UBB.Developers Forums UBB.threads 7 Development How Do I? Subscriptions

I'm assuming that subscriptions is the .threads answer to the .classic practice of sending all posts to a user (like moderators).

If this is the case - I've turned subscriptions on and have set up a cron job. However, I'm getting this error
[] subscriptions.php: cannot open ?: no such file
[/]

I've changed permissions to 777 for this testing and made user my paths are correct.

I noticed that in the subscriptions.php the following lines of code require a path.

// Require the library
require ("/home/www/html/ubbthreads/main.inc.php");
require ("$thispath/languages/${$config['cookieprefix']."w3t_language"}/subscriptions.php");
$html = new html;
$mailer = new mailer;

since my path is not /home/www/..... i changed the path statement to read thus:

// Require the library
require ("/usr/local/www/vhosts/livehope/threads/main.inc.php");
require ("$thispath/languages/${$config['cookieprefix']."w3t_language"}/subscriptions.php");
$html = new html;
$mailer = new mailer;

and it still doesn't work.

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Or perhaps there is another piece of code I must alter?

Thanks.

bumping back to the top

No it seems that everything is correct in the subscriptions script. My guess would be a problem with the syntex of the cron job.

I'm not 100% sure, but it's my understanding that not all hosts allow PHP cron jobs (which is why they still distribute the Perl version - even though the perl version has been buggy).

You can test he subscriptions script by opening it in your browser.

http://www.yourdomain.com/threads/cron/php/subscriptions.php

If it runs correctly, you'll end with a totally blank screen.

If that works... the the trouble would be with the cron job. I'd check with your host to make sure they allow it and that you've got it setup correctly.

Hope that helps.

hehe... I guess that would be me then since I own my own box.

runs in browser ok. I end up with the blank screen.

I'm not much of a server guru... but it seems then the cannot open error is for cron.

Why don't you post the cron entry here and maybe someone will spot what's wrong with it.

One thing to keep in mind is that when you run PHP from cron, you're running the binary instance of PHP, not the Apache module.

You can run the shell command "php -v" (or "/usr/bin/php -v", etc.) to check the version for the one that cron uses.

Another factor is that when running PHP from cron, rather than running it from the shell, the environmental parameters, such as the current working directory, may be different.

When I was setting up my PHP cron stuff, I first tried it with a simple test script that merely printed out the PHP version, current working directory, etc.

I still need to re-create mine since my hard drive crash. But I think my cron entry looked like this:

/usr/bin/php /home/measurection/htdocs/forums/cron/php/doexpire.php

with the space after /usr/bin/php

Its on my list for the weekend.. so we'll know soon.

Thanks guys. Here's what I had to do.

1. Install php4 (I currently run mod_php4 under Apache).
2. Insert #! /usr/local/bin/php as line one in subscriptions.php
3. crontab entry "* * * * * root /usr/local/www/vhosts/livehope/threads/cron/php/subscriptions.php" (This runs it every min. - until I get it like I want it)

Graat... glad you got it sorted!

got to make this one more post so I wont be a Lurker anymore.

What's the diff between running doexpire.php and subscriptions.php?

Subscriptions sends out digests of posts.

Doexpire will auto delete threads over x days old if you've configured that in the forum's options.

For example, you want all posts over 30 days old in a forum deleted. doexpire will 'clean house' for you every night.

Ah, right then. Thanks.

I am confused, in the files it says this:
You need to edit /etc/crontab so the
script will run nightly.

Where is the /etc/crontab so I can edit it?

Okay not so much as you can edit it as run it

Some people do not have access to root so their server provider is only able to do this for them but if you have root access it should be something like this

go to root level directory something like this

/var/spool/cron and in their there should be a file named usually your site name

Edit this file and put a line something like this format

* * * * * /PATH/TO/subscriptions.php

The asterik's are this in a row.

minute(s) hour(s) day(s) month(s) weekday(s) then the command to run as seen.

Now this is the crontab file.

Telnet into this directory and usually

cd /path/to/var/spool/cron

Now this is a bit different on servers I have seen but on mine I run this

crontab -u filename filename

then next

crontab -u filename -l

Make sure to leave the spaces where they are. Thats it it should be installed now.

If you don't have root access on your server, you need to email your hosting company and ask them to set up the cron tasks for you. After you've configured your cron files for the correct path, etc., just write to your host and request something like this:

Run: /htdocs/mysite/mydomain.com/ubbthreads/cron/php/subscriptions.php nightly around 1:am

Run: /htdocs/mysite/mydomain.com/ubbthreads/cron/php/doexpire.php nightly 1:am

Substitute whichever time you want to run subscriptions and/or doexpire. I thought I should post this because I had no idea how to word my cron request, so Josh helped

I have forwarded the info on to my hosting company, hopefully this will get things set up for me!
Thanks!