AutoRank v4.0.x Installation

Unix/Linux Installation Instructions

  1. At this point it is assumed you have extracted the archive containing AutoRank. If you have not yet done so, you should do that now.

  2. Now you will want to locate Perl 5 on your server. If you are not sure where to find it, contact your server administrator and ask them. Generally it can be found at /usr/bin/perl or /usr/local/bin/perl

  3. If Perl 5 is located at /usr/bin/perl on your server, you may skip this step. If it is not, you will need to open each of the .cgi files in a text editor such as Notepad. Change the first line of each file to point to Perl 5 on your server. For example, if Perl 5 is at /usr/local/bin/perl, then the first line will be #!/usr/local/bin/perl

  4. You will now need to login to your server and create some directories for AutoRank. First off, decide where you want the .cgi files installed. Generally it is a good idea to keep them in a cgi-bin (or equivalent) directory. Once you have decided where you want the .cgi files, change into that directory. Inside that directory you will need to create 3 subdirectories; name them templates, data, and admin. Note: The only files you should place in these directories are the ones indicated in this documentation. Uploading other files can and will cause problems.

    Now, you need to decide where you want the HTML files written to. This will need to be outside of the cgi-bin directory. Once you have decided where you want them to go, record that information for later use.

    Example Directory Structure:

    /home/username/cgi-bin/autorank location of arp.pl and rankem.cgi files
    /home/username/cgi-bin/autorank/admin location of admin.cgi and setup.cgi files
    /home/username/cgi-bin/autorank/data location of script data files
    /home/username/cgi-bin/autorank/templates location of all template files
    /home/username/autorank where the main HTML files will be generated


  5. You now need to edit the .htaccess file from the admin directory of the archive. This is the file that will enable the password protection of the admin directory once it is on your server. A description of what needs to be edited and how to do it can be found in the .htaccess file. This file should be edited in a text editor.

  6. Now you are ready to begin uploading the files to your server. VERY IMPORTANT: You must upload ALL of the AutoRank files in ASCII mode, or it will not function properly. If you are not sure how to do this, consult the documentation for your FTP client. If you get a Script Error message saying you may not have stripped the carriage returns, this means you did not upload all the files in ASCII mode - try again.

    Below is a table of where each file should be uploaded, using the example directory structure above:

    /cgi-bin/toplist
    accounts.cgi
    ar.pl
    cgiworks.pm
    init.cgi
    out.cgi
    rankem.cgi

    /cgi-bin/toplist/admin
    .htaccess
    admin.cgi
    setup.cgi

    /cgi-bin/toplist/data
    .htaccess
    def.html
    errors.dat
    lang.dat

    /cgi-bin/toplist/templates
    All .htmlt and .etmpl

  7. Next, you will need to set permissions on the directories and files that AutoRank will be using. If you are not sure how to set permissions, consult the documentation for your FTP client and/or contact your server administrator for more information. Below is a table containing the permissions you will need to set on each directory or file.

    File or Directory Permissions
    All .cgi Files 755
    ar.pl 644
    cgiworks.pm 644
    def.html 644
    lang.dat 666
    errors.dat 666
    .htaccess 644
    All .htmlt & .etmpl Files 666
    data directory 777
    admin directory 777
    templates directory 755
    Directory where HTML files will be written 777

    These are only the recommended file permissions, and may need to be altered depending on your server configuration. Once you have all permissions set, continue to the next step.

  8. You are now ready to begin the web based portion of the setup. In your browser, type in the full URL to the init.cgi file on your server. This will initialize the installation, and prepare the administrative directory. Once you have run init.cgi, and received a message indicating you may proceed, you can bring up setup.cgi in your browser. It is also now safe to remove the init.cgi file from your server - it is no longer needed. The default login info to access the password protected administrative area is:

    Username: admin
    Password: admin

    You will then be presented with a page where you will fill in variables and options for the software. After you have set all of the variables, click the button near the bottom of the page. If everything went well, you will be presented with a page telling you that the variables have been recorded, and some self tests will be done by the script. If all the tests pass, you are ready to go on. If any of them fail, you will need to check file permissions and directory settings. If you get any error messages after you press the button, you most likely have either a permissions setting wrong or one of the variables in arp.cgi is incorrectly set.

  9. You should now be ready to begin using the software. The first thing you will want to do is point your browser to admin.cgi. Use the same login information as is listed above.

    Once inside the admin script you can start exploring the features, but make sure that you change the username/password combination soon after your initial installation. This can be done by selecting the Change Admin Password function from the first pull down menu. Make sure you use a password that contains a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols so that it is very difficult to guess.

After Installation is Complete

Once you have completed the installation you will want to get your ranking page setup and ready to accept new members. You should begin reading the overview.html documentation file so you can get an understanding of how the software works. This document includes all of the information you will need to begin working with the software.