aback a bit by the comment "... and if you don't know anything about it, you may want to leave this site and go discuss on another forum the aphrodisiac properties, or lack thereof, of garlic sausage. Or you could simply read the FAQ topics. It's up to you."

Hmm, interesting logic: if you are interested enough to be looking for us - despite not knowing anything about us, then turn around and leave. I hope their code is better and less arrogant, logic-wise  Unless I missed the whole point and this remark was a kind of weird geek humor that I can't understand. Anyway, I kept reading the Wedge FAQ and to be honest, I didn't quite understand what new features/benefits it offers (or will offer). Then I found another remark: "you can already find many of the Wedge features listed in the forum. You just need to go through all of the topics and thoroughly read all of Arantor's and Nao's posts, where they're often mentioned casually. Have fun". Well it's not "fun" at all... Maybe they forget that the purpose is not the forum engine itself, but the service it offers and if people cannot understand why their ware is better than other ware, few if any will use it, and a forum engine without real-life forums using it, is useless. A simple "live" or "growing" list will do. After being discouraged from further trying to understand what Wedge does or plans to do, sifting through their forum only to potentially find more discouraging remarks, is not my kind of "having fun". After all, I assume that understanding what Wedge is supposed to be offering is not the Quest for the Holy Grail where knights must prove themselves worthy of even taking it.

I don't even like the way they say they plan to release and manage updates. It very much sounds like "if you're not a geek who enjoys playing with your forum setup every month or so, Wedge is not for you". I prefer investing my time in making the forum an enjoyable and useful place to be, not tinkering with its many options, or making full uninstalls and installs of the forum every month. To be clear - I don't have the knowledge, talent and time to tinker with PHP etc. I just want to offer an enjoyable service - period.

I am not an SMF fanboy by far, but for now Wedge is not a consideration for me - unless something changes in the rarefied heights at Wedge.org 
/rant off/

[bugstomper]

Mod httpBL is not fully compatible just now with SMF 2.0 (final version). The last version I did (2.5.1) was compatible with 2.0 RC5 so if you want to install this mod in a forum with 2.0 final you will need to wait until I have time to do a new version or do a manual install editing whatever files had been changed from RC5 to final.

Snoopy, do you know for sure that httBL is not compatible with 2.0, or is it just that you have not had the time to try it? I looked at the file changes in install_2.xml, and for each changed file looked at the diff between that file in 2.0c5 and 2.0 Gold. I didn't see any place where the change specified in install_2.xml had any overlap or had anything to do with the change going from 2.0RC5 to 2.0 Gold.

Did I miss something, or is it possible that httBL will actually just work as is with 2.0 Gold?

[riou]

It seems to be working fine for me on smf 2.0 Gold

The only problem I seem to be having is with an RSS feed auto poster using a cronjob this mod doesn't seem to be able to identify its IP (shows up as unknown and blocks it from performing the cronjob), this didnt seem to be a problem on 1.1.x line (it showed its IP fine and didnt block it at all)


Since I get an email on every cronjob this is what the email says:

Missing argument 1 for httpBL_look_for_empty_ip(), called in Sources/httpBL_Subs.php on line 680 and defined in Sources/httpBL_Subs.php on line 517

Notice:  Undefined variable: ip in Sources/httpBL_Subs.php on line 519

[snoopy_virtual]

@virtual_al

I would like to answer a lot of the points on your "rant on" but, as I have been asked a few times already to stop talking so much about Wedge here (and I understand and respect their point of view) I would prefer to answer you in Wedge itself.

Would you mind to create an account there (it's free  ) and copy and paste all that so we can talk about it properly?

So what I could make it between the lines is "stay with 1.1.13" for now since there is no real need/advantage to moving on to 2.0. Correct?

Not really.

What I was saying is, as I am planing to upgrade to Wedge later, I will only upgrade now to 1.1.14 and wait.

If you are not planning to upgrade to Wedge at all I think you should upgrade to 2.0 as soon as you can.

I will try to explain it with an example:

Imagine I have a computer with Windows 98 and somebody give me a copy of Windows XP but I know I will be able to get Windows 8 very soon.

Instead of upgrading just now from 98 to XP and then in a few weeks upgrade again from XP to W8 I would prefer to wait and upgrade directly from 98 to W8 in just one go.

But if you don't like (or cannot get) W8 I would tell you to upgrade from W98 to XP as soon as you can.

==============

@bugstomper & riou

I haven't tried it, so I cannot be 100% sure. Anyway busterone told me yesterday he had already upgraded one forum to 2.0 final and to be able to install mod httpBL properly he had to manually edit a few things. That's why I assumed it's not fully compatible and will need some work done.

I didn't ask him for the details though.