XOOPS System Settings¶

This guide covers the complete system settings available in the XOOPS admin panel, organized by category.

System Settings Architecture¶

graph TD
    A[System Settings] --> B[General Settings]
    A --> C[User Settings]
    A --> D[Module Settings]
    A --> E[Meta Tags & Footer]
    A --> F[Email Settings]
    A --> G[Cache Settings]
    A --> H[URL Settings]
    A --> I[Security Settings]
    B --> B1[Site Name]
    B --> B2[Timezone]
    B --> B3[Language]
    C --> C1[Registration]
    C --> C2[Profiles]
    C --> C3[Permissions]
    F --> F1[SMTP Config]
    F --> F2[Notification Rules]

Accessing System Settings¶

Location¶

Admin Panel > System > Preferences

Or navigate directly:

http://your-domain.com/xoops/admin/index.php?fct=preferences

Permission Requirements¶

Only administrators (webmasters) can access system settings
Changes affect the entire site
Most changes take effect immediately

General Settings¶

The foundational configuration for your XOOPS installation.

Basic Information¶

Site Name: [Your Site Name]
Default Description: [Brief description of your site]
Site Slogan: [Catchy slogan]
Admin Email: admin@your-domain.com
Webmaster Name: Administrator Name
Webmaster Email: admin@your-domain.com

Appearance Settings¶

Default Theme: [Select theme]
Default Language: English (or preferred language)
Items Per Page: 15 (typically 10-25)
Words in Snippet: 25 (for search results)
Theme Upload Permission: Disabled (security)

Regional Settings¶

Default Timezone: [Your timezone]
Date Format: %Y-%m-%d (YYYY-MM-DD format)
Time Format: %H:%M:%S (HH:MM:SS format)
Daylight Saving Time: [Auto/Manual/None]

Timezone Format Table:

Region	Timezone	UTC Offset
US Eastern	America/New_York	-5 / -4
US Central	America/Chicago	-6 / -5
US Mountain	America/Denver	-7 / -6
US Pacific	America/Los_Angeles	-8 / -7
UK/London	Europe/London	0 / +1
France/Germany	Europe/Paris	+1 / +2
Japan	Asia/Tokyo	+9
China	Asia/Shanghai	+8
Australia/Sydney	Australia/Sydney	+10 / +11

Search Configuration¶

Enable Search: Yes
Search Admin Pages: Yes/No
Search Archives: Yes
Default Search Type: All / Pages only
Words Excluded from Search: [Comma-separated list]

Common excluded words: the, a, an, and, or, but, in, on, at, by, to, from

User Settings¶

Control user account behavior and registration process.

User Registration¶

Allow User Registration: Yes/No
Registration Type:
  ☐ Auto-activate (Instant access)
  ☐ Admin approval (Admin must approve)
  ☐ Email verification (User must verify email)

Notification to Users: Yes/No
User Email Verification: Required/Optional

New User Configuration¶

Auto-login New Users: Yes/No
Assign Default User Group: Yes
Default User Group: [Select group]
Create User Avatar: Yes/No
Initial User Avatar: [Select default]

User Profile Settings¶

Allow User Profiles: Yes
Show Member List: Yes
Show User Statistics: Yes
Show Last Online Time: Yes
Allow User Avatar: Yes
Avatar Max File Size: 100KB
Avatar Dimensions: 100x100 pixels

User Email Settings¶

Allow Users to Hide Email: Yes
Show Email on Profile: Yes
Notification Email Interval: Immediately/Daily/Weekly/Never

User Activity Tracking¶

Track User Activity: Yes
Log User Logins: Yes
Log Failed Logins: Yes
Track IP Address: Yes
Clear Activity Logs Older Than: 90 days

Account Limits¶

Allow Duplicate Email: No
Minimum Username Length: 3 characters
Maximum Username Length: 15 characters
Minimum Password Length: 6 characters
Require Special Characters: Yes
Require Numbers: Yes
Password Expiration: 90 days (or Never)
Accounts Inactive Days to Delete: 365 days

Module Settings¶

Configure individual module behavior.

Common Module Options¶

For each installed module, you can set:

Module Status: Active/Inactive
Display in Menu: Yes/No
Module Weight: [1-999] (higher = lower in display)
Homepage Default: This module shows when visiting /
Admin Access: [Allowed user groups]
User Access: [Allowed user groups]

System Module Settings¶

Show Homepage as: Portal / Module / Static Page
Default Homepage Module: [Select module]
Show Footer Menu: Yes
Footer Color: [Color selector]
Show System Stats: Yes
Show Memory Usage: Yes

Configuration per Module¶

Each module can have module-specific settings:

Example - Page Module:

Enable Comments: Yes/No
Moderate Comments: Yes/No
Comments Per Page: 10
Enable Ratings: Yes
Allow Anonymous Ratings: Yes

Example - User Module:

Avatar Upload Folder: ./uploads/
Maximum Upload Size: 100KB
Allow File Upload: Yes
Allowed File Types: jpg, gif, png

Access module-specific settings: - Admin > Modules > [Module Name] > Preferences

Meta Tags & SEO Settings¶

Configure meta tags for search engine optimization.

Global Meta Tags¶

Meta Keywords: xoops, cms, content management system
Meta Description: A powerful content management system for building dynamic websites
Meta Author: Your Name
Meta Copyright: Copyright 2025, Your Company
Meta Robots: index, follow
Meta Revisit: 30 days

Meta Tag Best Practices¶

Tag	Purpose	Recommendation
Keywords	Search terms	5-10 relevant keywords, comma-separated
Description	Search listing	150-160 characters
Author	Page creator	Your name or company
Copyright	Legal	Your copyright notice
Robots	Crawler instructions	index, follow (allow indexing)

Show Footer: Yes
Footer Color: Dark/Light
Footer Background: [Color code]
Footer Text: [HTML allowed]
Additional Footer Links: [URL and text pairs]

Sample Footer HTML:

<p>Copyright &copy; 2025 Your Company. All rights reserved.</p>
<p><a href="/privacy">Privacy Policy</a> | <a href="/terms">Terms of Use</a></p>

Enable Open Graph: Yes
Facebook App ID: [App ID]
Twitter Card Type: summary / summary_large_image / player
Default Share Image: [Image URL]

Email Settings¶

Configure email delivery and notification system.

Email Delivery Method¶

Use SMTP: Yes/No

If SMTP:
  SMTP Host: smtp.gmail.com
  SMTP Port: 587 (TLS) or 465 (SSL)
  SMTP Security: TLS / SSL / None
  SMTP Username: [email@example.com]
  SMTP Password: [password]
  SMTP Authentication: Yes/No
  SMTP Timeout: 10 seconds

If PHP mail():
  Sendmail Path: /usr/sbin/sendmail -t -i

Email Configuration¶

From Address: noreply@your-domain.com
From Name: Your Site Name
Reply-To Address: support@your-domain.com
BCC Admin Emails: Yes/No

Notification Settings¶

Send Welcome Email: Yes/No
Welcome Email Subject: Welcome to [Site Name]
Welcome Email Body: [Custom message]

Send Password Reset Email: Yes/No
Include Random Password: Yes/No
Token Expiration: 24 hours

Admin Notifications¶

Notify Admin on Registration: Yes
Notify Admin on Comments: Yes
Notify Admin on Submissions: Yes
Notify Admin on Errors: Yes

User Notifications¶

Notify User on Registration: Yes
Notify User on Comments: Yes
Notify User on Private Messages: Yes
Allow Users to Disable Notifications: Yes
Default Notification Frequency: Immediately

Email Templates¶

Customize notification emails in admin panel:

Path: System > Email Templates

Available templates: - User Registration - Password Reset - Comment Notification - Private Message - System Alerts - Module-specific emails

Cache Settings¶

Optimize performance through caching.

Cache Configuration¶

Enable Caching: Yes/No
Cache Type:
  ☐ File Cache
  ☐ APCu (Alternative PHP Cache)
  ☐ Memcache (Distributed caching)
  ☐ Redis (Advanced caching)

Cache Lifetime: 3600 seconds (1 hour)

Cache Options by Type¶

File Cache:

Cache Directory: /var/www/html/xoops/cache/
Clear Interval: Daily
Maximum Cache Files: 1000

APCu Cache:

Memory Allocation: 128MB
Fragmentation Level: Low

Memcache/Redis:

Server Host: localhost
Server Port: 11211 (Memcache) / 6379 (Redis)
Persistent Connection: Yes

What Gets Cached¶

Cache Module Lists: Yes
Cache Configuration Data: Yes
Cache Template Data: Yes
Cache User Session Data: Yes
Cache Search Results: Yes
Cache Database Queries: Yes
Cache RSS Feeds: Yes
Cache Images: Yes

URL Settings¶

Configure URL rewriting and formatting.

Friendly URL Settings¶

Enable Friendly URLs: Yes/No
Friendly URL Type:
  ☐ Path Info: /page/about
  ☐ Query String: /index.php?p=about

Trailing Slash: Include / Omit
URL Case: Lower case / Case sensitive

URL Rewrite Rules¶

.htaccess Rules: [Display current]
Nginx Rules: [Display current if Nginx]
IIS Rules: [Display current if IIS]

Security Settings¶

Control security-related configuration.

Password Security¶

Password Policy:
  ☐ Require uppercase letters
  ☐ Require lowercase letters
  ☐ Require numbers
  ☐ Require special characters

Minimum Password Length: 8 characters
Password Expiration: 90 days
Password History: Remember last 5 passwords
Force Password Change: On next login

Lock Account After Failed Attempts: 5 attempts
Lock Duration: 15 minutes
Log All Login Attempts: Yes
Log Failed Logins: Yes
Admin Login Alert: Send email on admin login
Two-Factor Authentication: Disabled/Enabled

File Upload Security¶

Allow File Uploads: Yes/No
Maximum File Size: 128MB
Allowed File Types: jpg, gif, png, pdf, zip, doc, docx
Scan Uploads for Malware: Yes (if available)
Quarantine Suspicious Files: Yes

Session Security¶

Session Management: Database/Files
Session Timeout: 1800 seconds (30 min)
Session Cookie Lifetime: 0 (until browser closes)
Secure Cookie: Yes (HTTPS only)
HTTP Only Cookie: Yes (prevent JavaScript access)

CORS Settings¶

Allow Cross-Origin Requests: No
Allowed Origins: [List domains]
Allow Credentials: No
Allowed Methods: GET, POST

Advanced Settings¶

Additional configuration options for advanced users.

Debug Mode¶

Debug Mode: Disabled/Enabled
Log Level: Error / Warning / Info / Debug
Debug Log File: /var/log/xoops_debug.log
Display Errors: Disabled (production)

Performance Tuning¶

Optimize Database Queries: Yes
Use Query Cache: Yes
Compress Output: Yes
Minify CSS/JavaScript: Yes
Lazy Load Images: Yes

Content Settings¶

Allow HTML in Posts: Yes/No
Allowed HTML Tags: [Configure]
Strip Harmful Code: Yes
Allow Embed: Yes/No
Content Moderation: Automatic/Manual
Spam Detection: Yes

Settings Export/Import¶

Backup Settings¶

Export current settings:

Admin Panel > System > Tools > Export Settings

# Settings exported as JSON file
# Download and store securely

Restore Settings¶

Import previously exported settings:

Admin Panel > System > Tools > Import Settings

# Upload JSON file
# Verify changes before confirming

Configuration Hierarchy¶

XOOPS settings hierarchy (top to bottom - first match wins):

1. mainfile.php (Constants)
2. Module-specific config
3. Admin System Settings
4. Theme configuration
5. User preferences (for user-specific settings)

Settings Backup Script¶

Create a backup of current settings:

<?php
// Backup script: /var/www/html/xoops/backup-settings.php
require_once __DIR__ . '/mainfile.php';

$config_handler = xoops_getHandler('config');
$configs = $config_handler->getConfigs();

$backup = [
    'exported_date' => date('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
    'xoops_version' => XOOPS_VERSION,
    'php_version' => PHP_VERSION,
    'settings' => []
];

foreach ($configs as $config) {
    $backup['settings'][$config->getVar('conf_name')] = [
        'value' => $config->getVar('conf_value'),
        'description' => $config->getVar('conf_desc'),
        'type' => $config->getVar('conf_type'),
    ];
}

// Save to JSON file
file_put_contents(
    '/backups/xoops_settings_' . date('YmdHis') . '.json',
    json_encode($backup, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT)
);

echo "Settings backed up successfully!";
?>

Common Settings Changes¶

Change Site Name¶

Admin > System > Preferences > General Settings
Modify "Site Name"
Click "Save"

Enable/Disable Registration¶

Admin > System > Preferences > User Settings
Toggle "Allow User Registration"
Choose registration type
Click "Save"

Change Default Theme¶

Admin > System > Preferences > General Settings
Select "Default Theme"
Click "Save"
Clear cache for changes to take effect

Update Contact Email¶

Admin > System > Preferences > General Settings
Modify "Admin Email"
Modify "Webmaster Email"
Click "Save"

Verification Checklist¶

After configuring system settings, verify:

Troubleshooting Settings¶

Settings Not Saving¶

Solution:

# Check file permissions on config directory
chmod 755 /var/www/html/xoops/var/

# Verify database writable
# Try saving again in admin panel

Changes Not Taking Effect¶