Posts

Stefan Helander

/tmp problem when installing plugins in WordPress

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When you try to install a plugin in WordPress and get an error message like this:

Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/tmp//google-integration-toolkit.tmp) is not within the allowed path(s): (/var/www/XXX/) in/var/www/XXX/web/wp-includes/functions.php on line 2140

Warning: touch() [function.touch]: SAFE MODE Restriction in effect. The script whose uid is 12345 is not allowed to access /tmp owned by uid 0 in /var/www/XXX/web/wp-admin/includes/file.php on line 184

Download failed. Could not create Temporary file.

This is happening when the server is running with SAFE MODE because WordPress will not be able to access paths outside it’s web root. Find out the full path to your web root on the server (a hint is in the error message you just saw). Create a temporary directory within your website path and add the following line.

Edit wp-config.php and add:

define(‘WP_TEMP_DIR’, ‘/var/www/XXX/tmp’);

(Replace /var/www/XXX/tmp with the full path to your temporary directory.)

Stefan Helander

TYPO3 cms installation fails in step 2

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If you are installing the TYPO3 content management system (CMS), after uploading the files to your web server and setting some directory permissions, you are supposed to point your browser to your web server’s root where you just have installed TYPO3 in order to continue the installation. A screen similar to this is displayed:

TYPO3 installation step 1

Click to enlarge

Enter database username, password and server (normally “localhost”) and click continue. If the following screen (as step 2) is displayed, you are in trouble:

TYPO3 installation step 2

Click to enlarge

This screen is supposed to show you the availible databases for selection. But as you can see it ends just below the word “Database”. No error message is displayed.

The reason for this is that PHP is running in Safe mode. By configuring your webserver/PHP to run with Safe mode off the installation will work.

This situation is actually described in the TYPO3 Wiki under troubleshooting saying “This could cause the Install Tool to display an error message”. In my case it didn’t and it took some time of head scratching to figure it out.