4.5.0E Full Install Pain, Failure and Abandonment

[smashingjay]

I decided to install a fresh install of 4.5.0e yesterday and was shocked at the pains I went through to end in not being able to have the app install.

My server is a LAMP virtual host. I do not have access to php.ini. Here is the server breakdown:

PHP: 4.3.11
MySQL: 4.0.27
Apache: 1.3.33

I have had previous versions of Sugar installed on this site including 4.2.

Here are the problems I encountered:

The System Check found Modules not writable and it took me nearly an hour of doing recursive CHMOD 777 on it. Finally I got that working. (This was likely an issue of network or server or FTP app.) My question is: Why can't this app ship with either the perms set correctly or have a script in the installer itself to do the CHMOD processing on the server instead of installers having to use clumsy and slow FTP to do it. It would especially help those doing fresh installs with no upgrade issues.

Secondly, and here is what put the brakes on. Once I got to Installer Step 7 I got the following message:

Fatal error: Cannot instantiate non-existent class: mysqlmanager in (mydomainname)/include/database/DBManager.php on line 173

I have seen this query posted here:
http://www.sugarcrm.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15199

But no one has offered this person any help. That post was sent in September. I have to say I don't know if the community is too busy or if we ought to know.

I am not impressed by the difficulty to install the app--let me rephrase--unsuccessfully install the app.

I have searched the threads, I have searched Google, I have looked at the code that I think may be of issue. This is an utter waste of my time. There should not be installer bugs at this point in the development path. I have installed and tested OS apps of all kinds including shopping carts, blog software, CRMs, CMSs and more and never have I had such difficulty or frustration. I would expect this type of frustration from a pre-release or betaware (many of which never give such frustration) but not in a so-called, mature app whose versioning puts it at 4.5.0.

I do understand that there are always going to be issues because certain server install combinations can create unpredictable results and that you can never release completely perfect apps in a OS server environment because there is no framework lockdown like there is in a commercial operating system but I expect more from a project of this size and a team of this size.

All I want to do is install and use this app. Make it easier, faster, and more pain free to install. I know this project is good but if I can't install it what good is it to me.

Please help me resolve my problems and those who also have problems.

BTW. Why not have a separate forum category for installs and upgrades instead of a giant global category for help. It would make for easier searching and act as a better resource for people trying to debug installation related bugs instead of having to wade through customization and usage help etc.

All the best,

Jay

PS: If I didn't think that Sugar was good I wouldn't take the time to write such a long post. I would just leave without saying anything (which probably happens more than you think).

[smashingjay]

So, I haven't received any help, advice or replies as of yet. I hope that more people are active on the forums during the week. Maybe someone will take the time to offer some suggestion as to why I there is difficulty in my install.

When I mentioned abandonment in the thread title I was referring to my abandoned install attempt. Now I just feel abandoned.

I am a user and participant in a number of OS projects but never have I seen one with the level of project maturity with such light forum response. It is akin to some of the micro or one-programmer projects I have tried where there just aren't the people to help in the forum. Sure some wiseacre is going to say, "you get what you pay for" but in OS it is about the project and the community. I report bugs, help noobs, help in wiki building etc, wherever I can.

So, if anyone out there has any inclination to offer help or suggest a new approach etc. Heck, I'd almost like someone to be p'd off at my complaining. Any response is better than leaving my thread to die without acknowledgement.

As always, all the best,

Jay

[ruchida]

Hi smashingjay,

It is not because people are busy or not willing to help you, but bacause your "fatal error" issue is very rare. I've installed SugarCRM hundreds of times, but have not experienced the similar issue.

The first thing I like to adivise is that your MySQL version is not supported by SugarCRM 4.5.

[paikmoses]

Hi Jay,

Here are the basic requirements for installing Sugar 4.5.0:

PHP: 5.1.4
MySQL: 5.0.22
Apache: 2.2.0
MbString enabled.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

[smashingjay]

Ruchida, you are right, and this may actually have caused my problem. All I wanted was for someone to tell me what I missed if I missed something and you have done that. Thanks. I really should RTFM once and a while.

Here are the basic requirements for installing Sugar 4.5.0:

PHP: 5.1.4
MySQL: 5.0.22
Apache: 2.2.0
MbString enabled.

paikmoses, according to the Sugar Open Source Release Notes those are the "Recommended Stacks". In fact the minimums (which I didn't realize until this morning) are as follows:

PHP: 4.3.11
MySQL: 4.1.2
Apache:1.3.X

There is a big difference between recommended and minimum requirement. Thanks for replying though--to both of you.

All the best,

Jay

[paikmoses]

......
There is a big difference between recommended and minimum requirement. Thanks for replying though--to both of you.
......

Hi Jay,

Thanks for the clarification.

I mentioned this stack for a stress free installation. Well, now it seems that you are happy with the community as guys came up to share your problem

Regards,

[smashingjay]

Moses,

I was shocked when I started searching forums for such problems and never found a resolution. Sometimes in the heat of excitement all of us forget to check the instructions to see if it ought to work before trying to install.

My biggest disappointment was that it took whining and griping to get an answer for a very easy and careless mistake.

For many developers it isn't the big stuff that stops us, it is the little stuff and it is good to occasionally rely on your peers to tell you that you missed something very obvious.

Thanks to you and ruchida for taking the time to help out--even if I should RTFM more carefully.

It might not actually be a bad idea to have the compatibility matrix on the download page as a link instead of in a pdf.

All the best,

Jay

[ruchida]

Jay,

It's not easy to find out a right "cause and effect" if it's a rare case. Even I'm not yet sure if your MySQL version is a true cause because the Sugar installer failed to check its compatibility in the beginning stage for some reason. Please be back here and say hello when you complete the install.

[kpit]

One of the biggest problems with systems adminstrators is a lack of time to do everything. But the biggest timesaver for all system administrators is at least read the requirments first. It saves a lot of headaches and time.

[nickshi]

I was having the same problem as above. It had nothing to do with DB/PHP/Apache versions.

The Installer had failed to set the Database type to 'mysql' in config.php – potentially because of some mistypes that complicated the DB connection process.

Anyway, I manually set the db type to 'mysql' in config.php, and tried to proceed with installation. The new error was a missing table for a query. I realized the installer had failed to create the tables and was trying to move forward without them.

I then set the 'installer_locked' variable in config.php to 'false', and reran the installer, selecting the option to populate tables with demo data. This time it created the tables correctly and everything is working fine.

How's that for an actual fix to the problem?