Well my problem starts with the fact that I am a total Noob trying to self teach myself, and apparantly doing so very ineffectivly.

What I am trying to do is to get a specific chat script to run. If you read my earlier question, I discovered that me problem was not the script I was running, but the fact that the place I had my site hosted wouldn't allow it to run. I'm now located at a place where I have no problems...but I am trying to run a script where I know I have a specific script issue. Here is at least ONE of the problems I am currently having:

This is what the readme states:

Ralf's Chat can use two different methods for saving the chat data: DBI and
Flat File. You can either use the Data Base Interface for MySQL to save all
data in a MySQL data base or the Flat File version saving the data in simple
text files.
Generally the standard package contains both methods but you may remove
the unneeded part using the remove.pl script ("perl remove.pl DBI" or
"perl remove.pl NODBI").


Ok, so the place that I have this hosted does NOT have a MySQL database available to me...and so FAR I haven't found a place to host where I can get this feature for a reasonable cost....SO I apparantly am going to have to use flat file...

The problem I have is that I don't know how to "run" the remove script "perl remove.pl DBI". One person told me to telnet into my site and run it in a command line...but either I am doing it wrong or something, because that's not seeming to work.

The actual part of the CGI script that I need to strip is:

# <DBI><BR># DBI (Data Base Interface)<BR># set to 1 if you want to use the DBI<BR>$use_dbi = 0;<BR># user for DBI<BR>$dbi_user = 'ralfchat'; <BR># password for DBI<BR>$dbi_password = 'ralfchat'; <BR># database<BR>$dbi_database = 'ralfchat'; <BR># host<BR>$dbi_host = 'localhost';<BR># DSN (Data Source Name for the DBI)<BR>$dbi_dsn = "DBI:mysql:database=$dbi_database;host=$dbi_host"; <BR># set to one if your DBMS supports primary keys (eg. MySQL)<BR>$use_primary_keys = 1; <BR># </DBI>



If anyone has any suggestions about how I can get rid of this so it will run flat file....well I'd love to hear from you!!

Katanya,

I believe what you're being asked to do in the Readme is to execute a perl utility. That means you'd need to have perl installed (which I'm sure your web host does) and you'd have to have "permission" to execute a perl utility on the file. That's unlikely, which is why you may not be able to do it from telneting to the server.

I'm surprised that they allow telnet access at all - it's pretty insecure, but that's another story.

If you can post where the "Rall's Chat" script can be downloaded, I'll try and download it and execute the perl utility. (I use RedHat Linux on my desktop - so I've got perl running here - MYSQL too!) If it works ok I'll stick it in a public ftp file so you can download it to your machine then upload the "modified" script to your server.

By the way, you're to be commended on being a "total noob" and trying to teach yourself. The fact that you've been able to accurately describe this issue is a clear indication that your self teaching is not at all "ineffective."

Ok, I realize it was Ralf's not Rall's -

the perl script that is referred to in the readme is located in the "scripts" subdirectory of the main file. If you untarred the pkg on your server you may be able to execute the command via telnet after all.

If you log on via telnet just change directory to /ralfchat-1.1.1/scripts and then type the command: perl remove.pl DBI

If it's successful you should get no response other than a brief hesitation and a return to the command prompt.

I did download it and excute the command on my desktop, so it works ok. If it doesn't work I can retar it and put on an ftp server. (I'll have to look up the darn tar commands again though!)

Good luck