Webmaster installation



The steps are the following : extract the package, edit the install script, run it and then build a configuration file to customize your stats.
W3Perl installation directory
Your Cgi-bin directory

 With 
cgi-bin 

* First STAGE : Install the scripts

- Download the W3Perl package. Extract it on your web server root, it will create a /w3perl/ directory.

- Permission

Give execution permission to the scripts (chmod +x *.pl) if not.
Two directories shoud be readable/writeable by the server if you want to use the administration interface : /w3perl/config/ and /w3perl/resources/admin/, so chmod 777 if not.
/w3perl/resources/admin/locconf should be writeable too, so chmod 666 is not.

- Installation

  • Automatic
    If you are running an Apache server, you can use 'install.pl -a' to install the package without editing anything. The 'a' flag will install w3perl on the main server found in the apache configuration file (Apache configuration file should be readable by the script). In fact, the script is just looking for the ScriptAlias directive to find where the cgi-bin is located.

  • Manually
    Edit the install.pl script. Modify if needed the perl location in the first line. Then change $pathcgi and $pathw3perl according to your system. $pathcgi is the location where the scripts will be installed, default is /path_to_your_cgi-bin/cgi-bin/w3perl/. $pathw3perl is the directory where the package have been extracted : /path_to_your_server_root/w3perl/
    Run install.pl. If your cgi-bin is root owner, you'll have to run the script as root.

* 2nd STAGE : Building configuration file

- Use your favourite browser and go to http://localhost/w3perl/admin/ . You'll see the w3perl administration interface.

    - Select 'Make configuration file' to build a config from scratch and fill the different forms. Default config filename is named : config.
    - Or you may also select 'Clone' if you want to use one of the provided configuration files as a template.
    - If you've got trouble, you could also fill the configuration file by hand.

The configuration file should be copied (not moved !) into your /path_to_your_cgi-bin/cgi-bin/w3perl/ (because server owner can't write to /cgi-bin/ due to security restriction)

* 3rd STAGE : Ready

Now you're ready to compute your stats ! You can use the 'Launch scripts' in the administration interface and click on the different scripts to launch them or use the command line to run the following script : 'cron-w3perl.pl -a'. It's up to you. Avoid using both launch as web user and login user have different file access permission.

- Crontab

If everything is right, add 'cron-w3perl.pl -e' in your crontab. Flag -e will update all stats. Add -c your_config_file if the one you are using is not named : config.pl


 Hints 

1 - If you have trouble, you can post a message in the forum or contact me.

2 - If you are hosting several web servers on the same host, you don't need to install the package for each server.

3 - You can build as many configuration files you need. Just use the -c flag to load them

4 - Don't forget numerous option are available via the -h flag for each script.

5 - Install a password in the /w3perl/admin/ to avoid everyone to change your stats settings.