We have designed ReviewPost to be easy very easy to install, and we have tested it on a variety of platforms, including Unix/Apache/FreeBSD and Windows 2000 / IIS 5.0. Please see our requirements to find out more about what ReviewPost requires before installation.

1.) Server Configuration

Before installing ReviewPost PHP, you need to verify that your server is properly configured to support it. ReviewPost PHP requires PHP 4.0.2 or greater and MySQL 3.22 or greater. If you plan to use product images, you will need ImageMagick 5.3.8 or greater or the GD Graphics Library 1.x.x or greater. Verify these requirements with your web host if unsure or see our requirements page to test your server.

2.) Database Configuration

If you're using ReviewPost with an existing forum, you can either use the MySQL database that you're presently using for your forum for both ReviewPost and your forum, or you can create a separate database for ReviewPost (in either case, your forum user database will still be used by ReviewPost). If you choose to, or if you are using ReviewPost by itself, create a MySQL database for ReviewPost and record the database name and the username and password needed to access it. Be sure to consult http://www.mysql.com and your web host if you have questions about installing MySQL or setting up a MySQL database.

If you plan to use ReviewPost with an existing forum, we recommend that you backup your database before proceeding. ReviewPost is designed to work with the "stock"/unaltered versions of the various supported forums, not hacked versions. Most hacks should not affect ReviewPost's use of your forum user database table and usergroups table(s), but backing up is the safest way to go.

3.) Downloading ReviewPost, Uploading Files

Download ReviewPost from our members area. You will need the username and password that we email to you upon purchase of a ReviewPost license in order to login to the members area.

Unzip ReviewPost into a directory on your local machine, making sure that you maintain the directory structure of the zip file. The zip file contains several .php and .sql files as well as three main directories called "images", "uploads", and "data". Locate the file called "config-inc.php" and open it in notepad or another text editor. The file should look something like this:

//**************** External Header Configuration ****************// 
//  
// the isset prevents vB headers from being sent during login/logout -
// do not remove this line as it may cause the vB
// headers to interfere with the login/logout process
//
// To include the file, first edit the header-inc.php file and then
// uncomment out the line below
 
if ( !isset($skip_exheader) ) { 
    //include "header-inc.php";
}
 
//**************** MySQL Database Configuration ****************// 
 
// ReviewPost database host address, or leave as localhost 
$host="localhost"; 
 
// ReviewPost's database name
$database=reviewpost"; 
 
// MySQL username and password to access ReviewPost's database
//  
// These two variables are for the userid and password needed to access
// the ReviewPost database named above. 
$mysql_user="root";
$mysql_password="";
 
// User database host address, or leave as localhost
$host_bb="localhost";
 
// User database MySQL database name
//  
// This is the variable for the User Database; if you are using Internal
// as your registration system, then these variables are the same as the
// ones above.  If you are linking to a message board system,
// thse variables should be set to the database, user and password for that
// database. 
$database_bb="reviewpost"; 
 
// MySQL username and password to access user database
//
// These two variables are for the userid and password needed to access
// the ReviewPost or BB database.
$user_bb="root"; 
$password_bb=""; 
 
  
//**************** Application Configuration ****************// 
 
// Are the Boards OPEN or CLOSED?
// set this to "closed" if you want your boards to be offline
$ppboards="open"; 
 
//////////////////////// Application Configuration ////////////////////////////////
// This variable sets the path to the MOGRIFY commands on your system
// These are full paths,
// including the name of the executable (.exe extensions for windows)
 
// Path to MOGRIFY executable
// There should be no spaces in the directory names, use short names if necessary.
// Examples: 
// $mogrify_command = "c:\progra~1\imagemagick\mogrify.exe";
// $mogrify_command = "c:\ImageMagick\mogrify.exe"; 
$mogrify_command = "/usr/lib/X11/mogrify";
 
// GD2 support 
// this will only work if you have GD2 or better installed
// 0 - use mogrify; 1 - use GD2 
$usegd = 0; 
 
// on-the-fly watermarks 
// requires GD2 and you must edit the file watermark.php
$onthefly=0; 
 
// Debug variable. 
// 0 = No debug notifications 
// 1 = Program should generate an email and send it to the site administrator
// 2 = Program should terminate with a formatted screen with error message
// When set to 0 or 1, the program will not end on non-fatal errors.
$debug=2; 
  
// Cookie variable 
// This should be set to match the path for your cookies, / sets the cookie 
// to be usable throughout the site. If your BB system has a different setting,
// then you need to put that path here as well.
$cookie_path="/";
 
// BotBuster integration 
// http://www.botbuster.com 
// Set to "yes" if you have BotBuster on your system (this includes the necessary tag) 
$botbuster="no"; 
   
// ZLIB compression 
// Set to "1" if you want to enable Zlib compression
$compression="0";
 
// Date Format 
// you can change the format of how dates are displayed   
// keywords: 
// dow = day of week (Mon, Tue, Wed...)
// month = month (Jan, Feb, Mar...)
// mm = month in numerical format, dd = date, yyyy = year 
$ppdateformat = "dow month dd, yyyy";
 
// If you are running VB and want the server to display the time as an offset
// of GMT (for example, to the timezone where your server is located), enter the
// offset here
$gmtoffset = 0;
 
// IP caching 
// This variable is used to track IP addresses and userids for voting and viewing purposes
// $ipcache is set in HOURS. To limit voting and view increments to once a day, you would set
// $ipcache to 24. Depending on the volume of activity on your set, you may want to monitor
// the size of your cache and adjust accordingly. 
// 
// Setting $ipcache to 0 disables this feature.
$ipcache = 0; 
 
// Fonts 
// Here is where you can set the fonts used throughout ReviewPost 
// Multiple fonts can be specified (just as in HTML code) 
$mainfonts="MS Sans Serif,Geneva,Arial";
$fontsmall = "1";
$fontmedium = "2"; 
$fontlarge = "3"; 

You will need to specify the path to your server's "mogrify" ImageMagick binary executable if you plan to use ImageMagick. If you don't know the location, run the following command from the command prompt to find it:

locate mogrify

Then set $mogrify_command in config-inc.php as:

$mogrify_command = "/your/path/to/mogrify";

Alternatively, if you plan to use the GD 2.0.x Graphics Library instead of ImageMagick, you will need to set $usegd = 1; where indicated, in order to use GD2 instead of ImageMagick's mogrify to handle image resizing.

Now create a directory on your web server for ReviewPost. The directory needs to be accessible via the web. FTP ReviewPost's directories and files from your local machine to your server. The directory structure on your server should be as follows:

reviewpost
  images (chmod 755)
  uploads (chmod 777)
  help (chmod 755)
  data (chmod 777)
     1 (chmod 777)
     2 (chmod 777)
     500 (chmod 777)
  ioncube (chmod 755), this folder is only for the time-limited/expiring versions of ReviewPost

Be sure to FTP all .php and .sql files into the reviewpost directory. All permissions for .php and .sql files should be set to chmod 644.

4.) Web Installation Script

Now you are ready to run the web based installation script that will check your server for ReviewPost's requirements and set up your ReviewPost database. Open install.php in your web browser and follow the prompts.

Step 1 will test your server - if this step fails, please be sure that your web server is properly configured with ReviewPost's requirements in mind.

To proceed to the next step, click the link to do a fresh install of ReviewPost PHP.

Step 2 asks whether you want to install ReviewPost using its internal user registration system, or to instead work with an existing/external forum user registration system. Step 3 prompts you for some information, and our script tries to guess as to your server's settings. Please don't assume that the defaults are correct, double check them. If you are using ReviewPost with a forum, note that the following forum versions correspond with the selections in the drop down box (those using ReviewPost's internal registration system can ignore this):

2.2.0 = All vBulletin versions v2.2.0 and newer
2.0.3 = vBulletin versions between 2.0.3 and v2.2.0 (not including 2.2.0)
phpBB = phpBB 1.0+ (prior to 2.0)
phpBB2 = phpBB 2.0+ (RC versions not supported)
UBBThreads v5 = UBB Threads versions 5.x
UBBThreads v6 = UBB Threads versions 6.x

Step 4 will set up your database. If you receive an error message at this point, check your config-inc.php file and be sure that the settings there are correct. Make sure that your MySQL database for ReviewPost is properly set up and that the username and password that you're using to access it are correct and that the user has insert, update, delete, and alter privledges.

ReviewPost installation is now complete. Be sure you remove your install.php file (and the various upgradeXX.php)files) from your server's ReviewPost directory to prevent malicious users from altering your ReviewPost settings. Leave the .sql files in place.

To proceed, open the administrative control panel, adm-index.php, in your browser.

If after installing the Time Limited version of ReviewPost you receive the message, "The file somefile.php has been encoded with the ionCube PHP Encoder and requires the free ionCube PHP Loader to be installed", see the loader help file.

5.) vbPortal/vBulletin header-inc.php Visual Integration

If you use vbPortal or vBulletin, you can integrate your forum's look and feel into ReviewPost. The vbPortal integration displays your vbPortal top/left side, and bottom, around ReviewPost. The vBulletin integration displays your default vB header/footer templates with ReviewPost. To implement this, open header-inc.php and follow the instructions there. vbPortal users should only edit the vbPortal section (not the vBulletin section), and those who use vBulletin only should only modify the vBulletin section.