Free Software Users

If you have problems using any of the software on this website please use the FAQ's and user forums to try and resolve it.

Don't send us an email as this will not help you get an answer and it won't help other users who may be experiencing similar problems. Don't use the contact forms either as they go to sales. Email and contact forms only go to one address whereas our support forums are seen by many people making the chances of you getting a prompt answer much higher.

Read the FAQ's, search the forums and if you can't find an answer then post a question on the forums.

Current Support Subscribers

If you're a paid support subscriber please use the subscribers forum which is monitored by our support staff. If it is urgent in addition to posting to the subscribers forum use our contact form, especially if it's out of normal business hours.

If you don't have a paid support subscription then you will have to use the  community forums which aren't monitored by us but which we do visit occasionally.

General

When posting a question about any problems you may be experiencing the following things will be useful:

• version details for
  • our software and
  • things like Joomla, PHP, mySQL etc
• browser name, version & platform (eg. Firefox, Safari, Chrome and which platform Mac/Win)
• URL showing the problem
  
  • if no URL is available then a screen shot
• any error messages (please cut and paste them out of your browser into the forum, don't try to remember them and type them in.)
• turn on Joomla's debug mode and try to create the error again (also look at the debug output and copy and paste any relevant sections into your forum post.)

Changes in forum group memberships can sometime cause login issues due to out of date cookies or cached information held by the browser.

If you have a problem logging into the forums please try the following suggestions to see if any of them resolve the problem:

• logout & then click the link Delete all board cookies. (It's also on the bottom of the main forum page). Login and see if that worked.
• Logout then try to login from the websites home page
• If you use your browser to automatically save and fill out passwords try turning that off and logging out and then back in.
• Try a different browser, ie. if you normally use IE7 try Firefox or Safari to login with.
• Finally if none of them have worked try resetting your password using the forum login page

Out of Memory when Processing Files?

When PHP runs out of memory while running a large application ( like a CMS with lots of bells and whistles in a dynamic template ) you will see errors with the key phrases "Fatal Error" and "Allowed memory size of XXXXXX bytes exhausted".

Contributing causes include:

• a comparatively low memory_limit setting compared to the work you're asking the server to do.
  • 64M is considered normal for dynamic eCommerce and CMS driven websites
• asking the server to process/unzip/compress a very large file
• over-loading your CMS/eCommerce/Web App with lots of extensions

The easiest solution is to increase PHP's memory_limit - depending on your hosting environment there are a variety of ways to do this - click here for a Google Search to get you started. If you have no idea how to do this the best solution will be to talk to your website provider.

File Uploads

Ok, first up file uploads for those that aren't clear are the following sorts of things:

• adding a picture on your computer to an aritcle (you upload the image file)
• installing a new component/plug-in/temple (these items are uploaded to your website)
• uploading data to a custom component (like PDF & JPGs to Flipbook or CSV files for use in EasyTable)

A file upload is literally the transmission of data from your computer to the web server that your website runs on.

Unlike normal activities like editing text or creating menus which send small amount of data to specific fields, file uploads send much larger amounts of data in a pre-packaged format.  Files that can be uploaded can be a variety of types, common ones include:

• ZIP/GZ  (compressed data files)
• JPG/PNG/GIF (images)
• SWF, AVI, MOV, MP3, MP4 (Flash, audio & video)

As file uploads are usually self contained packages they have to be treated with much more care. As such hosting services and most CMS software have limits on what can be uploaded. Some file restrictions that you might encouter include:

• no executable files
  • to prevent virus transmission
• no script files
  • like PHP
  • Perl etc
  • done to prevent hacking of the website
• no files over a specified size
  
  • typically ranges from 0Mb to a user configurable number
  • usually the better the host the bigger you can go

Generally the one that causes the most trouble with a CMS website is the maximum file size you're allowed to upload. In Joomla this is controlled by a PHP variable called upload_max_filesize.

The value this variable has is usually controlled by your hosting service at the cheap end of town and by yourself in the nicer hosting services.

What's my upload_max_filesize?

The default PHP value is 2M (2 megabytes), most hosting providers change it from this either up or down. There are a variety of ways to find your websites value:

• on WHM/CPanel system
  • Open the PHP Configuration icon and look for the line highlighted in image below.
• on Joomla 1.5
  • Select the menu "Help" -> "System Info" -> "PHP Information"
  • Scroll down to the end of the PHP Core section to find the value of upload_max_filesize
• using a test PHP file
  • create and upload a phpinfo() file to your server (if you don't know what this means don't do it)
• contact your hosting provider

How can I change my upload_max_filesize?

There are a range of ways including using your WHM access to change it, setting a php.ini file up and finally calling your hosting provider. We recommend you read about it because you can cause problems if you do it the wrong way.

As a starting point here's a Google search for you.

JInstaller::install: Failed to copy file

This is a common message that usually results from file or directory permissions on the hosting environment.  The easiest way to check if the problem is being caused by permission issues is to use Joomla's built-in "System Info" option in the Help menu.

When you select the "System Info" option, then you are presented with a range of information tabs about your website and the Joomla installation.

As shown in this screenshot one of the tabs you can choose is called “Directory Permissions’ - for you to be able to successfully install components, plug-ins and templates then all of these directories listed should show as “Writable”.  If they don't (the directory permission show as “Unwritable”) you will need to change the permissions for your Joomla installation.

How do I change the permissions for my Joomla installation?

First up - changing permissions can be dangerous. If you don't really understand permissions and ownership get the technical support staff at your hosting service to fix the permissions for you.  Specifically the webserver will need read and write access to the Joomla installation, it will also need ownership or membership of a group that owns the websites directories.

Changing permissions will depend on your website hosting setup.

• If your host provides cPanel access you can use the “File Manager” to change the directory permissions.
• If your host provides Shell access you can use chmod and chown to set the permissions to 755 and the group owner to the webserver's group
• If your host has a custom control panel specific to them you may be best off opening a support ticket to get the problem resolved.

It's not my Permissions!

If your permissions are all showing as writable then the next most likely cause is that your Joomla installation is version 1.5.10 - a typical error in this case will look like this:

JInstaller::install: File
'/website/tmp/install_38bd786260b81/SomeComponent.install.php' does not exist.
Component Install: Could not copy PHP install file.

Joomla 1.5.10 had a slight change which causes this error to be thrown, it has been resolved in all subsequent versions.  The simplest solution is to upgrade to a latter (and more secure) version of Joomla 1.5.

It's not my Permissions and it's not Joomla 1.5.10

If you've gotten this far and it hasn't worked the final thing to check is your “Global Configuration” for “FTP Settings”. If you have FTP enable/disbaled, flip the FTP option (set it to the opposite setting) and try again.

In our experience with our software/templates and with Third Party products these steps have resolved 99% of installation issues via the Joomla Installer.

See People Software is a brand of Craig Phillips Pty Ltd (CPPL).

CPPL's core business is:

• software development for:
  • iPhone applications
  • Joomla Extensions
• devloping new websites using Open Source solutions like Joomla!
  • setup
  • on-server configuration & support
  • training
  • templates
  • public/intranet website
• Managed Web Services
  • Maintenace
  • Managed Websites
  • Managed Services
  • Service Monitoring

The best way to get us involved is to drop us a line via our contact form!