Free forum-creating software

phantom_cyph · 03-08-2007, 07:44 PM

I need a free (or open-source) program for creating a forum. (Unless anybody knows how to do it in HTML). Any thoughts?

reddazz · 03-08-2007, 07:49 PM

Take a look at opensourcecms for some ideas.

Sepero · 03-08-2007, 08:21 PM

phantom_cyph · 03-09-2007, 05:36 AM

Sepero, do you know how to install the tar.bz2 file for phpBB? I moved it to my Home folder and extracted it. I could not find an executable file. I renamed it to simply "phpBB.tar.bz2" is there a command line I can use for this?

SweetLou · 03-09-2007, 05:37 PM

There is no executable file in phpBB2. It is just a bunch of .php files along with some images, css and templates. All you need to do is extract the archive and place it somewhere in your web directory. There is a very good help section at phpBB.com to help you install it. When I say "install it" I mean the script will setup the database for you.

Sepero · 03-10-2007, 02:30 AM

SweetLou is right. I'm not really sure how to install it actually. It is very very popular forum software, and I've used it on servers that already had it setup/installed for me.

SweetLou · 03-10-2007, 05:13 AM

It's very easy to install. Just extract the archive in your document root directory and point your web browser to the directory, it will automatically start the installation, asking you questions about your server. You do need a database created already. The installation just creates the tables, not the actual database.
I like phpBB2 and Olympus, the phpBB3 beta 5 version. SMF is also gaining in popularity and is also "installed" in the same way.
You can see what the new Olympus is like by going to http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB/ But just check out a couple and see which ones you like. Remember, the looks are not that important, you can always change, install new themes, it is the functionality that you should look at and the support they offer.