Frequently Asked Questions

The FUDforum FAQ:

Contents 1 Installation FAQs 1.1 I've downloaded the installer and only see install.php, where is the files? 1.2 What's the difference between the zlib and the non-zlib installers? 2 Theming FAQs 2.1 Why should I create my own theme instead of using the default? 2.2 Why must I rebuild my theme after making manual changes? 2.3 How do I disable the "Topic Description" filed? 3 Troubleshooting FAQs 3.1 FUDforum shows dates in English? 3.2 FUDforum shows a blank screen. What now? 4 Other FAQs 4.1 Who is using FUDforum? 4.2 How is FUDforum licensed? 4.3 Can I remove "Powered By FUDforum" from the footer?

Installation FAQs

I've downloaded the installer and only see install.php, where is the files?

Install.php is like a self-extracting archive that contains all the files that you need within itself. Just run it (from your browser) and it will unpack all required files to the correct locations.

What's the difference between the zlib and the non-zlib installers?

The zlib files are compressed, hence smaller to download. For details, see http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro.zlib.php

To see if you have zlib installed, run this PHP script:

<?php
if (extension_loaded("zlib")) 
    echo "zlib is installed";
else
    echo "zlib is NOT installed";
?>

Theming FAQs

Why should I create my own theme instead of using the default?

Besides wanting to create a unique identity for your forum, users who want to change their themes should preferably create a separate theme to prevent subsequent upgraded (which may contain changes to the default theme) from overwriting their changes. If you don't plan to make any drastic theme changes, it's perfectly OK to use the default theme.

Why must I rebuild my theme after making manual changes?

After making manual changes to a theme's files (not via the Theme Editor), administrators must navigate to the Admin Control Panel -> Theme Manager to rebuild the theme. This is required for FUDforum to combine the theme's template, source and message files into the PHP scripts required to run the forum. The main advantage of this approach is that work is performed up-front making FUDforum's scripts lightning fast.

How do I disable the "Topic Description" filed?

There are several ways to do it:

• If you can use the field for something else, like a product version or so, just change its description in your "msg" file and recompile your themes:

post_descr:                     Topic Description:

• Remove the line referencing "post_descr" from your theme's "post.tmpl" file and recompile your themes.

<tr class="RowStyleB"><td class="GenText">{MSG: post_descr}</td><td><input ...

Troubleshooting FAQs

FUDforum shows dates in English?

This normally happens when the wrong locale was selected for a theme. Navigate to the Admin Control Panel -> Theme Manager to change your locale. When done, rebuild your themes.

The correct locale depends on your operating system. For example, one should typically use german on Windows systems, but de_DE.utf-8 on Linux/Unix systems.

FUDforum shows a blank screen. What now?

When you browse your FUDforum site and you get a blank page, it usually means that an error occured, but PHP is configured not to display it.

• Open your webserver's error logfile file (error_log for Apache) for details of the error.

• To display errors on-screen, edit your forum's "index.php" file (or the script that causes the error) and add the following to the top (after the <?php tag):

error_reporting(E_ERROR | E_WARNING | E_PARSE | E_COMPILE_ERROR);
ini_set('display_errors', '1');

Other FAQs

Who is using FUDforum?

There are too many sites to list here (do a Google search to see for yourself). Here are a couple, just to show that you are in good company:

• http://www.zend.com/forums/ (Zend: The PHP Company)
• http://www.phpwomen.org/forum/ (PHP for Women)
• http://www.phpmybittorrent.com/forum/ (phpMyBitTorrent)
• http://office-outlook.com/outlook-forum/ (All about Microsoft Office Outlook)
• http://forum.openvz.org/ (container-based virtualization for Linux)
• http://forums.georgemichael.com/ (Artist George Michael)
• http://www.renegadeforums.com/ (Command and Conquer: Renegade)
• http://www.ultimatepp.org/forum/ (Ultimate++, a rapid application development suite)
• http://www.cycling74.com/forums/ (Cycling '74)
• http://forums.educationworld.com/ (Education World)
• http://forums.quakenet.org/ (IRC chat)
• http://www.ecolechocolat.com/forum/ (Chocolate Making School)
• http://www.baautox.com/forum/ (Bay Area Autocross)

Feel free to add your forum to the above list.

How is FUDforum licensed?

FUDforum is released under version 2 of the GNU General Public License. In short, this means that FUDforum is free to download, use, distribute and modify. However, if any of these modifications are released to the public, that code must also be released under the same license as FUDforum. The copyright notice in all the source files, however, must be left intact. Any modification or removal of this copyright is illegal under the terms of the GNU General Public Licence.

Can I remove "Powered By FUDforum" from the footer?

Yes, you may remove the copyright from the footer, but please don't! If you must, please try to keep at least a small "Powered by FUDforum" with the link back to http://fudforum.org/ in some form on your forum.