XOOPS Server Requirements¶

This document specifies all server requirements needed to run XOOPS successfully.

Version-Specific Requirements¶

Note: PHP 8.x compatibility was fully implemented in XOOPS 2.5.11. Earlier versions may have issues with PHP 8.

PHP Requirements¶

Minimum Version¶

PHP Extensions (Required)¶

The following PHP extensions must be installed and enabled:

PHP Extensions (Recommended)¶

These extensions enhance XOOPS functionality:

PHP Configuration Settings¶

Recommended php.ini settings for XOOPS:

; Memory and Execution
memory_limit = 128M              ; Minimum 128MB, 256MB+ recommended
max_execution_time = 300         ; 5 minutes for installations/upgrades
max_input_time = 300             ; 5 minutes

; File Upload
upload_max_filesize = 128M       ; Maximum upload file size
post_max_size = 128M             ; Maximum POST size
max_file_uploads = 20            ; Maximum files per request

; Sessions
session.save_path = "/tmp"       ; Ensure directory exists and is writable
session.gc_maxlifetime = 3600    ; Session timeout in seconds

; Security
display_errors = Off             ; Don't display errors in production
log_errors = On                  ; Log errors to file
error_log = "/var/log/php_errors.log"  ; Error log location

; Performance
default_charset = "UTF-8"        ; UTF-8 encoding
short_open_tag = Off             ; Avoid short PHP tags

; Extensions
extension = php_mysql.so         ; Or php_mysqli.so
extension = php_gd2.so           ; Or php_gd.so
extension = php_curl.so
extension = php_openssl.so

Verify PHP Configuration¶

Check current PHP settings:

# View PHP version
php -v

# View installed extensions
php -m

# View specific php.ini setting
php -r "echo ini_get('memory_limit');"

# Create phpinfo() script
echo '<?php phpinfo(); ?>' > /var/www/html/info.php
# Visit http://your-domain.com/info.php in browser

Database Requirements¶

MySQL/MariaDB Version¶

Database Configuration¶

-- Required settings
SET GLOBAL character_set_server = utf8mb4;
SET GLOBAL collation_server = utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

-- For better performance (optional)
SET GLOBAL max_connections = 200;
SET GLOBAL max_allowed_packet = 256M;
SET GLOBAL query_cache_size = 64M;
SET GLOBAL query_cache_type = 1;

Database User Privileges¶

Required privileges for XOOPS database user:

-- Create database user
CREATE USER 'xoops_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

-- Grant required privileges
GRANT CREATE, SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE,
      DROP, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES,
      LOCK TABLES, ALTER
ON xoops_db.* TO 'xoops_user'@'localhost';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Connection Methods¶

Database Tables¶

XOOPS creates approximately 40-50 tables depending on installed modules.

Storage recommendations: - Minimum: 50MB - Recommended: 500MB - Large sites: 1GB+

Check database size:

-- View total database size
SELECT
    table_schema,
    ROUND(SUM(data_length + index_length) / 1024 / 1024, 2) AS size_mb
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema = 'xoops_db'
GROUP BY table_schema;

Web Server Requirements¶

Apache (Recommended)¶

Apache Configuration¶

Create virtual host configuration:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName your-domain.com
    ServerAlias www.your-domain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/xoops

    <Directory /var/www/html/xoops>
        Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted

        # Enable mod_rewrite for clean URLs
        <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
            RewriteEngine On
            RewriteBase /
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
            RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?$1 [L,QSA]
        </IfModule>
    </Directory>

    # Restrict access to sensitive directories
    <Directory /var/www/html/xoops/install>
        Deny from all
    </Directory>

    # Compression
    <IfModule mod_deflate.c>
        AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/plain text/xml text/css text/javascript application/javascript
    </IfModule>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/xoops_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/xoops_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Enable modules:

# Enable required modules
a2enmod rewrite
a2enmod ssl
a2enmod headers
a2enmod expires
a2enmod deflate

# Enable site
a2ensite xoops

# Restart Apache
systemctl restart apache2

Nginx¶

Nginx Configuration¶

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    server_name your-domain.com www.your-domain.com;
    root /var/www/html/xoops;
    index index.php index.html;

    # Logging
    access_log /var/log/nginx/xoops_access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/xoops_error.log;

    # Gzip compression
    gzip on;
    gzip_types text/html text/plain text/css text/javascript application/javascript;

    # Security headers
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;

    # Deny access to sensitive directories
    location ~ ^/(install|docs|samples)/ {
        deny all;
    }

    # PHP-FPM backend
    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param PHP_VALUE "upload_max_filesize=128M post_max_size=128M";
    }

    # Static files - enable browser caching
    location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg|woff|woff2|ttf|eot)$ {
        expires 30d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }

    # URL rewriting for clean URLs
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    # Deny access to dotfiles
    location ~ /\. {
        deny all;
    }
}

Other Web Servers¶

File System Requirements¶

Directory Structure¶

xoops/
├── admin/              (Web accessible)
├── bin/                (PHP CLI scripts)
├── cache/              (Writable - 777)
├── class/              (Writable for module installations)
├── configs/            (Contains mainfile.php)
├── docs/               (Readable only)
├── extra/              (Optional utilities)
├── formats/            (Optional)
├── htdocs/             (Web accessible)
├── include/            (PHP includes)
├── install/            (Remove after installation)
├── kernel/             (Core classes)
├── modules/            (Extensible modules)
├── templates/          (Core templates)
├── templates_c/        (Writable - 777)
├── uploads/            (Writable - 777)
├── var/                (Writable - 777, variable data)
├── index.php           (Entry point)
├── mainfile.php        (Critical config)
└── .htaccess           (Rewrite rules)

Permission Requirements Table¶

Set permissions script:

#!/bin/bash
XOOPS_PATH="/var/www/html/xoops"
WEB_USER="www-data"
WEB_GROUP="www-data"

# Set ownership
chown -R $WEB_USER:$WEB_GROUP $XOOPS_PATH

# Set directory permissions
find $XOOPS_PATH -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

# Set file permissions
find $XOOPS_PATH -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

# Make specific directories writable
chmod 777 $XOOPS_PATH/cache
chmod 777 $XOOPS_PATH/templates_c
chmod 777 $XOOPS_PATH/uploads
chmod 777 $XOOPS_PATH/var

# Make mainfile.php less accessible
chmod 644 $XOOPS_PATH/mainfile.php

echo "Permissions set successfully"

Disk Space Requirements¶

Server Environment¶

Hosting Type¶

Memory Requirements¶

Network Requirements¶

System Requirements Checker¶

Use this PHP script to check server compatibility:

<?php
$required = [
    'PHP Version' => version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.6.0') >= 0,
    'PHP-MySQL' => extension_loaded('mysqli') || extension_loaded('mysql'),
    'PHP-GD' => extension_loaded('gd'),
    'PHP-cURL' => extension_loaded('curl'),
    'PHP-OpenSSL' => extension_loaded('openssl'),
    'PHP-JSON' => extension_loaded('json'),
];

echo "<h2>XOOPS Server Requirements Check</h2>";
echo "<table border='1'>";
echo "<tr><th>Requirement</th><th>Status</th></tr>";

foreach ($required as $name => $status) {
    $status_text = $status ? '<span style="color:green;">OK</span>' : '<span style="color:red;">MISSING</span>';
    echo "<tr><td>$name</td><td>$status_text</td></tr>";
}

echo "</table>";

// Check php.ini settings
echo "<h3>PHP Configuration</h3>";
echo "<p>memory_limit: " . ini_get('memory_limit') . "</p>";
echo "<p>upload_max_filesize: " . ini_get('upload_max_filesize') . "</p>";
echo "<p>max_execution_time: " . ini_get('max_execution_time') . " seconds</p>";
?>

Compliance Checklist¶

Before installing XOOPS, ensure:

• PHP version 5.6.0 or higher installed
• MySQL/MariaDB 5.0 or higher installed
• PDO and MySQL extensions enabled
• GD library extension enabled
• cURL extension installed (recommended)
• OpenSSL extension enabled
• Web server (Apache/Nginx) configured
• Mod_rewrite or URL rewriting enabled
• SSL/HTTPS certificate installed
• Write permissions available for cache, templates_c, uploads, var
• Minimum 500MB disk space available
• 128MB+ PHP memory_limit set
• Sendmail or SMTP configured for email
• DNS properly configured
• Domain name registered and pointing to server

Next Steps¶

1. Verify all requirements are met
2. Proceed with XOOPS Installation
3. Configure Basic Settings after installation
4. Review Security Settings

Tags: #server-requirements #installation #hosting #configuration

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