AXS Site Tracking System v2.0.0.0020

Manual Install Instructions

Last modified on Tuesday, April 17, 2001.

This product has been designed for fast and easy installation. Follow these simple steps to get the script up and running in just a few minutes.

  1. Download

    Download the product appropriate to your platform:

    Each archive contains the exact same code, except that the Windows version uses "\r\n" line endings, and the Unix version uses "\n" endings.

    The .tar.gz version can be decompressed with the commands:

    gzip -d axs.2.0.0.0020.tar.gz
    tar -xf axs.2.0.0.0020.tar

    The .zip version can be decompressed with Winzip from www.winzip.com.

    If you install a version other than 2.0.0.0020, follow the install file included with it, rather than this one.


  2. Build Directory Structure

    The script uses a specific directory structure to organize its libraries and data files. When the downloaded archives are expanded, they will automatically expand into the desired structure. You must retain that structure when transferring files between computers.

    For your reference, Appendix II contains a detailed list of all files and folders, describing what they do and where they belong.

    Note: this script uses relative paths extensively, and so its very demanding about its directory structure. It does not use absolute paths at all, however. That means you don't need to enter the absolute path into the script configuration files (if it needs to know its absolute path, it will auto-detect it).


  3. Customize Script

    In this step, you customize the CGI script files. Some library and data files also use the ".pl" extension, but those files must not be renamed or edited. The only files that you should edit are:

    • axs/ax.pl
    • axs/ax-admin.pl

    99.9% of this script is configured after the install is complete, using the admin control panel. Only two things need to be configured during installation:

    1. If your path to Perl is not "/usr/local/bin/perl", then edit the first line of the script to point the appropriate path. Popular locations include "/usr/bin/perl" and "/usr/bin/perl5".

    2. Rename the CGI script file(s) to use the Perl CGI file extension required on your system. Different systems have different rules about which extension to use. Most nice systems accept either .cgi or .pl, in which case you can skip this step. Others allow only .cgi, and others allow only .pl. Still others require .plx or other weird names. Ask your administrators, or copy the extensions of working scripts, or experiment to find the extension that works for you.

    When you open the script file to edit the path to Perl, use the most hardcore text editor you have. Like, Notepad on Windows, Simple Text on Mac, vi on Unix. Do not use high-level editors like Microsoft Word or HTML editors like FrontPage. There is a risk that these high-level editors will damage the code.


  4. Transfer Files

    Unless you're doing all of your work on the web server itself, you must transfer the files and folders over to your web server. When transferring script files or data files in FTP, always use ASCII mode.

    If your web server requires that CGI scripts be installed into a special folder, like "cgi-bin" or "cgi", then install all of the files to that folder.


  5. Set Permissions

    The easiest way to set permissions is to run the "setperms" script appropriate for your platform. Run setperms.bat on Windows and setperms.sh on Unix.

    If you have only FTP access to a Unix server, then you can set the permissions with FTP while you're transferring. Use the permissions guide in Appendix II below.

    If you have a Windows web server without shell access, then typically you won't be able to run "setperms.bat" from the command line nor set permissions via FTP. In this case, the best approach is to try an install anyway (the server file system is often read/write/exec by default). If this doesn't work then contact the tech support people and ask them to run setperms.bat for you. If tech support can't help, you can use the Auto Installer process to remotely set Windows file permissions (it uses special magic to do this and it would take pages and pages to describe the process and so I won't bother to do so here).


  6. Test

    Visit the URL "axs/ax-admin.cgi" to get started.

    Please visit your admin page immediately. There is no username or password required by default, but you can configure them by opening the 'ax-admin.pl' script and entering values for $Username and $Password. Before any visits are logged, you must follow the instructions under "Instructions for Tagging HTML Pages", linked from the bottom of the admin page.


Manual Install Complete!


Appendix I: Error Handling

If you run into trouble, consider an automated install. The automatic install can self-heal from most common error conditions.

Free custom installs are available from the script author (as of Tuesday, April 17, 2001). To take advantage of this service, first attempt an automatic install. If it fails, you will have the option to forward an install request. Installs are usually finished within 24 hours.

You can also visit the Discussion Forum with a description of your problem. It stays very busy and there are many helpful people there.

The Auto-Installer is here: www.xav.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/xav/install.cgi


Appendix II: Directory Structure and File Descriptions


This file manifest applies to version 2.0.0.0020. If you are installing a different version, use the install.html file included with it.

The file permissions are modeled on the default Apache or Microsoft IIS permissions system, where a user account owns the files and a separate, unprivileged account, executes the CGI scripts. This is not the most secure configuration in the world, but it is the default that has been established, and so these file permissions follow it. If you have a system where your CGI scripts are executed under your user account context (as when using CGIWrap, when using setuid Perl, using Hypermart.net or many other free web hosts, etc.) then you can and should replace all permissions with 755/rwxr-xr-x.


Icons
folder
script file
data file
optional file
Required
Required file or folder
Optional file or folder
Permissions
755 / rwx r-x r-x read and execute
766 / rwx rw- rw- read and write
777 / rwx rwx rwx read, write, and execute


Is Required Object

Permissions File / Folder Description
755 / r-x setperms.bat Windows batch file for setting file permissions
755 / r-x setperms.sh Unix shell script for setting file permissions
755 / r-x axs
755 / r-x     ax-admin.pl Admin script -- displays visits
755 / r-x     ax.pl Tracking script -- logs visits
766 / rw-     axs.dat Preferences file for storing admin settings
755 / r-x     install.html Manual install help file
755 / r-x     license.html License agreement
766 / rw-     log.txt Log file for storing visit data
755 / r-x     red.gif Small image used for creating bar graphs
755 / r-x     tracker.jpg Script logo, used on admin page

Permissions File / Folder Description
Is Required Object



Appendix III: Upgrade

To upgrade over a previous installation, without losing data, replace only these files:

setperms.bat Windows batch file for setting file permissions
setperms.sh Unix shell script for setting file permissions
axs
axs/ax-admin.pl Admin script -- displays visits
axs/ax.pl Tracking script -- logs visits
axs/install.html Manual install help file
axs/license.html License agreement
axs/red.gif Small image used for creating bar graphs
axs/tracker.jpg Script logo, used on admin page


Appendix IV: Uninstall

To remove the product, simply delete the folder that contains all the scripts and data files. The script does not effect anything outside of its folder.


Appendix V: Additional Resources



© 1997-2001 by Zoltan Milosevic