Item8162: Foswiki unusable until the install directory is changed to read/write

The install goes properly on Ubuntu 8.04. However when you try to log in and change the password, access is denied. If you hand configure the LocalSite.cfg file, then the system tries to write to it, it will fail. I finally tracked down the problem. The permissions for the /var/lib/foswiki directory tree are correct with www-data:www-data but they are all read only. You have to chmod the /var/lib/foswiki directory to make them read-write after installation so that the site can be configured and used.

I banged my head on a wall for a while trying to figure out what was going on.

-- MartinBures - 16 May 2009

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sounds like you're doig somethig quite wrong.

The debian package's LocalSite.cfg is in /etc/foswiki, not in /var/lib/foswiki, and you really need to know what you are doing if you want to hand configure, rather than using the configure cgi-script.

seriously, this package has about 7 years of history of working fine on debian and ubuntu (starting with tmwiki).

-- SvenDowideit - 19 May 2009

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I agree with you. But the documentation for this project is not very clear to begin with - reading the docs, it seems like the LocalSite.cfg should be in /var/lib/foswiki because that is where the template file lives. Once it started working properly, I did not hand modify the file and looking, sure enough, the cfg file is in /etc/foswiki.

Second, I installed from the debian packages. The whole point of this bug was to say that I could not use the configure script without changing the permissions of the directory. The purpose of this bug is to either have a note placed with the debian package install instructions to change the permissions, or modify the package install script to do it instead so that new or infrequent users will be able to get started.

-- MartinBures - 20 May 2009

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I just did a fresh debian-package install of Foswiki 1.0.5-1 on Ubuntu 8.10. /var/lib/foswiki is owned by www-data and writable by www-data.

"configure" shows one warning: "*Warning:* This Foswiki was installed using debian packages. You are strongly advised to use the same http://fosiki.com/Foswiki_debian repository packages to install Extensions. If you use this 'Find More Extensions' button, your Foswiki system may break."

Throwing caution to the wind... I tried to install MeetingBingoPlugin. I get this:

Fetching http://foswiki.org/pub/Extensions/MeetingBingoPlugin/MeetingBingoPlugin.tgz...
Unpacking...
lib/
lib/Foswiki/
lib/Foswiki/Plugins/
lib/Foswiki/Plugins/MeetingBingoPlugin.pm
data/
data/System/
data/System/MeetingBingoPlugin.txt
MeetingBingoPlugin_installer
Error: Cannot create directory /usr/lib/cgi-bin/lib: Permission denied

Software error:

Installation terminated at /var/lib/foswiki/lib/Foswiki/Configure/UIs/EXTEND.pm line 134.

Well, I was warned and my installation still worked afterwards (although that plugin was not installed).

I then installed MeetingBingoPlugin via Synaptic, and enabled it via configure. It works.

I think this task could be changed to "no action".

-- MichaelTempest - 18 Jun 2009

I agree.

-- CrawfordCurrie - 20 Jun 2009

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