phpBB 2.0.x Contrib

This directory contains a couple extra add-ons for phpBB 2.0.x.

Please note none of these are directly supported by phpBB Group

You should contact the author/s (via our forums) if you want further information. A large number of additional mods are available introducing increased funtionality to the standard phpBB2 release. You can find many additional mods at our main site:

http://www.phpbb.com/mods/

NOTE: Once you have made use of files contained in this directory it should be deleted from your server. You should NOT leave this directory in place!

Template cacheing

Authors: Crimsonbane, psoTFX and nathan

During development of phpBB2 a recurring issue of server load has cropped up. phpBB 2.0.0 differs from many of its contemporaries by doing many more tasks at runtime. While this allows for simpler upgrade and modification paths it also leads to a greater strain being placed on the server. To help reduce this issue a cacheing template system was created based on work by Crimsonbane. This stores a compiled version of each template resulting in a generally significant reduction in server load and perhaps page generation time.

Two versions of the cacheing system are contained in this directory, one uses flat files the other a MySQL database. Testing has shown that, in general, the average virtual host seems to show better performance with the flat file solution. However this may not be the case for your system, so please feel free to try both.

In both cases you need to rename your existing template.php script (in includes/) and replace it with whichever template_*.php you want to try.

template_file_cache.php

To use the flat file system you need to add the following folders to templates/subSilver (or whatever template/s you are using):

cache/ 
cache/admin/

And give both of them global write access (ie. chmod a+w, or if you prefer chmod 777). Please note that creating a world writeable directory is of course a potential security issue. Most of the time this is not a great issue, however on virtual hosting accounts there may be users who have nothing better to do than cause problems. Therefore you should monitor the status of these directories regularly and report any problems to your hosting provider (who will be in a position to take action against any offending user).

template_db_cache.php

To use the database system (note that this is only compatible with MySQL at present) you need to create the following table (replacing the phpbb_ prefix with your own if you used something different):

CREATE TABLE phpbb_template_cache ( 
  template_name char(255) NOT NULL default '', 
  template_handle char(50) NOT NULL default '', 
  template_cached int(11) NOT NULL default '0', 
  template_echo tinyint(1) NOT NULL default '1', 
  template_compile text NOT NULL, 
  PRIMARY KEY  (template_name) 
) 

These files should not be incorporated into any mod or other plug-in, etc. They have been tested quite thoroughly but we cannot guarantee their stability in all cases. The system is based on work by Crimsonbane and of course Nathan's original templating system.

Database Informer

Authors: Blade, AL, Techie-Michael, Black Fluffy Lion

dbinformer.php

NOTE: dbinformer.php now works with all of phpBB's supported DBMSes.

Following a large number of people reporting could not connect to database errors with phpBB, especially on installations, this script has been compiled by the Support Team. To use it, enter your database server hostname / DSN, database name, database username, database password, and the table prefix you would like dbinformer.php to use (e.g. phpbb_) and select your database type in the space provided. Also specify whether you wish to generate a config.php file with the data entered and then press Submit.

The script will then report whether connections to the database server and your database were established. If they were not, then it will display descriptive error messages. If the connection was successful then it will list the tables in your database; tables which start with your chosen prefix will appear in bold. If you choose to generate a new config file (useful if your file was accidently deleted, was not sent, etc) the code for that will appear at the bottom of the page. Simply copy that code over and save it as config.php or click on Download to download the file. Make sure it has only 19 lines in it and then upload it to your phpBB root directory.

Please also note that this file (in common with the contrib directory as a whole) should be deleted after use. Do not leave this file in place if it is not needed.

Copyright and disclaimer

This application is opensource software released under the GPL. Please see source code and the docs/ directory for more details. The phpBB2 package, its contents and the template cacheing files are Copyright © 2002 phpBB Group, All Rights Reserved. Other packages are the copyright of their respective authors.