ATutor

Failed to initialize storage module

• robinharris
  

  2008-11-17 10:40:39

  Failed to initialize storage module

  I was logged in a few days a go, I uploaded a file a txt file in file
  storage and I deleted it just to test it out. I went back and all seemed
  well. Today I went to log in and got this message:
  
  Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: open_basedir
  restriction in effect. File(/home/sketch85/tmp) is not within the allowed
  path(s): (/home/taomrh21:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php:/tmp) in
  /home/taomrh21/public_html/ATutor/include/vitals.inc.php on line 96
  
  Fatal error: session_start() [<a
  href='function.session-start'function.session-start</a]: Failed to
  initialize storage module: files (path: ) in
  /home/taomrh21/public_html/ATutor/include/vitals.inc.php on line 96
  
  If you are asking for help, provide lots of detail so problems can be reproduced.
  
  Things to describe:
  Operating system ATutor is installed on -
  ATutor version - Recent version as of Sept. 29, 2008
  Patch #s applied - none per advise of installer
  ATutor theme name - default installation
  Operating system - Linux
  Apache version - 2.2.8
  PERL version - 5.8.8
  PHP version - 5.2.5 with Zend Optimizer 3.3.0
  MySQL version - 4.1.22
  Changes to default settings - none unless the Atutor changed them during installation
  Web browser being used - IE 7
  ...and anything else relevant -

• robinharris
  

  2008-11-17 10:42:47

  Re: Failed to initialize storage module

  If you are asking for help, provide lots of detail so problems can be reproduced.
  Windows Vista OS

• harris
  

  2008-11-17 11:01:32

  Re: Failed to initialize storage module

  open_basedir is used in PHP to ensure all file operations are limited to the files under certain directory and its sub-tree.
  
  Check your php.ini file and see if you have included the right folders.
  
  [quote]
  File(/home/sketch85/tmp) is not within the allowed
  path(s): (/home/taomrh21:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php:/tmp)
  [/quote]

• robinharris
  

  2008-11-17 11:50:46

  Re: Failed to initialize storage module

  Am i looking for a file called "php.ini" ... where do I look. I see a folder called php but I have not located any such file.
  
  Thanks,
  Robin

• harris
  

  2008-11-17 12:06:36

  Re: Failed to initialize storage module

  Your php.ini could possibly be in /usr/local/php/etc/
  
  Inside that file, look for 'open_basedir =', and add
  
  :/home/sketch85/tmp
  
  to the end of
  
  /home/taomrh21:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php:/tmp
  
  so then it will be something like this:
  open_basedir = /home/taomrh21:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php:/tmp:/home/sketch85/tmp
  
  
  If you do not have permission to do this, please contact your host.

• robinharris
  

  2008-11-17 15:25:01

  Re: Failed to initialize storage module

  I contacted my hosting provider and this is there response (below). How do I implement a work-around.
  
  Keep all the directories within your public html folder usually works Robin.
  It really depends a lot on the script. Whomever you purchased the script from should know the work around.
  It is a fairly common issue and most scripts should be made or have workarounds for them already.
  As I remember this is mostly solved keeping your folders within a directory that doesn't reach out of it.

• harris
  

  2008-11-17 15:57:11

  Re: Failed to initialize storage module

  What's the session.save_path in your php.ini?
  
  If it is '/home/sketch85/tmp', can you ask your host if there is any particular reason why it isn't '/home/taomrh21/tmp'?
  
  Thanks.

• robinharris
  

  2008-11-17 17:10:25

  Re: Failed to initialize storage module

  Here is the hosts providers response:
  The location is standard.......... /tmp
  
  
  ~Robin

• harris
  

  2008-11-18 11:05:05

  Re: Failed to initialize storage module

  Hello Robin,
  
  Judging from the fact that your system was working fine a few days ago, and you haven't changed the code from ATutor, it seems to me that it could very well be a server setting problem instead of a client application problem.
  
  I tried to reproduce this error on my local system but I have no problem using the open_basedir variable.
  
  By the error you had that is caused by the session_start(), it seems to me that ATutor is blocked off from saving a file into
  /home/sketch85/tmp
  
  However, open_basedir only includes the following folders (notice sketch85 is not in it):
  /home/taomrh21
  /usr/lib/php
  /usr/local/lib/php
  /tmp
  
  (You may want to ask the host why are there 2 different user accounts - sketch85 and taomrh21. Normally, I would think that it should be /home/taomrh21/tmp instead of /home/sketch85/tmp, but I am not too sure how your host has set the server up...)
  
  At this time, ATutor doesn't have the ability to allow users to change the location of the tmp/ folder. These have to be set via the server side. ATutor by defaults, writes to the directory defined in your php.ini. Such as the
  upload_tmp_dir = "xxxxxxxxxxx"
  session.save_path = "xxxxxxxxxxx"
  So you may want to check these paths and make sure they are writable.
  
  I hope these helps.
  
  
  -Harris