Follow the steps below exactly as described and you should have SiteNet BBS serving you in a couple of minutes. Do the steps as you read through them.
Step 1. (Extract the .zip archive)
Extract the files with their directories that came in the .zip archive.
Step 2. (Set the path to perl in the .cgi and .pm script files)
Some Windows web servers, like Apache, requires that the first line in all scripts points to the perl program/interpreter on your host/server. If you are using Apache, open all .cgi and .pm script files and change the first line in the scripts. The first line needs to contain the full server path to your host's perl program/interpreter.
The .zip archive will contain directories inside it. These directories are 'cgi', 'data' and 'html'
Open the .cgi and .pm files located in the /cgi directory you have extracted with a text editor. A good text editor for this task is TextPad. You can get it here.
The first line in the scripts will read:
#!/usr/bin/perl
Change this to the path of Perl on your server or hosting account.
It should look something like this:
#!e:/perl/bin/perl
If you do not know this path, you will need to contact your host provider and ask them for the path to perl.
Here is a sample email that you can use to ask your host for the path to Perl
You will most likely not have to do this step if your web server is something other than Apache.
Step 3. (Create a 'data' directory on your host/server)
Create a directory on your server/host called 'data' or whatever you would like to name it. This directory will be used to store all settings and messages.
A good location for this directory is somewhere where the web server cannot access it. Another way of saying this, is to say that you need to create the 'data' directory somewhere where a visitor to your web site cannot access the contents of this directory.
This means that you must not place/create this directory in your cgi-bin or public HTML document directory.
A good place to place this directory would be for example:
c:/home/yourdomain.com/data
where your cgi-bin directory will reside in something like
c:/home/yourdomain.com/www/cgi-bin
and your public HTML directory in something like
c:/home/yourdomain.com/www
Step 4. (Copy files to the 'data' directory)
The .zip archive will contain directories inside it. These directories are 'cgi', 'data' and 'html'
Now copy the files inside the 'data' directory of the .zip archive to the 'data' directory you have just created.
Step 5. (Edit config.cgi)
The .zip archive will contain directories inside it. These directories are 'cgi', 'data' and 'html'
In the cgi directory there will be a file called config.cgi - Open it with a text editor. This file only consist of one line of text and is the only file you need to edit. Replace the existing path on the first line with the full server path to your 'data' directory.
If you don't know the full server path to your 'data' directory or don't know what a full server path is, contact your host and ask them for the full server path to your home directory. From there you should be able to determine the full server path to your 'data' directory.
Here is a sample email that you can use to ask your host for the full server path.
Step 6. (Set path to config.cgi in scripts)
Open all the .cgi and .pm files with something like textpad - Get it at http://www.textpad.com
Change the line that reads (Near the top):
#$cfile = "e:/full/server/path/to/config.cgi";
to
$cfile = "e:/full/server/path/to/config.cgi";
where e:/full/server/path/to/config.cgi needs to be changed to the full server path to where config.cgi is located on your host/server.
Step 7. (Copy the .cgi and .pm script files)
Copy the files in the 'cgi' directory to your 'cgi-bin' directory, including config.cgi that you edited in the previous step.
In the cgi directory that came with the .zip archive there will be a subdirectory called 'admin'. Create this directory in your cgi-bin directory. Then copy the .cgi and .pm files into the 'admin' directory from the /cgi/admin directory which resided in the .zip installation archive.
For example:
You could place the files that came in the 'cgi' directory from the .zip archive in:
c:/home/yourdomain.com/www/cgi-bin/netsitebbs
and the admin cgi script files in
c:/home/yourdomain.com/www/cgi-bin/netsitebbs/admin
Please note that the 'admin' directory always has to be a sub directory of the directory where the main program scripts resides.
Step 8. (Create the 'html' directory)
With the files/directories you extracted from the .zip archive there should have been a directory called 'html'.
On your hosting account/server create a directory called 'html' or whatever you want to call it. This directory has to be in your public html document tree. Your public html document tree is where you store the web pages of your web site.
Now you should have created the 'html' directory. Copy the contents of the 'html' directory you have extracted from the installation .zip archive to the 'html' directory you have created.
In the 'html' directory you have extracted, there should have been sub directories. These subdirectories are called icons, user_images and user_imagesc
Create these subdirectories under the 'html' directory you have created on your hosting account/server. Also copy the contents (that was extracted from the .zip installation archive) of these directories to your hosting account/server.
Step 9. (The setup interface)
Load setup.cgi in your browser and follow the instructions from there. setup.cgi is in the 'admin' directory you have created under your cgi-bin directory.
It should be located at, for example:
http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/sitenetbbs/admin/setup.cgi
Step 10. (Setup Completion)
After you have completed the setup with setup.cgi, SiteNet BBS will be up and running. Load admin.cgi in your browser to start creating forums.
