Geeklog Web Hosting

Geeklog Web Hosting

Geeklog is an application used to manage dynamic web content and is based on PHP and MySQL. Geeklog was originally authored by Jason Whittenburg and then handed over the project to Tony Bibbs. While Tony is working on the next generation Geeklog; GL2; Dirk Haun is maintaining the 1.x branch. This content management system (CMS) or blog engine facilitates comments, trackbacks, multiple syndication formats, spam protection and much more. Its functionality can be enhanced upon by the community developed plug-ins. These plug-ins include forums, image galleries etc. This web content management system has all the essential features required to run full featured community websites. It operates under the GNU General Public License (GPL) as an open source software. This web log system is powered by MySQL and PHP and comprises of the vital features required to have your dynamic website up and running in a matter of minutes.

The essential features of Geeklog (version 1.4) are as follows:

• User-friendly allows people to register at your website and submit stories and/or comments.
• The comment system facilitates posting of comments at the user’s website.
• Block system lets you feed information and other important related data anywhere on the website.
• The advanced plug-in system allows users to enhance the functionality of the system and extend Geeklog, and does not require the user to code any new PHP.
• The layout, look and feel of the website can be selected by a comprehensive theme system.
• The advanced security model gives users control on certain aspects of the website precluding the otherwise potential security hassles involved.
• The site statistics gives an idea and displays the important areas of the user’s website.
• The Link system allows users to add links to the site.
• The calendar system allows all users to mark or add important events.
• Stories can be emailed to friends or users.

Following requirements need to be met to ensure Geeklog functions smoothly:

1. A web server running PHP 4.1.0 or higher
2. A web server running MySQL 3.23.2 or higher, with access to a database or the ability to create a database
3. The ability to create a new database in MySQL or access to an existing one
4. A telnet or SSH connection to your web server (although FTP will work).
5. The ability to unpack a tarball (file ending in tar.gz)
6. Users must know the difference between a path and a URL
7. Use needs to know how to determine their system paths.

Geeklog’s pre-installed plug-ins include the calendar plug-in, links plug-in (your collection of links to other sites), polls plug-in (to create polls for users to vote), Spam-X plug-in (to fight comment spam) and the static pages plug-in (for other static and non-static content).
Most blog communities use Trackbacks, Pingbacks, and Pings to inform other sites / blogs about updated blogs and comments made to blog posts. These methods are supported by many blog / CMS packages, so the user can also send Trackbacks and Pingbacks to sites running on software other than Geeklog.

Trackbacks: is a means to connect a post you made on your blog to a post on another blog.
Pingbacks: Pingbacks are similar to trackbacks; however they use a different protocol.
Sending a Ping is meant to inform sites that keep track of updated blogs that you’ve made a new post.
If Trackbacks are not required by the user or certain sites like corporate websites; they can be disabled by the user. Only when all three, i.e. trackbacks, pingbacks, and pings are disabled will the “Trackback” entry vanish from the Admins Only block. Theme creation for Geeklog is a fairly simple process and quite fast as well. A basic knowledge of HTML is preferred and no PHP skills are necessary.
In order to upgrade the Geeklog to the newer version, following instructions need to be followed:

1. Back up any files with custom code in them and back up your database.
2. The user can choose to either rename or remove their current Geeklog directory. Although in the end they will be deleting the older install it’s probably safer to keep the old copy around for a few days in-case they forgot to transfer some important files.
3. Uncompress the new version and copy the result to the same path that your old installation had.
4. The user needs to edit the config.php and lib-common.php, basically just copying over the information from the old copies of these files.
5. If you are upgrading from Geeklog 1.2 or earlier, change to /path/to/geeklog/sql/updates and apply all needed database updates. If you are upgrading from Geeklog 1.3 or later, this step will need to be skipped.
6. Open your browser and navigate to http://yourgeeklogsite/admin/install/install.php. Enter your path to Geeklog and make sure you select “Upgrade Database” as the installation type, before you click on the “Next” button. The second step of the installation script should have an option to convert your database to the current version.
7. Once the success message is displayed; the upgrade is complete. The “admin/install” directory all the files within it can all be then deleted.

Geeklog also has a built-in feature to check for updates. The user simply needs to click on he GL Version Test link (an entry in your Admin menu) to check if they have the latest version installed.
The latest feature of Geeklog includes that it can now be nstalled on Microsoft SQL Server, so it’s no longer restricted to just MySQL. It is also possible to create multi lingual web sites with Geeklog where not only the navigation but also the content of the site changes with the language.
The other recent feature is the “mass-deletion function”, which enables deletion of old or inactive users. Also, the New Remote Authentication system allows people with accounts on remote services such as Blogger.com or LiveJournal.com to login to your site without having to directly register on your site.