Installing Eventum on Windows XP

A few weeks ago I posted and entry about installing the MySQL Eventum project on Mac OS X. Having successfully created an Eventum test environment on my Mac, I needed to install a production instance of it on a Windows XP VMware server. As it turns out, this process can prove rather difficult unless you follow the steps below.

Step 1: Install Apache 2.0

Installing Apache 2.0 is fairly straightforward. It is important to note that as of this post, the current version of PHP (5.1.6) does not yet support Apache 2.2. Save yourself some grief and load Apache 2.0.

Step 2: Install MySQL 5.0

Installing MySQL is the simplest of all the steps. No special configuration needs to be done. I would recommend installing the MySQL Tools also.

Step 3: Install PHP 5.1.6

I'm embarrassed to say that this turned out to be the most difficult step of the process...that is until I realized that this PHP version does not run with Apache 2.2. After installing PHP, you will need to modify the following:

• httpd.conf. This file is found in your Apache folder. Add the following lines to the end of the file:

  # PHP
  LoadModule php5_module d:/php5.1.6/php5apache2.dll
  AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
  AddType application/x-httpd-php .php-source .phps
  PHPIniDir "c:/php5.1.6" (or whatever directory you loaded php in)
  

• php.ini. This file is found in your PHP folder. Add a doc_root line. It should look something like the following:

  doc_root ="C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs"
  

  Take the ";" (denotes a comment in PHP) from in front of the following lines:

  extension=php_gd2.dll
  extension=php_mysql.dll
  extension=php_mysqli.dll
  

If any of these lines do not exist, add them.

Step 4: Install Eventum

After you download Eventum, unzip it to the htdocs folder of your Apache installation. To start the installation process, go to your browser and type the URL of the Eventum site in the address line. It should look something like this: "//localhost/eventum-1.7.1/".

Once the installation is complete modify the following line in the config.inc file (found in the Eventum directory):

from

@define("APP_COOKIE_DOMAIN", APP_HOSTNAME);

to

@define("APP_COOKIE_DOMAIN", NULL);

Best of luck! Let me know if you have any problems with this. R

Installing Eventum on Mac OS X

Last weekend while attempting to install Eventum, a MySQL/PhP based issues tracking system, on my Mac, I ran into a common problem. I say common because of the number of questions I found on the web relating to it. In order to successfully install the software, you have to modify your php.ini file and set allow_call_time_pass_reference = On...which turns out is not an easy task.

First, it's not easy to find the php.ini file. The Finder app will not find it. The best way to locate the file is to create a one line php file on your webserver that contains a php.phpinfo() ? statement. Chances are you did this as part of your php installation anyway, particularly if you used Entropy PhP for the Mac. Running this php app will reveal the location of your php.ini file. On my system, php.ini is located at /usr/local/php5/lib/php.ini (the location on your system may vary).

The next issue becomes, how to get to /usr/local/php5/lib. The easiest way to do this (and maybe the only way) is by pulling up the Terminal application found in your Utilities folder. This app takes you into the Unix shell. Note: Before you do this, make sure that a) you are signed in as the Administrator, b) you are comfortable working in Unix. To get to the directory in Unix, you type cd /usr/local/php5/lib. Once you're there you'll quickly realize that you the php.ini file is read only. In fact, the entire directory is read only. To modify the file, you'll need to back up one level to the /usr/local/php5/ directory and do a chmod 755 lib to allow the files to be modified. Next, go back to the lib directory and vi the php.ini file. Now you're ready to successfully install Eventum.

Good luck, and let me know if you have a better solution.