Question

I've installed TWiki on WinXP with IIS5.1 with a fair amount of success. Now I still have a few things left to weed out, and searching the Support web didn't reveal answers to my particular issues. I'm also attaching the TWiki.cfg and the testenv.pl output here, I hope it helps.

1. CGI scripts are executing as user 'gbdk' (server-side Windows logon) rather than user 'nobody'.
   • I don't know how to set this otherwise. I've followed the guidance about authorization in CookbookWindowsIISSetup to the point.
2. The $scriptUrlPath '/twiki/bin' does not match REQUEST_URI.
   • The page testenv.pl doesn't state what the REQUEST_URI is, so I don't know what's wrong. As an URLpath, '/twiki/bin' is correct in my setup. I'm using the default file locations ( c:\cygwin, c:\perl, c:\twiki ).
3. RCS program c:\cygwin\bin/ci not found.
   • TWiki.cfg states that:
     rcsDir = 'c:\\cygwin\\bin';
     The cookbook also states that the programs should be written as rcs.exe, ci.exe, co.exe and so on. How do I make this work?
4. The testenv.pl lists a number of uninitialized values.
   • ... help? I'm not skilled in Perl nor in server administration. (I chose IIS over Apache or even linux solely because I am very familiar with Windows but have no prior webserver or linux experience, so I figured this was the easiest way.)
5. Cygwin may have a problem.
   • The testenv page states: Group(s): [Can't identify groups - no Cygwin 'id' or 'sh' command on path] but I have put the c:\cygwin\bin in Windows' path environment variable. Also, when I start the Cygwin window, I see this welcome and I don't think it's correct since it should know the id program (but the cygwin\bin folder contains neither id nor mount, possibly missing others as well) (GB is the machine name):

bash: id: command not found
I have no name!@GB ~
$

• TWiki version: 20030201
• Perl version: ActiveState Perl v5.6.1
• Web server & version: MS IIS 5.1
• Server OS: MS Windows XP Pro
• Web browser & version: MSIE6
• Client OS: MS Windows XP Pro

Note: In the testenv.pl output, the test image used in $pubUrlPath does show up on my system. Of course it's not shown in the attached HTML file.

Note: You can view the site at http://twiki.no-ip.com

-- TorbenGB - 10 May 2003

Answer

Thanks for the attachments.

Issue no. 1 is not a problem (or at least it shouldn't be), just use that userid in the relevant instructions.

Re issue no. 2 - the REQUEST_URI is passed in by most web servers, I guess IIS doesn't do this.

Re issue no. 4 - this is because you commented out the $mailProgram variable. Commenting out variables in TWiki.cfg breaks things severely, not just for testenv - just set them to "" if they should be empty. This may apply to other variables as well.

-- RichardDonkin - 10 May 2003

Thanks for the advice! It got me a bit further and pointed out some of the problems.

Issue1

I'm sorry but I need some more handholding. I've tried to change various values to gbdk instead but it doesn't seem to help. This is what I've tried without a breakthrough:

• In the TWiki:Codev/CookbookWindowsIISSetup#RCS I changed the logname from anonymous to gbdk.
• In the IIS console, Properties for the /twiki and /twiki/bin folders, I've changed the directory security: anonymous access from nobody and blank password to gbdk and the server login password. I also tried with a blank password.
  • I don't really know IIS at all, so I can't help here - in fact, my comment that it should work this userid is based on extrapolation from Apache and may not be correct. Best to seek some IIS guruhood here, perhaps on another site?

Issue2

So the fact that IIS isn't giving the request-uri is not a showstopper?

• No, this is just a handy environment variable that's only used by testenv.

Issue3

I haven't been able to crack this one yet. More help please?

• Try adding the line in bold below in testenv - seems that ActivePerl is not properly reporting its '.exe' suffix. This may be testenv only issue, i.e. should not affect normal operation: ( Yes, it works! -- TorbenGB )

my $exeSuffix='';
if ( $Config::Config{'_exe'}) { 
    $exeSuffix = $Config::Config{'_exe'};
}
$exeSuffix = '.exe';

Issue4

I had commented out the $mailProgram variable. Uncommenting it but setting the value to "" fixed this problem, and now there are no more uninitialized values errors.

Issue5

I must've had an incomplete Cygwin installation. I downloaded a completely new copy of the setup and installation files and then reinstalled it. Now my bash shell looks okay (to my knowledge).

I've also attached updated copies of the files.

-- TorbenGB - 11 May 2003

I've commented above in italics. Sounds like you are getting closer!

Let me know if the code change fixes things, as that would be a bug in testenv.

-- RichardDonkin - 11 May 2003

YESS!! The code hack worked just fine. Testenv mentioned a few .exe.exe problems that I then "counter-adjusted" in lib/TWiki.cfg and now it works. The only thing missing is now that the variables still aren't expanded, so everything works pretty good but it looks weird. The page begins with %HTTP_EQUIV_ON_VIEW%, shows TWiki webs: %WIKIWEBLIST% and ends with %WEBCOPYRIGHT%. I've seen this bug documented here and there and I'll try to find a solution to that as well. Thanks for your help, Richard!

-- TorbenGB - 11 May 2003

I don't know what I did but suddenly the variables are expanding properly. Wow it looks great! I found though that I have a problem with caching in the edit page, but this I've also seen discussed here before so I hope to find a solution for that as well. And then I still need to authenticate my users! Right now everybody's TWikiGuest...

-- TorbenGB - 12 May 2003

Good stuff!

Re edit caching problems, see BrowserIssues and in particular BackFromPreviewLosesText and RefreshEditPage - both these issues are fixed in TWikiRelease01Feb2003, though RefreshEditPage can happen again if skins aren't coded to handle this. BackFromPreviewLosesText does occasionally happen still, due most likely to infrequent peculiar decisions by IE5/IE6 to remove items from cache, which TWiki can't do much about.

-- RichardDonkin - 12 May 2003

I'll look into the descriptions you pointed out. The problem I have is very very likely because I implemented the TigerSkin (and then modified it quite a bit (and I'll publish the modded one as HobbesSkin someday)), and this skin doesn't have the RefreshEditPage fix. I'll add that myself. Thank you again, Richard!

-- TorbenGB - 13 May 2003

I'm closing this question now. Not all issues were answered, but many to a good extent. I'm now facing new issues, so these present questions are a thing in the past.

Btw, I added the fix for the edit page, which basically puts a random number into the edit link URL in order to fool the cache. It now works as it should.

-- TorbenGB - 27 May 2003