Installation Notes
These are further installation notes for users with no experience in website management and those with difficult web hosts. To download Comic do so at the Download page.
How to FTP
FTP (file transfer protocol) is something the vast majority of webhosts use so that site owners can upload content to their website. When you use an FTP program you can then edit your site however you want, this is the easiest way to put Comic on your site.
Free FTP software can be found in many places, in fact chances are you already have one. However, I will focus on one called fireftp, which is actually a plugin into the firefox web browser. To use fireftp first install firefox and then, once you are browsing around the internet in your new browser, install the fireftp extension.
To set up fireftp to your website you'll need three pieces of information from your webhost:
- Host URL
- Username
- Password
I can't help you find these details, your webhost should have a help section somewhere that will give you these details. Once you have them open fireftp (from firefox: Tools > FireFTP) and simply plug them into fireftp's Add Account dialogue (shown right) in the appropriate places. The Account Name can be anything you want.
How to CHMOD
CHMOD is a way that UNIX (including linux) operating systems let you decide what can and what cannot edit certain files. It is something you can set to your files and folder through FTP. Now the important bit: How do you CHMOD a file exactly? Well, when you do it through FTP, it depends on the FTP program that you use. These instructions will be for fireftp (see How to FTP).
- Right click on the file/folder you want to CHMOD and choose properties
- If you know the read/write groups you want then edit the checkbox table or, if you were given a number e.g. 755, then type it into the box to the right labeled manual - Important: When entering a number make sure it is 4 digits long with the first digit being a 0, otherwise really weird things could start happening.
- Click ok
Offline Install
Some webhosts (especially free ones) do not allow php scripts to retrieve data from other websites, something a download script obviously needs. If this is the case for you then you'll need to do the downloading for it. These packs do not include download.php which must already be in place and can be downloaded from the main download page.
- Download one of these offline install packs to your computer:
- Extract all the files inside the archive to your computer
- Upload all the files to the same folder as your download.php is in
- CHMOD all the new files you just uploaded to 666 (Read/Write for all)
- Continue with the Comic installation
Permission Problems
Unfortunately there is little standard across webhosts as to what the certain groups mean inside of CHMODding. Some give PHP the same permissions as the owner, some separate them into groups, it's just something we have to live with for now.
As such on some webhosts the Comic install will not be able to function until you CHMOD the folder it is in. Your best bet is to CHMOD the folder to 766 (Read/Write/Execute for Owner, Read/Write for group, Read/Write for other). See How to CHMOD for details on how to do that.
Install from source code
The more advanced of users may wish to install Comic from source. Please note that this method is not a recommended install path for anyone and is certainly not to be attempted by anyone less than a web-genius. Why offer it then? Well, developers may come along that want to edit core parts of Comic and test out their results easily.
Having read those warnings you can find the advanced development options over at google code
Note to script directories/mirror sites: Your support and promotion of Comic is greatly appreciated! However, in the interests of the users, please do not offer the source package as an installation option. Most users will find the instructions too complex and will be directed to this site. Instead, you are welcome to distribute download.php or link to http://comiccms.com/download.php so users can install Comic easily.
