Install.php gives blank page

[semose]

So I unpacked all the files for smf 1.01, put them in hxxp:www.glan.ca/smf [nonactive], and CHMOD'ed all the listed files to 777, but when I go to hxxp:www.glan.ca/smf/index.php [nonactive], I get a blank page. I... Really have no idea why. I've checked is anyone else has had a similar problem via the forum search, and it seemed one person did, but I couldn't tell if the solution for that person was related to my problem... I'm running FreeBSD 4.10 and here is my info file: hxxp:glan.ca/smf/phpinfo.php [nonactive]. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[semose]

errr... sorry, I meant to put this in the Install and Upgrade Help section.

[Trekkie101]

Looks like your Zend Engine is out of date, but it doesnt have the number I usually look for so I could be wrong but it says 1.3.0

[Ben_S]

it doesnt have the number I usually look for

Thats because Zend Optimizer isn't installed, no idea whats causing it though :-/

[Oldiesmann]

To get a better idea of where this is crashing (obviously in install.php somewhere), try putting a few debug statements in install.php, like so:

Find

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

initialize_inputs();
load_lang_file();

Replace

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo 'Calling initialize_inputs()';
initialize_inputs();
echo 'Done with initialize_inputs()... Calling load_lang_file()';
load_lang_file();
echo 'Done with load_lang_file()...';

Find

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

// Turn off magic quotes runtime and enable error reporting.
@set_magic_quotes_runtime(0);
error_reporting(E_ALL);

Add after that

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo 'Turned off magic quotes runtime and enabled error reporting.';

Find

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

ob_start();
@session_start();

Add after that

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo 'No output compression detected... Started the session';

Find

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

session_start();

Add after that

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo 'GZIP compression detected... Started the session';

Find

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

// Add slashes, as long as they aren't already being added.
if (get_magic_quotes_gpc() == 0)
{
foreach ($_POST as $k => $v)
$_POST[$k] = addslashes($v);
}

Add after that

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo 'Line 162 and all is well!';

Find

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

// Now just redirect to a blank.gif...
header('Location: http://' . (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']) ? $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] : $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] . ':' . $_SERVER['SERVER_PORT']) . dirname($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']) . '/Themes/default/images/blank.gif');
exit;
}

Add after that

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo 'Finished initializing inputs...';

Find

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

// Load the list of language files, and the current language file.
function load_lang_file()
{
global $txt;

$found = array();

Add after that

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo 'Attempting to look for language files so they can be loaded...';

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Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

// Make sure the languages directory actually exists.
if (file_exists(dirname(__FILE__) . '/Themes/default/languages'))
{

Add after that

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo 'Found default languages directory...';

Find

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

$dir->close();
}

Add after that

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo 'Done looking for Install language files';

Find

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

// And now include the actual language file itself.
require_once(dirname(__FILE__) . '/Themes/default/languages/' . $_SESSION['smf_install_lang']);

Add before that

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo 'Attempting to include the Install language file...';

That should be enough information to determine what's causing the problem...

[semose]

Thank you all very much for you input, especialy Oldiesmann, it looks like that must have taken quite some time to type up if you didn't already have it.

After making those changes to install.php, index.php now gives me the message: "Calling initialize_inputs()Turned off magic quotes runtime and enabled error reporting."

[Oldiesmann]

I meant to put line breaks in there...

Anyway, that's helpful...

Try this:

Find

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

ob_start();
@session_start();

Replace

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo '<br />Calling ob_start()';
ob_start();
echo '<br />Attempting to start the session...';
session_start();

Find

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

ob_start('ob_gzhandler');
session_start();

Replace

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

echo '<br />Calling ob_start with gzip compression...';
ob_start('ob_gzhandler');
echo '<br />Attempting to start the session...';
session_start();

That will hopefully give you some more information (removing the @ from the first session_start will make it display any error messages).

[semose]

Alright, now I get:

Calling initialize_inputs()Turned off magic quotes runtime and enabled error reporting.
Calling ob_start()
Attempting to start the session...
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: session_start() in /usr/local/www/data/smf/install.php on line 142

[[Unknown]]

SMF requires session support; that means PHP must not be compiled with --without-session.

-[Unknown]

[semose]

well, I just deinstalled and recompliled php, even though I don't remember using the --without-session argument before. In any case, I certainly haven't this time around, but I'm still getting the same error message. Any suggestions?

[[Unknown]]

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: session_start() in /usr/local/www/data/smf/install.php on line 142

Means you do not have session support.  Can you post a phpinfo please?

What is phpinfo.php?

-[Unknown]

[semose]

hxxp:glan.ca/smf/phpinfo.php [nonactive]

Thanks again for your time!

[[Unknown]]

Well, you definitely don't have session support even though it's enabled by default.  Can you try configuring with --with-session or --enable-session?

Are you getting the source straight from php.net?

-[Unknown]

[semose]

It's FreeBSD, so I'm building it from the ports directory, which would be updated by hxxp:php.net [nonactive], I assume. The file names are the same.

Is there a configuration file that I can edit so I don't have to unintall and reinstall it again?

[[Unknown]]

I'm afraid not.  While sessions can be enabled and disabled at runtime, they're not even compiled into your build at all (and thus cannot be enabled except by recompiling.)

-[Unknown]

[martp]

Hi!
I have the same problem. I HAVE smf 1.0.2 running on the same server in a /yabb-se folder. Everything is fine, so all my php-settings should be okay, right?
Now I need a second forum and made a complete new copy to  a new folder called /smf, changemodded evrything. But all I get is a blank page.

I changed my install.php as oldiesman said. The messages I get are:

Calling initialize_inputs()Turned off magic quotes runtime and enabled error reporting.
Calling ob_start()
Attempting to start the session...
Fatal error: session_start(): Failed to initialize storage module: user (path: /tmp) in /home/httpd/mplass/art-up.de/www/smf/install.php on line 144

Here's my php-info:
http://www.art-up.de/cgi-bin/phpinfo.php

Thank you for your help.
Martin

[[Unknown]]

Well, session.save_handler should be, by default, 'files'.

-[Unknown]