Installer Step 2: Writable Session Save Path (/tmp) Not A Valid Directory

[gatezone]

Trying to install 3.0 on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux box, have installed other Open Source CMS, etc. but I'm stuck as much as if I never ssh'ed into a box in my life

Installer Step 2: Writable Session Save Path (/tmp) Not A Valid Directory

Saw the post about changing the save path in php.ini and tried to change it to


session.save_handler = /tmp

and

session.save_handler = "/tmp" (the post was somewhat ambiguous about the quotes)

after restarting apache I get the following installer error displayed as free form text at the top of the installer step 2


"Warning: session_start(): Cannot find save handler /tmp in /home/virtual/site1/fst/var/www/html/projects/install.php on line 76"

and the same error next to the session save path line on step 2.

If I change it back to:


session.save_handler = files

The ugly looking thrown error on step 2 goes away but not the underlying problem. I have full access to this system. It seems ironic that such a nice looking installer doesn't have more information on this issue since it is obviously an installer stopper.

I had other 'red' text issues and addressed them relatively qickly but this /tmp path issue seems particularly annoying when everything else (so far) seemed to be fixable.

The general error for this item in step two is very unclear, unlike the error message for the memory limit.

Is there something else that needs to be done with this variable in php.ini? Any help appreciated as I'd like to demo an installed version and am stuck at step 2.

Thanks... GZ

[jgarell]

I ran into the same prob....there's a line in http.include (I'm on a hosted service so it's prob in httpd.conf if you on your own box) that looks like:

php_admin_value open_basedir "/path/to/httpdocs:/tmp:/var/lib/php"

I added the /var/lib/php to the path and it cleared that problem.

Hope it helps.

[gatezone]

I ran into the same prob....there's a line in http.include (I'm on a hosted service so it's prob in httpd.conf if you on your own box) that looks like:

php_admin_value open_basedir "/path/to/httpdocs:/tmp:/var/lib/php"

I added the /var/lib/php to the path and it cleared that problem.

Hope it helps.

Thanks, but this line is not in the httpd.conf file and unforttunately I haven't been able to find a http.include file on the server. I have full access but the installation is within a virtual site. I get around ok in Linux but there is a lot that I don't know and I'm not sure where to turn on this one.

Any other ideas? It seems odd that one would have to dig around to this extent. I'd be happy to provide some error message text for "step 2" if I can get beyond this obstacle to installation. GZ

[jgarell]

I too am running under a virtual host - I've pasted the whole section where that line was. It's located within a

<VirtualHost>
<Dirctory /path_to_/httpdocs>

section of the config file....


<IfModule sapi_apache2.c>
php_admin_flag engine on
php_admin_value open_basedir "/path_to_/httpdocs:/tmp:/var/lib/php"
</IfModule>

[julian]

Hello gatezone,

Actually, the session.save_handler should remain as files. However, you'll want to change session.save_path to "/tmp". Thanks,

[gatezone]

Thanks,for your suggestion and it looks like I was looking at the wrong one, but the correct linein php.ini seems to have been right all along, it shows:

session.save_path = /tmp

But the installer still says it is not a valid directory. This is in the same php.ini file where I changed the size and that took care of the size red error on the step 2 screen. Does this need to be an absolute path llike one pointing to the specific /home/virtual/site/.... and will it affect other virtual sites if I change it in the /usr/local/Zend/etc/php.ini file?

I've installed Gallery, Drupal, Owl, PHPnuke, postnuke, phpbb, etc. and have not dealt with this mystery, there has got to be a way 'we' could make this bit easier, no?

[gatezone]

<VirtualHost>
<Dirctory /path_to_/httpdocs>

section of the config file....


<IfModule sapi_apache2.c>
php_admin_flag engine on
php_admin_value open_basedir "/path_to_/httpdocs:/tmp:/var/lib/php"
</IfModule>

Thanks, I may be more dense today than usual, but I'm still not finding this file... and I'm not sure if this approach is related to the other apprioach which seems to focus on the php.ini file (see other post) -GZ

[gatezone]

At about this point I start wondering why something like this can't be definitively explained and implemented clearly. How many command line changes do how many files need to be done to get the basic installation environment correct? I don't think the Red Hat enviornment I am in is that unique and I've installed other php applications without this wild goose chase...

Can someone tell me what the "Writable Session Save Path (/tmp) not a valid directory " error means? Does it mean there isn't a directory or that it doesn't have the correct permissions, or can't get to where it expects a specific directory to be and if so where and what is it?

I'm starting to forget why I wanted to install this... GZ

[gatezone]

Is there anything a non-coder can do to help address this seemingly recurring issue so that it doesn't come up over and over again?

I'm still stuck and have been since my first post here despite the time and attention of several replies here and in another thread started by someone else with a Windows box [Problem: Writable Session Save Path () ----> Not A Valid Directory] .

Having a temp directory for session information, to my mind, could be something that is addressed in a way that doesn't cause quite so much confusion and which stops the installer dead in its tracks. There are several different environments/platforms that *may* or may not vary in terms of how this is addressed so I would imagine anything that can be handled internal to the sugar code would be a welcome relief instead of digging around in server config files.

Couldn't this temp directory be selected by the user through the installer like I imagine (haven't gotten there yet...) the db name and home directory are selected later on in the installer?

Just thinking out-loud here... GZ

[gatezone]

Is swearing allowed here... no? I didn't think so.

Well I suddenly had a brainstorm of changing the path in php.ini to someplace up the Linux 'food chain' from the specific virtual site which didn't work but I saw that the text next to the Writable save path text in step two changed to what I had changed it to in php.ini (some of you are probably shaking your heads at my ignorance, but with a new web application I always feel like I am flying slightly blind). So I thought what if I *remove* the slash "/" from the default value of "/tmp" because the other variables related to directories and files didn't use a slash and it appeared to be looking for those in the default root sugar or site directories. So I changed it as follows:

session.save_path = /tmp

to, anticlimactic drum roll please,

session.save_path = tmp

(minus the slash...)

and the step two "Writable Session Save Path " turns green...

Wait a minute I was so hung up on turning the writable session green that I didn't realize that the database mysql line just became red saying "not available"