Backtalk Installation Guide

Part IVA: Installation with Backtalk Accounts

Version 1.4.9

© 1996-2003 Jan Wolter, Steve Weiss

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If you are installing a system using Unix accounts, read the other version of this page.

If you are upgrading a previous Backtalk installation:

  1. Backup Your Old Files:
    Or better yet, install into a whole new location. The install scripts will not save your old customizations. You should make a backup of your old installation. The following files are especially likely to have been customized on your site, and may be especially important to save:
     
        script/config.bt
        script/pistachio/config.bt
        script/abalone/config.bt
        etc/backtalk.conf
     
  2. Don't run 'make install-users'.
    This will mess up all your existing accounts if you are installing into the same place, and it's useless if you aren't because you probably want to copy over your old user database.
     
  3. Don't run 'make install-bbs'.
    This will mess up your existing conferences if you are installing into the same place, and it's useless if you aren't because you probably want to copy over your old conference database.
In a normal Backtalk installation, most files and directories are owned by the owner account (usually called 'backtalk') but a few must be owned by the account httpd runs under (usually 'nobody' unfortunately). The easy way to create files owned by two different users is to do the installation as root. But it can still be done if are not root so long as you have access to both the owner and httpd accounts.
Commands If You Have Root Access:

As root in top-level distribution directory:

make install-binaries
make install-scripts
# if you want new conferences:
make install-bbs
# if you want a new user database:
make install-users
Commands If You Lack Root Access:

As owner-id in top-level distribution directory:

make install-binaries-owner
make install-scripts
# if you want new conferences:
make install-bbs
# if you want a new user database:
make install-users-owner
# before running httpd-id commands:
make open-perms
As httpd-id in top-level distribution directory:
make install-binaries-httpd
# if you want a new user database:
make install-users-httpd
As owner-id in top-level distribution directory:
# after running httpd-id commands:
make restore-perms
Note that if you are installing a system that will run under suExec or cgiwrap then owner-id and httpd-id are the same. If you are logged into that account, you should be able to use the root installation commands.

If you are creating a new user database, then the Backtalk conference administration account will also be created. The last of the make commands will ask you to enter a password to use for this account.

If you aren't root and you can't actually log in as httpd-id to execute the commands, then write a little CGI program named something like install.cgi containing commands something like this: 

	#!/bin/sh
	echo "Content-type: text/plain"
	echo
	cd /distribution/directory/for/backtalk
	make install-binaries-httpd 2>&1
	make install-users-httpd 2>&1
Install the script in the appropriate cgi-bin directory and permit it to be executable ("chmod 755 install.cgi"). Then use your browser to execute that script. The web server should run the script as the appropriate user, and display the output on your browser screen. Remove the script from the cgi-bin directory when you are done.
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Next: Part VA: Apache Configuration