17 June 2011, 22:58

Ok, not only am I a newbie, I am also an older guy, so old I can remember...... but not that old I personally knew ...... (you can fill in the blanks...) 

My thought was that this young bloke is talking about a Moodle so I went and looked. Well, I thought, this is excellent, a lot better and more flexible than anything else I have used. So I started using it, and I cannot help but hear about this thing Mahara. 

Then my employer, the great and goodly, informed me that we needed a way of developing an eportfolio system. Wow, I know just the thing - Mahara and we can incorporate it into a Mahoodle, getting the best of two disparate, but equally important worlds.  But you think I can install Mahara? Test It? Learn how to  use it? Not a chance!!!!

First, I unzipped the file to my server, a localhost not a production server, btw, a WAMP, Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP (and I also have wordpress and MediaWiki, Elgg is next on the test parade, up and running successfully so installing a PHP Application was not an unknown thing.) 

It seems that it does not matter what I do, and I have done lots to get this to work, it is just not happening. I created the database, no worries, I have edited the config.php file, and that was surprisingly close in application to Moodle I thought, that is why the two integrate so readily then.I did everything needed, and all I get is an Error 404, Not Found. duh...

Reading the installation documentation, I am not sure that Mahara is easily transferable to Windows.This would mean that it is not a cross platform PHP App. Anyone care to enlighten me? 

19 June 2011, 19:59

Hi Henry,

While running production sites on Windows is not recommended (PHP has all kinds of Windows-specific problems and is not as well-tested as on Linux), it does mostly work.

These instructions might be helpful:

https://wiki.mahara.org/index.php/System_Administrator's_Guide/Installing_Mahara/Installing_Mahara_in_Wampserver

The error message you got seems to indicate that your Apache configuration is not quite right as it can't find the Mahara code.

Cheers,

Francois

20 June 2011, 2:35

Thank you Francois, but, persistance pays off in the end. I figured out part of the problem and got the installation screen up, but now, it is looking for pre-existing files. I am getting an error that says: 

Component or plugin	From version	To version	Information
core	Not installed	1.4.0	Could not execute command: CREATE TABLE

and so on, all down the list of files: Not installed.

As I have never installed Mahara before, i am not surprised. But why is it trying to upgrade? Is there another version of Mahara I should have downloaded?

20 June 2011, 15:56

And I am sorry, I did not mention that this is a test process. It is not a production site. For me to get people to accept the idea of some things, like Open Source, PHP Apps, cross platform technologies, has been a very hard grind. I need to be able to show them things that work otherwise they cannot get a grasp of what I am talking about, or they dismiss it as fanciful delusion. It has only been recently that I have managed to convince a few of my colleagues that using Moodle is a "good thing". Now my masters have this idea they want students to use an electronic method of creating documents about themselves, resumes and CVs and such and have it accessible for them after they have left school. I think Mahara goes, or can go, far beyond that, but if I cannot get it working to show them, then I am wasting my time. Any help greatfully accepted...

21 June 2011, 2:56

Hello Henry,

If you are experiencing issues to install Mahara 1.4 on a Windows platform and due to the fact you want to do that for demo purposes, why not play and use an already free and working platform such as

• http://www.mahara.at/ (based on 1.3 I guess)
• http://foliofor.me/ (which is based on 1.4)
• ...

22 June 2011, 8:51

Hi Dominique-Alain,

Yes I have had a look at the demo site first time I came to Mahara, and thought about doing just that. Then after a couple of days I came to these conclusions: 

1. I am intensely curious and want to look "under the hood". I want to install it, then break it and fix it and break it and fix it again and again. I cannot do that with a demo site. I actually need to do this, as in a couple of months my great and glorious employer will remember they have asked me to look at something and I have to justify the pittance they actually pay me by presenting them with something that is better than the tripe they have now.

2. O'toole's Corollory. I am a paranoid-schizo who believes that machines hate me - with a passion. I just know that if I have to make a presentation using an external site, then the meeting will be scheduled for a room that is unable to accept wireless, due to the interference of something near or just a poorly designed wireless network that has left a gap in the room where the meeting is being held. (This has happened to me btw.) Also, there is no wire coming into that room either - so I found out. Alternatively, the server will die five minutes before my meeting, or there is some other mechanical reason that is completely beyond my control but I am still blamed for wasting people's time. (BTW, O'Toole's Corollory: Murphy was an optimist!)

Being intesely curious, I might add, means I am an irreverent tinkerer. That is, I can tinker, and completely wreck things, simply having no respect for the product. Too many years of using a non-open source OS has made me very sceptical of anything that is produced specifically for that environment. Equally though, if it is too difficult to install and run on a variety of Windows OSes,  (XP to 2008 Server), then it may not be the product we need. Please, do not forget I am still pretty much held to ransom for decisions that were made some 20 years ago regarding the OS of someone else's choice. Now that OS inertia has set in, everyone but a few malcontents have begun to believe there is nothing else. of value outside proprietal software. I mean, and need, to show them otherwise.  

What should I really be looking for, error messages other than the one above? A core download of some description? 

22 June 2011, 21:33

Hi Henry,

You might see more details in the Apache error log, but you may as well increase the debugging output that gets displayed on the screen too by adding this to your config.php:

$cfg->log_dbg_targets     = LOG_TARGET_SCREEN | LOG_TARGET_ERRORLOG;
$cfg->log_info_targets    = LOG_TARGET_SCREEN | LOG_TARGET_ERRORLOG;
$cfg->log_warn_targets    = LOG_TARGET_SCREEN | LOG_TARGET_ERRORLOG;
$cfg->log_environ_targets = LOG_TARGET_SCREEN | LOG_TARGET_ERRORLOG;

This looks like the database user that you gave Mahara doesn't have permission to create new databases...

Cheers,

Francois

23 June 2011, 16:31

Hi Francois,

The user and password are accurate, they are the same I use for Moodle, MediaWiki and WordPress installations that already exist. Looking at the database itself via phpMyAdmin shows that 88 tables have been created and have been structured, but there is nothing unusual I can see - not that I am any great expert in databases and I do not know what the Mahara table structure is. Wierd that it should be throwing this error when it has already created tables...  

And the error logs reveal:

[Fri Jun 24 06:33:27 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [INF] fa (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\admin\\upgrade.php:54) Starting Mahara installation..., referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [DBG] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:159) mysql error: [1050: Table 'ma_config' already exists] in adodb_throw(CREATE TABLE ma_config (, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [DBG] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:159)     field VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [DBG] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:159)     value TEXT,, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [DBG] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:159) CONSTRAINT  PRIMARY KEY (field), referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [DBG] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:159) )ENGINE=innodb, ), referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [DBG] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:159) Command was: CREATE TABLE ma_config (, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [DBG] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:159)     field VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [DBG] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:159)     value TEXT,, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [DBG] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:159) CONSTRAINT  PRIMARY KEY (field), referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [DBG] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:159) )ENGINE=innodb, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [WAR] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\errors.php:745) Could not execute command: CREATE TABLE ma_config (, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [WAR] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\errors.php:745)     field VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [WAR] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\errors.php:745)     value TEXT,, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [WAR] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\errors.php:745) CONSTRAINT  PRIMARY KEY (field), referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] [WAR] 57 (D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\errors.php:745) )ENGINE=innodb, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] Call stack (most recent first):, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1]   * log_message("Could not execute command: CREATE TABLE ma_config ...", 8, true, true) at D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\errors.php:109, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1]   * log_warn("Could not execute command: CREATE TABLE ma_config ...") at D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\errors.php:745, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1]   * SQLException->__construct("Could not execute command: CREATE TABLE ma_config ...") at D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:161, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1]   * execute_sql("CREATE TABLE ma_config (, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1]     field VARCHAR(255) NO...", true) at D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\dml.php:1394, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1]   * execute_sql_arr(array(size 106)) at D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\ddl.php:566, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1]   * install_from_xmldb_file("D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara/lib/db/install.xml") at D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\lib\\upgrade.php:297, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1]   * upgrade_core(object(stdClass)) at D:\\server\\htdocs\\mahara\\admin\\upgrade.json.php:94, referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php
[Fri Jun 24 06:33:30 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] , referer: http://localhost/mahara/admin/upgrade.php

06 July 2011, 23:09

Hi Henry,

The error you are seeing seems to indicate that you're trying to install Mahara in a database where it has already been half installed (it says that the config table it's trying to create already exists).

You'll probably need to delete that database and create a new empty one before running through the Mahara installer again.

Cheers,

Francois

10 July 2011, 10:39

Well, after a lot of effort, I have come to the conclusion that Mahara's installation process sucks.

Now, I have spent a lot of time doing everything I can think of to get this to work. I started with this error and I am finishing with this error. As a consequence of the issues thrown up by PHP and my web server, I upgraded PHP to v5.3.6, the latest. I also upgraded my Apache server to v2.2.19. I also found that it pays to be a little careful installing these things, then you won't feel constrained to clean your HDDs up and end up doing a complete reinstall.

However, to spent this time, and to return to the place I started... well -- it sucks. I can tell you, Moodle slid in like a dream. After a couple of tries I got MediaWiki to install and run. Wordpress went in first time. Elgg was easy, but not necessarily smooth.. Mahara, however, has defeated me. I am not going to pursue it, if I cannot get it started and running easily, I doubt too many others will be able to either.  

Given the "ease" at which a Mahoodle can be created, why can the installer not be more like Moodle's? (I have never installed a Mahoodle, so I can only go on the word of other people who have done it. But it seems that Mahara will not do what I need it to do, or rahter, I cannot demonstate what it can do... pity.