MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

Installing Moodle

2008-01-24T13:35:34Z

Jaime: Reordered language links in alphabetical order

'''Firstly don't panic! :-)'''

This guide explains how to install Moodle for the first time. For some of these steps it goes into a lot of detail to try and cover the majority of possible web server setups, so this page may look long and complicated. Don't panic, once you know how to do it you can install Moodle in minutes!

If you have problems please read this page carefully - most common issues are answered in here. If you still have trouble, you can seek help from the Moodle community via [http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5 moodle.org Using Moodle].

Another option is to contact a [http://moodle.com/hosting/ Moodle Partner providing Moodle hosting] who can completely maintain Moodle for you, so that you can ignore all this and get straight into educating! A Moodle partner is the preferred option but if you decide to choose a hosting company that has cpanel then [http://otaru-jc.ac.jp/hagley/settingupmoodleonhostingwithcpanel.swf this tutorial will guide you] through the process of choosing a host and setting up moodle via cpanel.

'''Warning:''' some hosting companies offer one-click moodle install options, which whilst sometimes effective, usually use old (sometimes years old) versions of moodle and sometimes simply don't work. If one of these goes wrong, your best bet is often to start from scratch following the instructions here yourself. Its almost certainly quicker.

If you want to run Moodle on your own computer and this page looks a bit daunting, then please see our guides: [[Installing AMP |Installing Apache, MySQL and PHP(AMP)]] or [[Complete install packages| how to install one of Moodle's complete packages]]. They provide alternative instructions to install all this on most popular platforms.
==Table of Contents==
__TOC__

==Requirements==

Moodle is primarily developed in Linux using [[Apache]], [[MySQL]] and [[PHP]] (also sometimes known as the LAMP platform), but is also regularly tested with Windows XP/2000/2003 (WAMP), Solaris 10 (Sparc and x64), Mac OS X and Netware 6 operating systems. Support for PostgreSQL, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server is also available.

'''Blank page problem while installing Moodle on Windows Vista may occured, follow these steps here [[Installing Moodle on Windows Vista]] might help.

'''Note if you are using a hosted account''': Most web hosts support all of these requirements by default. You should contact your web host's support desk to check that this is the case '''before''' signing-up with them. It is especially important to ask about any PHP memory limits or MySQL question limits. If your prospective host does not provide a service which meets these requirements, or you are already signed up with them, ask them why and consider taking your business elsewhere if they do not change.

The requirements for Moodle are as follows:

'''Hardware''' (unless you are using a hosted server).
* Disk space: 160MB free (min). You will require more free space to store your teaching materials.
* Memory: 256MB (min), 1GB (recommended). The general rule of thumb is that Moodle can support 50 ''concurrent'' users for every 1GB of RAM, but this will vary depending on your specific hardware and software combination.
'''Software'''
* Web server software. Most people use [[Apache]], but Moodle should work fine under any web server that supports [[PHP]], such as [[IIS]] on Windows platforms. PHP does impose requirements on versions of web servers, however these are complex and the general advice is to use the newest version possible of your chosen web server.
* PHP scripting language. (Please note that there have been issues installing Moodle with [http://www.php-accelerator.co.uk PHP-Accelerator]). There are currently two versions (or branches) of PHP available: PHP4 and PHP5 and the version requirements are listed below.
** For Moodle version 1.4 or later: PHP4 (version 4.1.0 or later) or PHP5 (version 5.1.0 or later) are supported.
** For Moodle version 1.6 or later: the PHP4 (version 4.3.0 or later) or PHP5 (version 5.1.0 or later) are supported.
** Future Moodle versions 2.0 or later will not support PHP4 and will require PHP5 (version 5.2.0 or later).
** PHP Settings
*** ''safe_mode'' needs to be OFF (check in your php.ini or Apache configuration file).
*** ''memory_limit'' should be at least 16M (32M is recommended for Moodle 1.7 and 40M for Moodle 1.8 or later). Large sites may need more than 128M. PHP 5.2.x requires higher memory_limit values than previous versions of PHP. 64bit operating systems require even more memory.
*** ''session.save_handler'' needs to be set to files.
** PHP Extensions and libraries
*** The mbstring extension is recommended for Moodle 1.6 or later.
*** The iconv extension is recommended for Moodle 1.6 or later.
*** [http://www.libgd.org/ GD library] and the [http://www.freetype.org/ FreeType 2] library and extensions are needed to be able to look at the dynamic graphs that the logs pages make.
*** The mysql extension is required if you are using the MySQL database. Note that in some Linux distributions (notably Red Hat) this is an optional installation.
*** The pgsql extension is required if you are using the PostgreSQL database.
*** The zlib extension is required for zip/unzip functionality.
*** The curl extension is recommended for Moodle 1.8 or later.
*** The tokenizer extension is recommended for Moodle 1.8 or later.
*** The curl and openssl extensions are required for the Moodle network functionality (Moodle 1.8 or later).
*** Other PHP extensions may be required to support optional Moodle functionality, especially external authentication and/or enrolment (e.g. LDAP extension for LDAP authentication and the sockets extension for Chat server).
* A working database server: [[MySQL]] or [[PostgreSQL]] are completely supported and recommended for use with any version of Moodle. Support for Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle has been added in Moodle 1.7. MySQL is ''the'' choice for many people because it is very popular, but there are some [[Arguments in favour of PostgreSQL|arguments in favour of PostgreSQL]], especially if you are planning a large deployment.
** For Moodle 1.5 or later, MySQL (version 3.23 or later) or PostgreSQL (7.4 or later).
** For Moodle 1.6 or later, MySQL (version 4.1.12 or later) or PostgreSQL (7.4 or later).
** For Moodle 1.7 or later, MySQL (version 4.1.12 or later), PostgreSQL (7.4 or later) or Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (version 9 or [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=59284 SQL Server Express 2005])
: MySQL Notes: For Moodle 1.6 or later, If you use latin languages only you can use MySQL 4.1.12. If you are using non-latin languages you require MySQL 4.1.16 or later. Currently the MySQL setting "strict mode" must be OFF (set to "" or "MYSQL40") in the MySQL configuration file.
: PostgreSQL Notes: The minimum version of PostgreSQL is 7.4 and Moodle is widely used with 8.0 and 8.1.

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== How many users? ==

In addition to the hardware and software requirements, you will also need to think about the capacity of your Moodle installation in terms of the number of users it can handle. There are two numbers to plan for:

* '''Browsing users''': the maximum number of users able to browse your Moodle site. This is the number of computers in your organization or on your course (whichever is greater).
* '''Concurrent database users''': the maximum number of concurrent database users (needed for Moodle activities such as quizzes). This is the number of users who will be using Moodle at the same time. In an educational institution, use your timetable/roster to obtain this figure.

Once you know these figures for your users, you can start work out if your Moodle installation can support this capacity. The exact number of users depends on your hardware/software/network combination. Usually the amount of memory installed (RAM) is the deciding factor but a faster overall processor speed will also help in reducing waiting times for pages to load.

The general rule of thumb for a single server is that the approx max concurrent users = RAM (GB) * 50 and the approx max browsing users = Approx max concurrent users * 5. As an example, a university with 500 total computers on campus and 100 concurrent users at any time will need approx 2GB of RAM on the one server to support the number of concurrent users.

'''Note if you are using a hosted account''': Ask your provider what limits are placed on the number of concurrent database connections and the processor load. This will give a good estimate of the number of users your Moodle install can manage.

'''Note:''' As of August 31, 2007, the moodle 1.8.2+ codes are still not suitable for large installation, especially if you have large number (e.g. 20,000+) of courses. The main reason is the codes related to ROLES are still not fully optimized with database queries and still need some work. If you are planning to use 1.8.x codes for a larger institution, please make sure that you have sufficient time to do your own testing and performance profiling.

[Update] This performance issue has been improved quite a bit in the most recent 1.8.3+ version (see this thread discussion: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=83281). However, you should still plan with caution if you are planning to use Moodle 1.8.x code base for larger installation.

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Download and copy files into place ==

There are two ways to get Moodle, either as a compressed package or via CVS.
* There are two types of compressed packages on the [http://download.moodle.org/ download page: http://download.moodle.org/], the standard distribution with Moodle only files and the [[Complete install packages|complete install]], which contains programs to operate Moodle in a web environment.
* To use CVS, helpful instructions are available at the [[CVS_for_Administrators | CVS for Administrators]] page. The full [http://cvs.moodle.org/moodle/ Moodle CVS repository] is also available for browsing.

After downloading, unpack the archive using either
tar -zxvf [filename]
or
unzip [filename]
as appropriate.

If using CVS, run the CVS Checkout command.

You will now be left with a directory called "moodle", containing a number of files and folders.

You can either place the whole folder in your web server documents directory, in which case the site will be located at '''<nowiki>http://yourwebserver.com/moodle</nowiki>''', or you can copy all the contents straight into the main web server documents directory, in which case the site will be simply '''<nowiki>http://yourwebserver.com</nowiki>'''.

If you are downloading Moodle to your local computer and then uploading it to your web site, it is usually better to upload the whole archive as one file, and then do the unpacking on the server. Even web hosting interfaces like cPanel allow you to uncompress archives in the "File Manager".

=== Structure of moodle directory ===

You can safely skip this section, but here is a quick summary of the contents of the Moodle folder, to help get you oriented:

:''config.php'' - contains basic settings. This file does not come with Moodle - you will create it.
:''install.php'' - the script you will run to create config.php
:''version.php'' - defines the current version of Moodle code
:''index.php'' - the front page of the site
:''admin/'' - code to administrate the whole server
:''auth/'' - plugin modules to authenticate users
:''blocks/'' - plugin modules for the little side blocks on many pages
:''calendar/'' - all the code for managing and displaying calendars
:''course/'' - code to display and manage courses
:''doc/'' - help documentation for Moodle (eg this page)
:''files/'' - code to display and manage uploaded files
:''lang/'' - texts in different languages, one directory per language
:''lib/'' - libraries of core Moodle code
:''login/'' - code to handle login and account creation
:''mod/'' - all the main Moodle course modules are in here
:''pix/'' - generic site graphics
:''theme/'' - theme packs/skins to change the look of the site.
:''user/'' - code to display and manage users

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Setting-up your system==
To ensure that Moodle will install successfully, you need to check that the web server settings are correct, then create a blank database for Moodle to use and finally create a directory on your hard disk for Moodle to save your materials and other files you upload into your courses.

=== Check web server settings ===

*Firstly, make sure that your web server is set up to use index.php as a default page (perhaps in addition to index.html, default.htm and so on). In Apache, this is done using a DirectoryIndex parameter in your httpd.conf file. Mine usually looks like this:

'''DirectoryIndex''' index.php index.html index.htm

:Just make sure index.php is in the list (and preferably towards the start of the list, for efficiency).

*Secondly, '''if you are using Apache 2''', then you should turn on the ''AcceptPathInfo'' variable, which allows scripts to be passed arguments like <nowiki>http://server/file.php/arg1/arg2</nowiki>. This is essential to allow relative links between your resources, and also provides a performance boost for people using your Moodle web site. You can turn this on by adding these lines to your httpd.conf file.

'''AcceptPathInfo''' on

=== Check PHP settings ===
Moodle requires a number of PHP settings to be active for it to work. '''On most servers these will already be the default settings'''. However, some PHP servers (and some of the more recent PHP versions) may have things set differently. These are defined in PHP's configuration file (usually called '''php.ini'''):

magic_quotes_gpc = 1 (preferred but not necessary)
magic_quotes_runtime = 0 (necessary)
file_uploads = 1
session.auto_start = 0
session.bug_compat_warn = 0

:You may also want to set other, optional php.ini file settings while you are already editing it. For instance, you may want to reset the maximum upload size of file attachments, which usually defaults to 2M(egabytes). For instance, to set these to 16 Megabytes:

post_max_size = 16M
upload_max_filesize = 16M

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

=== Using a .htaccess file for webserver and PHP settings ===

Use the above if you can directly edit your server's files, but if you are setting-up Moodle on a webhost, or don't have access to '''httpd.conf''' or '''php.ini''' on your server, or you have Moodle on a server with other applications that require different settings, then don't worry, you can often still override the default settings. This only works on Apache servers and only when Overrides have been allowed in the main Apache configuration.

* Create a file called '''.htaccess''' in Moodle's main directory that contains lines like the following.

DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm
php_flag magic_quotes_gpc 1
php_flag magic_quotes_runtime 0
php_flag file_uploads 1
php_flag session.auto_start 0
php_flag session.bug_compat_warn 0

:If you have Apache version 2 installed, add these lines:

<IfDefine APACHE2>
AcceptPathInfo on
</IfDefine>

:Otherwise add this single line:

AcceptPathInfo on

* Optionally, you can also do things like define the maximum size for uploaded files, etc by adding these lines:

LimitRequestBody 0
php_value upload_max_filesize 2M
php_value post_max_size 2M

* The easiest thing to do is just copy the sample file from lib/htaccess and edit it to suit your needs. It contains further instructions. For example, in a Unix shell:

cp lib/htaccess .htaccess

'''Note''': Use a .htaccess file only [http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/howto/htaccess.html#when as a last resort] as it can have an impact on the performance of your Moodle site and cause pages to load slowly on your browser.

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

=== Creating an empty database ===

You need to create an empty database (eg "''moodle''") in your database system along with a special user (eg "moodleuser") that has access to that database (and that database only). You could use the "root" user if you wanted to for a test server, but this is not recommended for a production system: if hackers manage to discover the password then your whole database system would be at risk, rather than just one database.

::'''Warning''': Bear in mind that, as of Moodle version 1.5.x, Moodle doesn't work with MySQL 5.x's strict mode setting (STRICT_TRANS_TABLES and/or STRICT_ALL_TABLES) -- see [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=58552 forum discussion]. So if you are using MySQL 5.x, edit MySQL's configuration file (called "my.ini" in Windows and "my.cnf" on Unix/Linux) and comment out that option or set it to <code>sql-mode=<nowiki>''</nowiki></code>. You have to restart MySQL after changing this setting. If you do not have access to your server, use PHPMyAdmin (or another MySQL client) and enter the command <code>SET @@global.sql_mode=<nowiki>''</nowiki>;</code> (be sure to use single quotes, and don't forget the semicolon).

====Using a hosted server====
If you are using a webhost, they will probably have a control panel web interface for you to create your database.

The '''[http://www.cpanel.com/ cPanel]''' system is one of the most popular of these. To create a database in cPanel,

# Click on the "'''MySQL Databases'''" icon.
# Type "moodle" in the database field and click "'''Add Database'''".
# Type a username and password (not one you use elsewhere) in the respective fields and click "'''Add User'''".
# Now use the "'''Add User to Database'''" button to give this new user account "'''ALL'''" rights to the new database.
# Note that the username and database names may be prefixed by your cPanel account name. When entering this information into the Moodle installer - use the full names.

====Using the command line====

If you have access to Unix or Windows command lines then you can do the same sort of thing by typing commands. You should do this using the MySQL Client program as follows (commands which you type-in are shown in bold):

- Start the MySQL Client program:
#'''mysql -u root -p'''
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 2 to server version: 5.0.22-log

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql>

- The prompt changes to "mysql>" to indicate that you are now working in the MySQL Client program. When working in MySQL, all commands which you type-in must end in a semi-colon. (If you hit the Enter key without the final semi-colon, you'll get the line continuation symbol '->'; this is your second chance to type the semi-colon and hit Enter.)

- Begin by checking for any existing databases called "moodle" - if there are any you should change the name in all the commands which follow:
mysql> '''SHOW DATABASES;'''
+-------------------------+
| Database |
+-------------------------+
| information_schema |
| mysql |
| test |
+-------------------------+
3 rows in set (0.03 sec)

- Create a database to store the Moodle tables. We'll call this "moodle", as there are none with that name already in the above list, but change it if you need to.
mysql> '''CREATE DATABASE moodle;'''
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

- Change the default character set and collation of the "moodle" database to UTF8. Leave this out if you are installing Moodle 1.5 or earlier):
mysql> '''ALTER DATABASE moodle DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;'''
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

- Create a username and password to access the database "moodle" and grant database access permissions. We'll call the user "moodleuser" and set the password as "yourpassword". It's a good idea to change these for your installation however most people keep the username as "moodleuser". Remember the username and password you have set, as you'll need it in the configuration screens later. This is a long command so has been split over several lines by pressing the Return key.
mysql> '''GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES,'''
-> '''DROP,INDEX,ALTER ON moodle.*'''
-> '''TO moodleuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpassword';'''
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

:'''Security Warnings''': Never leave the password as the one shown here. Make sure you have a strong password (a mixture of letters and numbers, upper and lower case). Avoid granting "ALL" permissions on the database.
: '''Note''': For MySQL 4.0.1 or earlier, you don't need the CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES permission.

- Exit the MySQL Client program:
mysql> '''QUIT'''
Bye
#

- Reload the grant tables using the mysqladmin program:
#'''mysqladmin -u root -p reload'''
Enter password:
#

And some example command lines for PostgreSQL:

# su - postgres
> psql -c "create user moodleuser createdb;" template1
> psql -c "create database moodle with encoding 'unicode';" -U moodleuser template1
> psql -c "alter user moodleuser nocreatedb;" template1
> psql -c "alter user moodleuser with encrypted password 'yourpassword';" template1
> su - root
# /etc/init.d/postgresql reload

If the Postgres create database command above (>psql -c "create database moodle...") gives an error message you may want to try:
psql -c "create database moodle with template=template1 encoding = 'unicode' owner = moodleuser location = '/var/mydata';"

If the create database command asks you for a password, run the line containing 'encrypted password' first before proceeding.

'''See also''':
* Step-by-step instructions on [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Step-by-step_Install_Guide_for_Ubuntu installation for Ubuntu(Debian)]

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

=== Creating the data directory (moodledata) ===

Moodle will also need some space on your server's hard disk to store uploaded files, such as course documents and user pictures. The Moodle installer tries hard to create this directory for you but if it fails then you will have to create a directory for this purpose manually.

'''Security warning''': For security purposes, it's best that this directory is NOT accessible directly via the web. The easiest way to do this is to simply locate it OUTSIDE the web directory, but if you must have it in the web directory (and you are using Apache) then protect it by creating a file in the data directory called '''.htaccess''', containing these lines:

order deny,allow
deny from all

'''Ownership & Permissions''': To make sure that Moodle can save uploaded files in this directory, check that the web server software has permission to read, write and execute in this directory. On Unix machines, this means setting the owner of the directory to be something like "nobody" or "apache", and then giving that user read, write and execute permissions. As an example, to change the owner to "nobody" you could use:

chown -R nobody:apache moodledata

To change the permissions so that the owner has read,write and execute permissions, use something like this:

chmod -R 0770 moodledata

'''Note''': If you are receiving permission denied messages, try ''chmod -R 0770 moodledata'' and then adjust the settings so that they are more secure. A more secure setting is ''chmod -R 0750 moodledata''. According to the comments in config-dist.php, "On hosting systems you might need to make sure that your group has no permissions at all while others have full permissions." To do this you could use ''chmod -R 707 moodledata''. See also the [[Security | security page]].

Remember that by default moodle will issue a warning about moodle data directories created inside the web directory, but otherwise this directory can be located where you wish. You can later move or change the location of this directory, but if you do, be sure to edit the setting in the '''config.php''' file that sets this; e.g. if moodledata is under a directory called data, then it would look like this:

$CFG->dataroot = '/data/moodledata';

'''CPanel and webhosts''': On cPanel systems you can use the "File Manager" to find the folder, click on it, then choose "Change Permissions". On many shared hosting servers, you will probably need to restrict all file access to your "group" (to prevent other webhost customers from looking at or changing your files), but provide full read/write access to everyone else (which will allow the web server to access your files). Speak to your server administrator if you are having trouble setting this up securely. In particular it will not be possible to create a usable data directory on sites that use a PHP feature known as "'''Safe Mode'''".

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Run the installer script to create config.php ==

To run the installer script (install.php), just try to access your Moodle main URL using a web browser, or access '''<nowiki>http://yourserver/install.php</nowiki>''' directly.

(The Installer will try to set a session cookie. If you get a popup warning in your browser make sure you accept that cookie!)

Moodle will detect that configuration is necessary and will lead you through some screens to help you create a new configuration file called '''config.php'''. At the end of the process Moodle will try and write the file into the right location, otherwise you can press a button to download it from the installer and then upload '''config.php''' into the main Moodle directory on the server.

Along the way the installer will test your server environment and give you suggestions about how to fix any problems. For most common issues these suggestions should be sufficient, but if you get stuck, check in the Installation Forum for more help.

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Go to the admin page to continue configuration ==

Once the basic config.php has been correctly created in the previous step, trying to access the front page of your site will take you to the "admin" page for the rest of the configuration.

The first time you access this admin page, you will be presented with a GPL "shrink wrap" agreement with which you must agree before you can continue with the setup.

Now Moodle will start setting up your database and creating tables to store data. Firstly, the main database tables are created. You should see a number of SQL statements followed by status messages that look like this:

CREATE TABLE course (
id int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
category int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
password varchar(50) NOT NULL default <nowiki>''</nowiki>,
fullname varchar(254) NOT NULL default <nowiki>''</nowiki>,
shortname varchar(15) NOT NULL default <nowiki>''</nowiki>,
summary text NOT NULL,
format tinyint(4) NOT NULL default '1',
teacher varchar(100) NOT NULL default 'Teacher',
startdate int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
enddate int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
timemodified int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
PRIMARY KEY (id)
) TYPE=MyISAM;

SUCCESS

...and so on, followed by: Main databases set up successfully.

If you don't see these, then there must have been some problem with the database or the configuration settings you defined in config.php. Check that PHP isn't in a restricted "Safe Mode" (commercial web hosts sometimes have safe mode turned on). You can check PHP variables by creating a little file containing '''<?php phpinfo() ?>''' and looking at it through a browser. Check all these and try this page again.

Scroll down the very bottom of the page and press the "Continue" link.

You should now see a form where you can define more configuration variables for your installation, such as the default language, SMTP hosts and so on. Don't worry too much about getting everything right just now - you can always come back and edit these later on using the admin interface. The defaults are designed to be useful and secure for most sites. Scroll down to the bottom and click "Save changes".

If (and only if) you find yourself getting stuck on this page, unable to continue, then your server probably has what I call the "buggy referrer" problem. This is easy to fix: just turn off the "secureforms" setting, then try to continue again.

Next you will see more pages that print lots of status messages as they set up all the tables required by the various Moodle module. As before, they should all be green.

Scroll down the very bottom of the page and press the "Continue" link.

The next page is a form where you can define parameters for your Moodle site and the front page, such as the name, format, description and so on. Fill this out (you can always come back and change these later) and then press "Save changes".

Finally, you will then be asked to create a top-level administration user for future access to the admin pages. Fill out the details with your own name, email etc and then click "Save changes". Not all the fields are required, but if you miss any important fields you'll be re-prompted for them.

'''Make sure you remember the username and password you chose for the administration user account, as they will be necessary to access the administration page in future.'''

(If for any reason your install is interrupted, or there is a system error of some kind that prevents you from logging in using the admin account, you can usually log in using the default username of "'''admin'''", with password "'''admin'''".)

Once successful, you will be returned to the home page of your new site! Note the administration links that appear down the left hand side of the page (these items also appear on a separate Admin page) - these items are only visible to you because you are logged in as the admin user. All your further administration of Moodle can now be done using this menu, such as:

* creating and deleting courses
* creating and editing user accounts
* administering teacher accounts
* changing site-wide settings like themes etc

But you are not done installing yet! There is one very important thing still to do (see the next section on cron).

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Set up cron ==

Please refer to the [[Cron|Cron instructions]].

== Set up backups ==

Please refer to the [[Backup settings| backup instructions]].

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Create a new course ==

Now that Moodle is running properly, you can try creating a new course to play with.

Select "Create a new course" from the Admin page (or the admin links on the home page).

Fill out the form, paying special attention to the course format. You don't have to worry about the details too much at this stage, as everything can be changed later by the teacher. Note that the yellow help icons are everywhere to provide contextual help on any aspect.

Press "Save changes", and you will be taken to a new form where you can assign teachers to the course. You can only add existing user accounts from this form - if you want to create a new teacher account then either ask the teacher to create one for themselves (see the login page), or create one for them using the "Add a new user" on the Admin page.

Once done, the course is ready to customize, and is accessible via the "Courses" link on the home page.

==See also==

* [[Installation FAQ]]
*[[Complete install packages]] might be an easier first time installs on some systems
* [[Installing Apache, MySQL and PHP]] - Open source programs that can run Moodle on the web or on a desktop
* [[Upgrading Moodle]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=42688 Selecting a web host for Moodle] forum discussion
* [[masquerading|Masquerading]] - Running Moodle behind a masquerading/NAT firewall

[[Category:Installation]]

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[[pl:Instalacja Moodle]]
[[pt:Instalação do Moodle]]
[[ru:Установка Moodle]]
[[sk:Inštalácia]]
[[zh:安装Moodlezh:]]

Installing Moodle

2008-01-24T13:34:23Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese translation

'''Firstly don't panic! :-)'''

This guide explains how to install Moodle for the first time. For some of these steps it goes into a lot of detail to try and cover the majority of possible web server setups, so this page may look long and complicated. Don't panic, once you know how to do it you can install Moodle in minutes!

If you have problems please read this page carefully - most common issues are answered in here. If you still have trouble, you can seek help from the Moodle community via [http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5 moodle.org Using Moodle].

Another option is to contact a [http://moodle.com/hosting/ Moodle Partner providing Moodle hosting] who can completely maintain Moodle for you, so that you can ignore all this and get straight into educating! A Moodle partner is the preferred option but if you decide to choose a hosting company that has cpanel then [http://otaru-jc.ac.jp/hagley/settingupmoodleonhostingwithcpanel.swf this tutorial will guide you] through the process of choosing a host and setting up moodle via cpanel.

'''Warning:''' some hosting companies offer one-click moodle install options, which whilst sometimes effective, usually use old (sometimes years old) versions of moodle and sometimes simply don't work. If one of these goes wrong, your best bet is often to start from scratch following the instructions here yourself. Its almost certainly quicker.

If you want to run Moodle on your own computer and this page looks a bit daunting, then please see our guides: [[Installing AMP |Installing Apache, MySQL and PHP(AMP)]] or [[Complete install packages| how to install one of Moodle's complete packages]]. They provide alternative instructions to install all this on most popular platforms.
==Table of Contents==
__TOC__

==Requirements==

Moodle is primarily developed in Linux using [[Apache]], [[MySQL]] and [[PHP]] (also sometimes known as the LAMP platform), but is also regularly tested with Windows XP/2000/2003 (WAMP), Solaris 10 (Sparc and x64), Mac OS X and Netware 6 operating systems. Support for PostgreSQL, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server is also available.

'''Blank page problem while installing Moodle on Windows Vista may occured, follow these steps here [[Installing Moodle on Windows Vista]] might help.

'''Note if you are using a hosted account''': Most web hosts support all of these requirements by default. You should contact your web host's support desk to check that this is the case '''before''' signing-up with them. It is especially important to ask about any PHP memory limits or MySQL question limits. If your prospective host does not provide a service which meets these requirements, or you are already signed up with them, ask them why and consider taking your business elsewhere if they do not change.

The requirements for Moodle are as follows:

'''Hardware''' (unless you are using a hosted server).
* Disk space: 160MB free (min). You will require more free space to store your teaching materials.
* Memory: 256MB (min), 1GB (recommended). The general rule of thumb is that Moodle can support 50 ''concurrent'' users for every 1GB of RAM, but this will vary depending on your specific hardware and software combination.
'''Software'''
* Web server software. Most people use [[Apache]], but Moodle should work fine under any web server that supports [[PHP]], such as [[IIS]] on Windows platforms. PHP does impose requirements on versions of web servers, however these are complex and the general advice is to use the newest version possible of your chosen web server.
* PHP scripting language. (Please note that there have been issues installing Moodle with [http://www.php-accelerator.co.uk PHP-Accelerator]). There are currently two versions (or branches) of PHP available: PHP4 and PHP5 and the version requirements are listed below.
** For Moodle version 1.4 or later: PHP4 (version 4.1.0 or later) or PHP5 (version 5.1.0 or later) are supported.
** For Moodle version 1.6 or later: the PHP4 (version 4.3.0 or later) or PHP5 (version 5.1.0 or later) are supported.
** Future Moodle versions 2.0 or later will not support PHP4 and will require PHP5 (version 5.2.0 or later).
** PHP Settings
*** ''safe_mode'' needs to be OFF (check in your php.ini or Apache configuration file).
*** ''memory_limit'' should be at least 16M (32M is recommended for Moodle 1.7 and 40M for Moodle 1.8 or later). Large sites may need more than 128M. PHP 5.2.x requires higher memory_limit values than previous versions of PHP. 64bit operating systems require even more memory.
*** ''session.save_handler'' needs to be set to files.
** PHP Extensions and libraries
*** The mbstring extension is recommended for Moodle 1.6 or later.
*** The iconv extension is recommended for Moodle 1.6 or later.
*** [http://www.libgd.org/ GD library] and the [http://www.freetype.org/ FreeType 2] library and extensions are needed to be able to look at the dynamic graphs that the logs pages make.
*** The mysql extension is required if you are using the MySQL database. Note that in some Linux distributions (notably Red Hat) this is an optional installation.
*** The pgsql extension is required if you are using the PostgreSQL database.
*** The zlib extension is required for zip/unzip functionality.
*** The curl extension is recommended for Moodle 1.8 or later.
*** The tokenizer extension is recommended for Moodle 1.8 or later.
*** The curl and openssl extensions are required for the Moodle network functionality (Moodle 1.8 or later).
*** Other PHP extensions may be required to support optional Moodle functionality, especially external authentication and/or enrolment (e.g. LDAP extension for LDAP authentication and the sockets extension for Chat server).
* A working database server: [[MySQL]] or [[PostgreSQL]] are completely supported and recommended for use with any version of Moodle. Support for Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle has been added in Moodle 1.7. MySQL is ''the'' choice for many people because it is very popular, but there are some [[Arguments in favour of PostgreSQL|arguments in favour of PostgreSQL]], especially if you are planning a large deployment.
** For Moodle 1.5 or later, MySQL (version 3.23 or later) or PostgreSQL (7.4 or later).
** For Moodle 1.6 or later, MySQL (version 4.1.12 or later) or PostgreSQL (7.4 or later).
** For Moodle 1.7 or later, MySQL (version 4.1.12 or later), PostgreSQL (7.4 or later) or Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (version 9 or [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=59284 SQL Server Express 2005])
: MySQL Notes: For Moodle 1.6 or later, If you use latin languages only you can use MySQL 4.1.12. If you are using non-latin languages you require MySQL 4.1.16 or later. Currently the MySQL setting "strict mode" must be OFF (set to "" or "MYSQL40") in the MySQL configuration file.
: PostgreSQL Notes: The minimum version of PostgreSQL is 7.4 and Moodle is widely used with 8.0 and 8.1.

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== How many users? ==

In addition to the hardware and software requirements, you will also need to think about the capacity of your Moodle installation in terms of the number of users it can handle. There are two numbers to plan for:

* '''Browsing users''': the maximum number of users able to browse your Moodle site. This is the number of computers in your organization or on your course (whichever is greater).
* '''Concurrent database users''': the maximum number of concurrent database users (needed for Moodle activities such as quizzes). This is the number of users who will be using Moodle at the same time. In an educational institution, use your timetable/roster to obtain this figure.

Once you know these figures for your users, you can start work out if your Moodle installation can support this capacity. The exact number of users depends on your hardware/software/network combination. Usually the amount of memory installed (RAM) is the deciding factor but a faster overall processor speed will also help in reducing waiting times for pages to load.

The general rule of thumb for a single server is that the approx max concurrent users = RAM (GB) * 50 and the approx max browsing users = Approx max concurrent users * 5. As an example, a university with 500 total computers on campus and 100 concurrent users at any time will need approx 2GB of RAM on the one server to support the number of concurrent users.

'''Note if you are using a hosted account''': Ask your provider what limits are placed on the number of concurrent database connections and the processor load. This will give a good estimate of the number of users your Moodle install can manage.

'''Note:''' As of August 31, 2007, the moodle 1.8.2+ codes are still not suitable for large installation, especially if you have large number (e.g. 20,000+) of courses. The main reason is the codes related to ROLES are still not fully optimized with database queries and still need some work. If you are planning to use 1.8.x codes for a larger institution, please make sure that you have sufficient time to do your own testing and performance profiling.

[Update] This performance issue has been improved quite a bit in the most recent 1.8.3+ version (see this thread discussion: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=83281). However, you should still plan with caution if you are planning to use Moodle 1.8.x code base for larger installation.

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Download and copy files into place ==

There are two ways to get Moodle, either as a compressed package or via CVS.
* There are two types of compressed packages on the [http://download.moodle.org/ download page: http://download.moodle.org/], the standard distribution with Moodle only files and the [[Complete install packages|complete install]], which contains programs to operate Moodle in a web environment.
* To use CVS, helpful instructions are available at the [[CVS_for_Administrators | CVS for Administrators]] page. The full [http://cvs.moodle.org/moodle/ Moodle CVS repository] is also available for browsing.

After downloading, unpack the archive using either
tar -zxvf [filename]
or
unzip [filename]
as appropriate.

If using CVS, run the CVS Checkout command.

You will now be left with a directory called "moodle", containing a number of files and folders.

You can either place the whole folder in your web server documents directory, in which case the site will be located at '''<nowiki>http://yourwebserver.com/moodle</nowiki>''', or you can copy all the contents straight into the main web server documents directory, in which case the site will be simply '''<nowiki>http://yourwebserver.com</nowiki>'''.

If you are downloading Moodle to your local computer and then uploading it to your web site, it is usually better to upload the whole archive as one file, and then do the unpacking on the server. Even web hosting interfaces like cPanel allow you to uncompress archives in the "File Manager".

=== Structure of moodle directory ===

You can safely skip this section, but here is a quick summary of the contents of the Moodle folder, to help get you oriented:

:''config.php'' - contains basic settings. This file does not come with Moodle - you will create it.
:''install.php'' - the script you will run to create config.php
:''version.php'' - defines the current version of Moodle code
:''index.php'' - the front page of the site
:''admin/'' - code to administrate the whole server
:''auth/'' - plugin modules to authenticate users
:''blocks/'' - plugin modules for the little side blocks on many pages
:''calendar/'' - all the code for managing and displaying calendars
:''course/'' - code to display and manage courses
:''doc/'' - help documentation for Moodle (eg this page)
:''files/'' - code to display and manage uploaded files
:''lang/'' - texts in different languages, one directory per language
:''lib/'' - libraries of core Moodle code
:''login/'' - code to handle login and account creation
:''mod/'' - all the main Moodle course modules are in here
:''pix/'' - generic site graphics
:''theme/'' - theme packs/skins to change the look of the site.
:''user/'' - code to display and manage users

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Setting-up your system==
To ensure that Moodle will install successfully, you need to check that the web server settings are correct, then create a blank database for Moodle to use and finally create a directory on your hard disk for Moodle to save your materials and other files you upload into your courses.

=== Check web server settings ===

*Firstly, make sure that your web server is set up to use index.php as a default page (perhaps in addition to index.html, default.htm and so on). In Apache, this is done using a DirectoryIndex parameter in your httpd.conf file. Mine usually looks like this:

'''DirectoryIndex''' index.php index.html index.htm

:Just make sure index.php is in the list (and preferably towards the start of the list, for efficiency).

*Secondly, '''if you are using Apache 2''', then you should turn on the ''AcceptPathInfo'' variable, which allows scripts to be passed arguments like <nowiki>http://server/file.php/arg1/arg2</nowiki>. This is essential to allow relative links between your resources, and also provides a performance boost for people using your Moodle web site. You can turn this on by adding these lines to your httpd.conf file.

'''AcceptPathInfo''' on

=== Check PHP settings ===
Moodle requires a number of PHP settings to be active for it to work. '''On most servers these will already be the default settings'''. However, some PHP servers (and some of the more recent PHP versions) may have things set differently. These are defined in PHP's configuration file (usually called '''php.ini'''):

magic_quotes_gpc = 1 (preferred but not necessary)
magic_quotes_runtime = 0 (necessary)
file_uploads = 1
session.auto_start = 0
session.bug_compat_warn = 0

:You may also want to set other, optional php.ini file settings while you are already editing it. For instance, you may want to reset the maximum upload size of file attachments, which usually defaults to 2M(egabytes). For instance, to set these to 16 Megabytes:

post_max_size = 16M
upload_max_filesize = 16M

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

=== Using a .htaccess file for webserver and PHP settings ===

Use the above if you can directly edit your server's files, but if you are setting-up Moodle on a webhost, or don't have access to '''httpd.conf''' or '''php.ini''' on your server, or you have Moodle on a server with other applications that require different settings, then don't worry, you can often still override the default settings. This only works on Apache servers and only when Overrides have been allowed in the main Apache configuration.

* Create a file called '''.htaccess''' in Moodle's main directory that contains lines like the following.

DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm
php_flag magic_quotes_gpc 1
php_flag magic_quotes_runtime 0
php_flag file_uploads 1
php_flag session.auto_start 0
php_flag session.bug_compat_warn 0

:If you have Apache version 2 installed, add these lines:

<IfDefine APACHE2>
AcceptPathInfo on
</IfDefine>

:Otherwise add this single line:

AcceptPathInfo on

* Optionally, you can also do things like define the maximum size for uploaded files, etc by adding these lines:

LimitRequestBody 0
php_value upload_max_filesize 2M
php_value post_max_size 2M

* The easiest thing to do is just copy the sample file from lib/htaccess and edit it to suit your needs. It contains further instructions. For example, in a Unix shell:

cp lib/htaccess .htaccess

'''Note''': Use a .htaccess file only [http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/howto/htaccess.html#when as a last resort] as it can have an impact on the performance of your Moodle site and cause pages to load slowly on your browser.

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

=== Creating an empty database ===

You need to create an empty database (eg "''moodle''") in your database system along with a special user (eg "moodleuser") that has access to that database (and that database only). You could use the "root" user if you wanted to for a test server, but this is not recommended for a production system: if hackers manage to discover the password then your whole database system would be at risk, rather than just one database.

::'''Warning''': Bear in mind that, as of Moodle version 1.5.x, Moodle doesn't work with MySQL 5.x's strict mode setting (STRICT_TRANS_TABLES and/or STRICT_ALL_TABLES) -- see [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=58552 forum discussion]. So if you are using MySQL 5.x, edit MySQL's configuration file (called "my.ini" in Windows and "my.cnf" on Unix/Linux) and comment out that option or set it to <code>sql-mode=<nowiki>''</nowiki></code>. You have to restart MySQL after changing this setting. If you do not have access to your server, use PHPMyAdmin (or another MySQL client) and enter the command <code>SET @@global.sql_mode=<nowiki>''</nowiki>;</code> (be sure to use single quotes, and don't forget the semicolon).

====Using a hosted server====
If you are using a webhost, they will probably have a control panel web interface for you to create your database.

The '''[http://www.cpanel.com/ cPanel]''' system is one of the most popular of these. To create a database in cPanel,

# Click on the "'''MySQL Databases'''" icon.
# Type "moodle" in the database field and click "'''Add Database'''".
# Type a username and password (not one you use elsewhere) in the respective fields and click "'''Add User'''".
# Now use the "'''Add User to Database'''" button to give this new user account "'''ALL'''" rights to the new database.
# Note that the username and database names may be prefixed by your cPanel account name. When entering this information into the Moodle installer - use the full names.

====Using the command line====

If you have access to Unix or Windows command lines then you can do the same sort of thing by typing commands. You should do this using the MySQL Client program as follows (commands which you type-in are shown in bold):

- Start the MySQL Client program:
#'''mysql -u root -p'''
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 2 to server version: 5.0.22-log

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql>

- The prompt changes to "mysql>" to indicate that you are now working in the MySQL Client program. When working in MySQL, all commands which you type-in must end in a semi-colon. (If you hit the Enter key without the final semi-colon, you'll get the line continuation symbol '->'; this is your second chance to type the semi-colon and hit Enter.)

- Begin by checking for any existing databases called "moodle" - if there are any you should change the name in all the commands which follow:
mysql> '''SHOW DATABASES;'''
+-------------------------+
| Database |
+-------------------------+
| information_schema |
| mysql |
| test |
+-------------------------+
3 rows in set (0.03 sec)

- Create a database to store the Moodle tables. We'll call this "moodle", as there are none with that name already in the above list, but change it if you need to.
mysql> '''CREATE DATABASE moodle;'''
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

- Change the default character set and collation of the "moodle" database to UTF8. Leave this out if you are installing Moodle 1.5 or earlier):
mysql> '''ALTER DATABASE moodle DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;'''
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

- Create a username and password to access the database "moodle" and grant database access permissions. We'll call the user "moodleuser" and set the password as "yourpassword". It's a good idea to change these for your installation however most people keep the username as "moodleuser". Remember the username and password you have set, as you'll need it in the configuration screens later. This is a long command so has been split over several lines by pressing the Return key.
mysql> '''GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES,'''
-> '''DROP,INDEX,ALTER ON moodle.*'''
-> '''TO moodleuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpassword';'''
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

:'''Security Warnings''': Never leave the password as the one shown here. Make sure you have a strong password (a mixture of letters and numbers, upper and lower case). Avoid granting "ALL" permissions on the database.
: '''Note''': For MySQL 4.0.1 or earlier, you don't need the CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES permission.

- Exit the MySQL Client program:
mysql> '''QUIT'''
Bye
#

- Reload the grant tables using the mysqladmin program:
#'''mysqladmin -u root -p reload'''
Enter password:
#

And some example command lines for PostgreSQL:

# su - postgres
> psql -c "create user moodleuser createdb;" template1
> psql -c "create database moodle with encoding 'unicode';" -U moodleuser template1
> psql -c "alter user moodleuser nocreatedb;" template1
> psql -c "alter user moodleuser with encrypted password 'yourpassword';" template1
> su - root
# /etc/init.d/postgresql reload

If the Postgres create database command above (>psql -c "create database moodle...") gives an error message you may want to try:
psql -c "create database moodle with template=template1 encoding = 'unicode' owner = moodleuser location = '/var/mydata';"

If the create database command asks you for a password, run the line containing 'encrypted password' first before proceeding.

'''See also''':
* Step-by-step instructions on [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Step-by-step_Install_Guide_for_Ubuntu installation for Ubuntu(Debian)]

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

=== Creating the data directory (moodledata) ===

Moodle will also need some space on your server's hard disk to store uploaded files, such as course documents and user pictures. The Moodle installer tries hard to create this directory for you but if it fails then you will have to create a directory for this purpose manually.

'''Security warning''': For security purposes, it's best that this directory is NOT accessible directly via the web. The easiest way to do this is to simply locate it OUTSIDE the web directory, but if you must have it in the web directory (and you are using Apache) then protect it by creating a file in the data directory called '''.htaccess''', containing these lines:

order deny,allow
deny from all

'''Ownership & Permissions''': To make sure that Moodle can save uploaded files in this directory, check that the web server software has permission to read, write and execute in this directory. On Unix machines, this means setting the owner of the directory to be something like "nobody" or "apache", and then giving that user read, write and execute permissions. As an example, to change the owner to "nobody" you could use:

chown -R nobody:apache moodledata

To change the permissions so that the owner has read,write and execute permissions, use something like this:

chmod -R 0770 moodledata

'''Note''': If you are receiving permission denied messages, try ''chmod -R 0770 moodledata'' and then adjust the settings so that they are more secure. A more secure setting is ''chmod -R 0750 moodledata''. According to the comments in config-dist.php, "On hosting systems you might need to make sure that your group has no permissions at all while others have full permissions." To do this you could use ''chmod -R 707 moodledata''. See also the [[Security | security page]].

Remember that by default moodle will issue a warning about moodle data directories created inside the web directory, but otherwise this directory can be located where you wish. You can later move or change the location of this directory, but if you do, be sure to edit the setting in the '''config.php''' file that sets this; e.g. if moodledata is under a directory called data, then it would look like this:

$CFG->dataroot = '/data/moodledata';

'''CPanel and webhosts''': On cPanel systems you can use the "File Manager" to find the folder, click on it, then choose "Change Permissions". On many shared hosting servers, you will probably need to restrict all file access to your "group" (to prevent other webhost customers from looking at or changing your files), but provide full read/write access to everyone else (which will allow the web server to access your files). Speak to your server administrator if you are having trouble setting this up securely. In particular it will not be possible to create a usable data directory on sites that use a PHP feature known as "'''Safe Mode'''".

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Run the installer script to create config.php ==

To run the installer script (install.php), just try to access your Moodle main URL using a web browser, or access '''<nowiki>http://yourserver/install.php</nowiki>''' directly.

(The Installer will try to set a session cookie. If you get a popup warning in your browser make sure you accept that cookie!)

Moodle will detect that configuration is necessary and will lead you through some screens to help you create a new configuration file called '''config.php'''. At the end of the process Moodle will try and write the file into the right location, otherwise you can press a button to download it from the installer and then upload '''config.php''' into the main Moodle directory on the server.

Along the way the installer will test your server environment and give you suggestions about how to fix any problems. For most common issues these suggestions should be sufficient, but if you get stuck, check in the Installation Forum for more help.

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Go to the admin page to continue configuration ==

Once the basic config.php has been correctly created in the previous step, trying to access the front page of your site will take you to the "admin" page for the rest of the configuration.

The first time you access this admin page, you will be presented with a GPL "shrink wrap" agreement with which you must agree before you can continue with the setup.

Now Moodle will start setting up your database and creating tables to store data. Firstly, the main database tables are created. You should see a number of SQL statements followed by status messages that look like this:

CREATE TABLE course (
id int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
category int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
password varchar(50) NOT NULL default <nowiki>''</nowiki>,
fullname varchar(254) NOT NULL default <nowiki>''</nowiki>,
shortname varchar(15) NOT NULL default <nowiki>''</nowiki>,
summary text NOT NULL,
format tinyint(4) NOT NULL default '1',
teacher varchar(100) NOT NULL default 'Teacher',
startdate int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
enddate int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
timemodified int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
PRIMARY KEY (id)
) TYPE=MyISAM;

SUCCESS

...and so on, followed by: Main databases set up successfully.

If you don't see these, then there must have been some problem with the database or the configuration settings you defined in config.php. Check that PHP isn't in a restricted "Safe Mode" (commercial web hosts sometimes have safe mode turned on). You can check PHP variables by creating a little file containing '''<?php phpinfo() ?>''' and looking at it through a browser. Check all these and try this page again.

Scroll down the very bottom of the page and press the "Continue" link.

You should now see a form where you can define more configuration variables for your installation, such as the default language, SMTP hosts and so on. Don't worry too much about getting everything right just now - you can always come back and edit these later on using the admin interface. The defaults are designed to be useful and secure for most sites. Scroll down to the bottom and click "Save changes".

If (and only if) you find yourself getting stuck on this page, unable to continue, then your server probably has what I call the "buggy referrer" problem. This is easy to fix: just turn off the "secureforms" setting, then try to continue again.

Next you will see more pages that print lots of status messages as they set up all the tables required by the various Moodle module. As before, they should all be green.

Scroll down the very bottom of the page and press the "Continue" link.

The next page is a form where you can define parameters for your Moodle site and the front page, such as the name, format, description and so on. Fill this out (you can always come back and change these later) and then press "Save changes".

Finally, you will then be asked to create a top-level administration user for future access to the admin pages. Fill out the details with your own name, email etc and then click "Save changes". Not all the fields are required, but if you miss any important fields you'll be re-prompted for them.

'''Make sure you remember the username and password you chose for the administration user account, as they will be necessary to access the administration page in future.'''

(If for any reason your install is interrupted, or there is a system error of some kind that prevents you from logging in using the admin account, you can usually log in using the default username of "'''admin'''", with password "'''admin'''".)

Once successful, you will be returned to the home page of your new site! Note the administration links that appear down the left hand side of the page (these items also appear on a separate Admin page) - these items are only visible to you because you are logged in as the admin user. All your further administration of Moodle can now be done using this menu, such as:

* creating and deleting courses
* creating and editing user accounts
* administering teacher accounts
* changing site-wide settings like themes etc

But you are not done installing yet! There is one very important thing still to do (see the next section on cron).

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Set up cron ==

Please refer to the [[Cron|Cron instructions]].

== Set up backups ==

Please refer to the [[Backup settings| backup instructions]].

[[Installing_Moodle#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Create a new course ==

Now that Moodle is running properly, you can try creating a new course to play with.

Select "Create a new course" from the Admin page (or the admin links on the home page).

Fill out the form, paying special attention to the course format. You don't have to worry about the details too much at this stage, as everything can be changed later by the teacher. Note that the yellow help icons are everywhere to provide contextual help on any aspect.

Press "Save changes", and you will be taken to a new form where you can assign teachers to the course. You can only add existing user accounts from this form - if you want to create a new teacher account then either ask the teacher to create one for themselves (see the login page), or create one for them using the "Add a new user" on the Admin page.

Once done, the course is ready to customize, and is accessible via the "Courses" link on the home page.

==See also==

* [[Installation FAQ]]
*[[Complete install packages]] might be an easier first time installs on some systems
* [[Installing Apache, MySQL and PHP]] - Open source programs that can run Moodle on the web or on a desktop
* [[Upgrading Moodle]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=42688 Selecting a web host for Moodle] forum discussion
* [[masquerading|Masquerading]] - Running Moodle behind a masquerading/NAT firewall

[[Category:Installation]]

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[[de:Installieren von Moodle]]
[[es:Instalación de moodle]]
[[fr:Installation de Moodle]]
[[ja:Moodleのインストール]]
[[nl:Installatiegids]]
[[ru:Установка Moodle]]
[[sk:Inštalácia]]
[[zh:安装Moodlezh:]]
[[pl:Instalacja Moodle]]
[[pt:Instalação do Moodle]]

Themes

2008-01-14T11:11:05Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese version

{{Themes}}

==Moodle themes==
Moodle has a powerful themes system that allows for a variety of effects through the use of XHTML and CSS.

* Themes may be [[Theme settings|configured]] at site level, course level and/or user level.
* Each page is individually-addressable via CSS, allowing you to pinpoint exact items.
* Our CSS class naming system uses simple English, is consistent and easily understood.
* New modules can tell Moodle what styles they need and automatically include these in the stylesheet.
* Themes can be based on the ''standard'' theme, which is very plain but functional. You simply override styles you want to change by adding to the stylesheet in your own theme. This means that if you upgrade Moodle later and new styles are needed, your custom theme will still work without any changes, because the new classes will be defined in the ''standard'' theme.
* Themes can also be based on any other theme. This allows you to easily create families of themes, or variations on a theme. For example you might create a spectrum of pastel shades for use in different courses, but with the same basic layout and logos. You may also want to create a family of differently-coloured themes for accessibility purposes.

==Theme selector==

Moodle has a number of themes for you to choose from using the theme selector, including an interactive theme called [[Chameleon]]. Chameleon uses Ajax technology to enable you to easily design your own theme or enhance an existing theme.

Alternatively, you can download a theme from the Moodle.org [http://moodle.org/themes Themes database].

== Creating your own theme ==

If you plan to work on your own theme please create a new one (with its own named subfolder) and use Moodle's theme system to base your theme on an existing theme such as ''standard''. If you just modify one of the delivered themes it will be overwritten by the next Moodle update.

To distribute your theme, zip the theme folder and submit to the Moodle.org [http://moodle.org/themes Themes database].

== Installing a theme ==

To install a theme:
# Unzip the .zip file to an empty local directory.
# Upload folder to your web server to the /moodle/theme/[Theme Name]. (Replace [Theme Name] with the name of the theme you have downloaded.) Ensure the new theme folder and its contents are readable by the webserver. Change Read and Write permissions (CHMOD) for the files and folder to 755 - Owner read/write/execute, Group read/execute, Everyone read/execute. Incorrect permissions may prevent display of the newly installed theme.
# Choose your new theme from within Moodle via ''Administration > Appearance > Themes > Theme selector'' (version 1.7+) or ''Administration > Configuration > Themes'' (older versions).

== Theme system changes ==

Themes have improved a great deal in recent versions of Moodle. If you are using your own theme and want to upgrade, please refer to one of the following:
* [[1.6 theme upgrade]]
* [[1.7 theme upgrade]]
* [[1.8 theme upgrade]]

==See also==

**[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPUB_ReBPeg Installing 3rd Party Modules and Themes in Moodle video]

[[Category:Themes]]

[[es:Temas]]
[[fr:Thèmes]]
[[ja:テーマ]]
[[pt:Temas]]

2.1:Category:Forum

2008-01-14T02:54:40Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese translation

An index of documentation pages about [[Forums]].

[[Category:Teacher]]

[[fr:Catégorie:Forum]]
[[pt:Categoria:Fórum]]

Category:Forum

2008-01-14T02:54:40Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese translation

An index of documentation pages about [[Forums]].

[[Category:Teacher]]

[[fr:Catégorie:Forum]]
[[pt:Categoria:Fórum]]

2.1:Category:Course

2008-01-14T02:43:22Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese translation

An index of documentation pages about course features.

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[Category:Administrator]]

<noinclude>[[fr:Catégorie:Cours]]</noinclude>
<noinclude>[[pt:Categoria:Disciplina]]</noinclude>

Category:Course

2008-01-14T02:43:22Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese translation

Development:Developer documentation

2008-01-14T02:24:24Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese translation

'''Note:''' New developer documentation pages should be added to the ''Development namespace'' by typing <code>Development:</code> before the new page name i.e. <code><nowiki>[[Development:New page name]]</nowiki></code>. If you are a developer, you probably want to change your [[Special:Preferences|preferences]] to include the Development namespace in searches. A page may be added to the Developer category by typing <code><nowiki>[[Category:Developer|New page name]]</nowiki></code> at the bottom of the page.

==How Moodle development works==

This [[Development:Overview|overview of the Moodle development process]] may be handy in understanding how the development of Moodle occurs and how people become Moodle developers.

==Guidelines==

The following guidelines are crucial reading for anyone wanting to contribute to the Moodle code base:
*[[Development:Coding|Coding guidelines]] have to be followed by all Moodle developers
*[[Moodle design goals]] spells out the basic design goals behind Moodle
*[[Interface guidelines]] aim to provide a common feel to the Moodle user interface
*[[CVS (developer)|Moodle CVS for developers]] explains how to work with the Moodle code in CVS
*[[Tracker]] explains the Moodle Tracker for keeping track of bugs, issues, feature requests etc
*[[Development:Working with the Community|Working with the Community]] explains how to engage with the dev community and discuss changes
*[[Development:Unit tests|Unit tests]] explains how to run the unit tests, and how to write new test cases.

==Documentation for core components==

This section is for documentation of specific components of the existing core Moodle code. Discussion of components that are under discussion or in development can be found in the [[Developer notes]] or on the [[Roadmap]].

The documents below give a general overview. For detailed function-by-function documentation, see the [http://phpdocs.moodle.org/ phpDocumentor] documentation that is automatically generated from the comments in the code. And don't forget that the most up-to-date and detailed description of how the code works is the code itself, and you can [http://xref.moodle.org/nav.html?index.html browse the code online using phpXRef]. Moodle code should be easy to read and understand. Use the source, Luke!

===Core components that affect everything===

*[[Development:Database schema introduction|The database schema]]
*lib/moodlelib.php
*[[Development:lib/weblib.php|lib/weblib.php]] for outputting stuff.
*[[Development:XMLDB_Documentation|Database abstraction layer]] @ v[[1.7]]
*[[Development:Roles|Roles and Capabilities system]] @ v[[1.7]] for controlling who can do what.
*[[Development:lib/formslib.php|Forms library]] @ v[[1.8]] for creating accessible and secure HTML forms that let users edit things.

===Core libraries with a more specific uses===

*[[Authentication API]]
*[[Cookieless Sessions]]
*[[Email processing]]
*[[Development:Environment checking|Environment checking]] before install, check the user's server to ensure Moodle will work there.
*[[Development:Groups|Groups system]]
*[[Development:Grades|Gradebook]]
*[[Development:Moodle Network|Moodle Network]]
*[[Question engine]]
*[[Stats package]]
*[[UTF-8 migration|Migration to UTF-8]] @ v[[:Category:Moodle 1.6|1.6]]
*[http://developer.yahoo.com/yui YUI JavaScript library] - YUI was selected as the official AJAX library for Moodle.
*[[Development:lib/graphlib|lib/graphlib]]

===Modules included in the standard distribution===

*[[Quiz developer docs|Quiz module]]
*[[SCORM schema|SCORM module 1.5 schema]]

==How you can contribute==

===Make a new plugin===

The M in Moodle stands for modular, and the easiest, most maintainable way to add new functionality to Moodle is by using one of the many plugin APIs. There are many types of plugin you can write:
*[[Development:Modules|Activity modules]]
*[[Development:Admin reports|Admin reports]]
*[[Development:Assignment types|Assignment types]]
*[[Development:Authentication plugins|Authentication plugins]]
*[[Development:Blocks|Blocks]]
*[[Course formats]]
*[[Development:Course Report Plugins|Course reports]]
*[[Development:Database fields|Database fields]]
*[[Development:Database presets|Database presets]]
*[[Development:Enrolment plugins|Enrolment plugins]]
*[[Development:Filters|Filters]]
*[[Development:Gradebook plugins|Gradebook plugins]]
**[[Development:Gradebook report|Gradebook report]]
**[[Development:Gradebook export|Gradebook export]]
**[[Development:Gradebook import|Gradebook import]]
*[[Development:Question engine|Question engine]]
*[[Development:Question import/export formats|Question import/export formats]]
*[[Development:How to write a quiz report plugin|Quiz reports]]
*[[Development:Resource types|Resource types]]
*[[Development:SSO plugins|SSO plugins]]
*[[Development:Search engine adapters|Search engine adapters]]

When you have developed a new component please publish it in the [http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?id=6009 Moodle modules and plugins database].

===Change core code===

Some types of change can only be made by editing the core Moodle code. Such changes are much harder to maintain than plugins. If you want your core change to be considered for inclusion in the official Moodle release, you need to create an issue in the [[Tracker|tracker]], and attach your change as a [[Development:How_to_create_a_patch|patch]]. It is also a good idea to discuss your ideas in the forums first.

===Ways to contribute that do not involve PHP programming===

*[[Themes|Create Moodle themes]]
*[[Translation|Translate Moodle into other languages]]
*[[MoodleDocs:Guidelines for contributors|Help document Moodle]]
*[[Development:Database schemas|Database schemas]]
*[[Development:Tests|Join the testing effort]], which involves [[Tracker|participating in the bug tracker]]

==Plans for the future==

Ideas for and details of planned future features of Moodle are initially discussed on the forums in the [http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5 Using Moodle] course at moodle.org. That developer discussions are intermixed with user discussions in the same forums may seem strange at first but is one of the reasons for the success of Moodle. It is important that both end-users and developers discuss the future features together.

Once ideas begin to crystallize on the forums they can be summarized in this wiki, either as part of the [[Roadmap]] or in the form of [[Developer notes]]. These pages then form the basis for further discussion in the forums.

*[[Roadmap]]
*[[Development:Developer notes|Developer notes]]
*[[Student projects]]
*[[Developer conferences]]

== Resources and tools ==

*[[Developer FAQ]] - frequently asked questions, especially useful for newcomers to Moodle
*[[Development:Finding_your_way_into_the_Moodle_code|Finding your way into the Moodle code]] - also aimed at newcomers
*[http://tracker.moodle.org/ Moodle tracker] - bug reports, feature requests and other tracked issues
**[[Firefox tracker search]] - How to setup a firefox quicksearch to easily navigate to moodle bugs
*[[Unmerged files]] - changes on the stable branch in CVS that have not been merged to HEAD
*Browse the code online:
**[http://cvs.moodle.org/moodle/ the code with a complete change history from CVS]
**[http://xref.moodle.org/index.html the code, with links generated by PHPXref]
*[http://phpdocs.moodle.org/ Moodle PHP doc reference] - compiled from the comment attached to each class and function in the code
*[[Development:Database Schema|Database Schema]] - for recent releases
*[http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5#4 Development news and discussion] section of Using Moodle course
**especially the [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=55 General developer forum]
**[[Filters used on the Moodle.org forums|cool tricks you can use in the moodle.org forums]]
*Some tools people use when working on Moodle code:
**[[Development:Setting_up_Eclipse|Setting up Eclipse for Moodle development]] - Eclipse is a great editor to use for php development, if you can work out how to set it up.
**[[Development:vim|Setting up Vim for Moodle development]]
**[[Development:ctags|Ctags]] - Using a tags file to navigate code
**[[W3C_validation|W3C HTML validator]] - Moodle has built in support to make using it easier.
**Firebug plugin for Firefox.

==See also==

*[http://security.moodle.org/ Moodle Security Centre]
*[http://moodle.com/partners/ Moodle Partners] - providers of custom Moodle development services

[[Category:Developer]]
[[es:Documentación para Desarrolladores]]
[[fr:Documentation développeur]]
[[pt:Desenvolvimento:Documentação para programadores]]
[[zh:开发者文档]]
[[ja:開発者ドキュメント]]

Category:Developer

2008-01-14T02:20:03Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese translation

'''Note:''' To ensure that the pages are listed in alphabetical order below, please include the page name in the category link, for example <code><nowiki>[[Category:Developer|Grades]]</nowiki></code>.

An index of documentation pages for [[Development:Developer documentation|developers]].

[[es:Categoría:Desarrollador]]
[[fr:Catégorie:Développeur]]
[[pt:Categoria:Programador]]
[[ru:Категория:Разработчику]]

Language editing

2008-01-14T00:57:37Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese version

Location: ''Administration > Language > Language editing''

[[Image:Edit-strings.gif|thumb|Language editing in Moodle 1.6]]The language editing interface enables you to easily change any word or phrase used on the site. For example, you may want to change the word "Course" to "Area".

== Edit words or phrases ==
[[Image:edit words or phrases.png|thumb|Edit words or phrases in Moodle 1.8]]
From Moodle 1.6 onwards, text may be changed by editing language strings, either via ''Administration > Language > Language editing'' or directly i.e. in ''moodledata/lang/''.

To edit a word or phrase:
#Access ''Administration > Language > Language editing''.
#Click the "Edit words or phrases" link in the middle of the page.
#On the edit words or phases page click the "Switch lang directory" button and a local language folder, ''parentlanguage_local'', will automatically be created in ''moodledata/lang''. Files of edited strings will then be saved in this folder. This is necessary to prevent changes that you make to be overwritten by a newer language pack when updating.
#Choose a file to edit. You may need to search through a few files before finding the file containing the word you wish to change. The file ''moodle.php'' contains all common site-wide phrases.
#Change the word or phrase.
#Click the "Save changes" button. The changed phrase will be highlighted in a different colour.

If you wish to make further changes later, be sure to check that files of edited strings will again be saved to the folder ''parentlanguage_local'', switching folder if necessary.

Note: From Moodle 1.9 onwards, the option to switch is no longer provided and edited strings are automatically saved in the local language folder.

==Changes in 1.9==
{{Moodle 1.9}}* From Moodle 1.9 onwards, only users with the capability [[Capabilities/moodle/site:langeditmaster|moodle/site:langeditmaster]] may modify the master language packages (i.e. those being saved in ''moodledata/lang/''). It is prevented from all roles by default. It is expected that only language maintainers will manually allow this to themselves.
* From Moodle 1.9 onwards, only users with the capability [[Capabilities/moodle/site:langeditlocal|moodle/site:langeditlocal]] may customize the site translation (i.e. files being saved in ''moodledata/lang_local/''). Admins are allowed to do this by default.
* Added ability to edit language files in non-standard locations, i.e. string files for various types of plugin (e.g. blocks, database presets, 3rd party modules etc.)
* TODO (currently working on) ability to edit help files in non-standard locations and translate local modifications of help files.
* Several GUI improvements including tabs

[[Image:screenshot-admin-lang-19.png|frame|center|Moodle 1.9 admin/lang.php interface]]

==Previous admin/lang==

Text in Moodle 1.5 may be changed by editing the language strings, either via ''Administration > Configuration > Language'' or directly e.g. in ''lang/en''.

To ensure that any changes are not overwritten by a new version when upgrading, you need to create your own local language pack as follows:

* Copy the contents of your language folder (e.g. ''lang/en'') into a new folder (e.g. ''lang/en_local'') - you will need access to the server to achieve this step, it cannot be done from within Moodle.
* Make your local language pack the default for the site via ''Administration > Configuration > Variables.

== See also ==

* [[Translation]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=43 Languages forum]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=49150 Local language] forum discussion
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=78225 Editing help files] forum discussion

[[Category:Language]]

[[es:admin/lang]]
[[fr:Langue]]
[[ja:言語]]
[[pt:Edição da língua]]
[[zh:语言]]

Variables

2008-01-14T00:42:28Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese version

This page is for administrators of Moodle 1.6 sites (see [[Talk:Variables]]).
:'''NOTE: In later versions of Moodle, variables may be in different locations in the interface. For instance, the "maxbytes" variable is in the site administration block under Security -> Site Policies -> Maximum uploaded file size.'''

== Interface ==

*''lang'' - If you wish to change any text on your site, it is recommended that a local language pack is created. Please refer to [[Language]] for details
*''timezone'' - This field is used to set the default timezone used by Moodle. It affects time-related messages on the system such as assignment deadlines. If you have set this and still have time problems, make sure the time is set correctly on the server. Users can also set their timezone, see [[Edit profile]].
*''themelist'', ''allowuserthemes'', ''allowcoursethemes'' - Please refer to the [[Theme config|Theme configuration]] for details

== Operating System ==

*''slasharguments'' - Please refer to the FAQ [[Installation_FAQ#Uploaded_files_give_.22File_not_found.22|Uploaded files give "File not found"]] and the [[Installing_Moodle#Check_web_server_settings|check web server settings]] instructions

==User==

*''autologinguests'' - Please refer to [[Guest access]]

== Permissions ==

*''opentogoogle'' - Please refer to [[Search engine optimization]] for further information

== Miscellaneous ==

*''maxeditingtime'' - Please refer to the forum discussions [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=28679 Editing a forum post after the 30 minutes deadline] and [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=5367 The philosophy underlying "no editing after 30 minutes"]

*''debug'' - Set debug to on in order to get more information about PHP errors. This is often helpful to an administrator when trying to get more information about an error or problem being experienced. Normally, debug is set to off. For more information about debugging in Moodle 1.7 onwards, see [[Debugging]].

== See also ==

*[[Administration FAQ]]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32306 How to make individual course policies (vs. site policies)] forum discussion

[[Category:Administrator]]

[[fr:Paramètres techniques]]
[[es:Variables]]
[[ja:詳細設定]]
[[pt:Variáveis]]

Installation FAQ

2008-01-14T00:16:57Z

Jaime: The stucture of the administration block changed in 1.7 and not 1.6

{{FAQ}}
==Table of Contents==
__TOC__

==PHP - is it installed and what version do I have?==

Make a new file on your web site called ''info.php'', containing the following text, and call it from your browser:

<?PHP phpinfo() ?>

If nothing happens then you don't have PHP installed or your webserver is not configured to handle .php files properly. See the installation docs for some information about where to download it for your computer. See the [[phpinfo]] page for details about the content of this page.
[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== System information needed for Installation Forum ==
When posting questions to the installation forum, try to provide as much background information as possible about your moodle system. Use this template to copy and paste into your post:
* Server Operating System name (version also if possible):
* Browser name (version also if possible):
* Moodle version:
* Moodle install type? (New/Upgrade):
* Moodle config.php attached?(Y/N):
* Phpinfo attached? (Y/N):

For the last two items, try to include the following in your post as an attachment:
* A copy of your phpinfo output as shown in your browser (see the instructions above for an explanation of how to obtain this).
* A copy of the Moodle configuration file. This is located in the directory moodle and is named config.php

Copy and paste both of these into a single text file (using vi, Notepad, etc) and attach this to your post.

If you cannot provide your phpinfo, try to copy & paste and complete these in your post:
* Webserver (e.g. Apache/IIS) version:
* Database server (e.g. MySQL, PostgreSQL) version:
* PHP version:

For installation on web hosting accounts: contact your support desk who should be able to tell you this information.

: '''Security Warning''': Make sure you edit any files and delete any passwords before posting onto the forum.
[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

==What & where are Moodle's configuration settings stored?==
Configuration settings are stored in the config.php file stored in your moodle folder. This file is created during the installation process. If there is a problem and the installation cannot create the file, you can try creating it manually from the [[Configuration file]] docs. Please remember that manually editing the file is not recommended and may lead to blank pages, especially if there are additional spaces and/or lines after the final php closing tag "?>".

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Running a health check==
Moodle contains a script that will help identify common php and webserver configuration problems as well as configuration problems. It is a good idea to run this script to check if you are having post-installation problems. Use your browser to run this file:

http://www.mymoodle.com/moodle/admin/health.php

Change the above line if you have installed moodle in the webroot instead of a folder inside the webroot.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Downloading previous releases of Moodle==
* '''Generic Packages''': If your server does not meet the [[Installing_Moodle#Requirements | requirements]] for the current version of Moodle, you can download previous releases by using wget, lynx or curl with this URL:
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/stable[version_number]</nowiki>
:For example: to download Moodle version 1.5, use http://download.moodle.org/stable15. You'll see a directory tree with the files displayed. Click on the one you want and download as normal - if you require the latest update of the version, scroll to the end of the list and download the "moodle-latest" file, or alternatively use these URLs for zip or tgz downloads:
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/stable[version_number]/moodle-latest-[version_number].zip</nowiki>
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/stable[version_number]/moodle-latest-[version_number].tgz</nowiki>

:Changes made in the version in the last month are listed in the "CHANGES" file in the directory listing. The files you download contain Moodle code and are not the Windows or Mac packages - so you need to have a webserver, a database server and PHP already installed. The earliest version available is Moodle 1.3.
* '''Windows Packages''': To download previous releases of the Moodle packages for Windows, use this URL:
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/windows/MoodleWindowsInstaller-latest-[version_number].zip</nowiki>
* '''Mac Packages''': To download previous releases of the Mac pacakges, use either of these URLs (depending on whether you need the Intel or PPC package):
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/macosx/Moodle4Mac-Intel-[version_number].dmg</nowiki>
<nowiki>http://download.moodle.org/macosx/Moodle4Mac-PPC-[version_number}.dmg</nowiki>
* '''Using CVS''': You can also use CVS to download older releases and incremental releases of the Moodle generic packages, e.g. Moodle 1.5.4 - see the [[CVS_for_Administrators | CVS documentation]].

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
== How to enable and check PHP error logs==
PHP can be set up to log errors in a variety of different ways: two of these involve the use of the php.ini file and the ini_set command.
* '''Using the php.ini file''': The log settings are contained in the php.ini file stored on the server. If you don't know where that is, edit your Moodle ''config.php'' and add the following as the second line

phpinfo();

:then reload the web page. Look for the entry '''Configuration File (php.ini) Path'''.

:When you have located php.ini open it in your favorite text editor. Find the '''Error handling and logging''' section of the php.ini file. Make sure that both '''display_errors = On''', '''display_startup_errors = On''' and '''log_errors = On''' are present and uncommented. Check the value of '''error_log''' - this tells you the location of the file errors are logged to. If it is commented out then errors will be sent to the web server error log file. Remember, if you make any changes to this file you will need to restart the web server (or just reboot the server).

* '''Using ini_set commands''': If you are using Moodle 1.7 or higher, the previous steps are not enough. In those versions error logging parameters are dependant on certain administrative settings that you specify in the debugging section. The problem is that if you can't access the administrative pages, you can't set the debugging options. So the only way to modify them is by adding the following lines to your config.php file, just before the last line (the one containing a single'?>' only):

ini_set ('display_errors', 'on');
ini_set ('log_errors', 'on');
ini_set ('display_startup_errors', 'on');
ini_set ('error_reporting', E_ALL);

:This will enable the same settings specified above even if Moodle sets them otherwise.
:'''Important''': Remember to put them just before the last line of config.php.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Any text I add with an apostrophe (') or a quote (") causes errors or comes up with a slash added==

Problems caused by apostrophes are caused by incorrect "magic quotes" settings. Moodle requires the following settings in the php.ini file (which are usually the default):

magic_quotes_gpc = On
magic_quotes_runtime = Off

Please see [[Installing Moodle]] for more details.

If you are using [[Debian_GNU/Linux_installation|Debian]] then the problem might be in the version of PHP that you have installed. Have a look at this [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-9691 bug report ] to see if it matches your situation.

==Email copies are not being sent from my forums==

You ''must'' set up cron properly if you want Moodle to send out automatic email from forums, assignments etc. This same process also performs a number of clean-up tasks such as deleting old unconfirmed users, unenrolling old students and so on.

Basically, you need to set up a process to regularly call the script <code><nowiki>http://yoursite/admin/cron.php</nowiki></code>. Please refer to the [[Cron|cron instructions]].

'''Tip:''' Try the default setting in Moodle variables page. Leave the smtphost blank. This will be acceptable for the majority of users.

'''Tip:''' Make sure that allowuseremailcharset in Administration > Configuration > Variables > Mail is set to No. Setting this to Yes might cause this problem in some versions of Moodle.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Error: database connection failed==

If you get errors like "database connection failed" or "could not connect to the database you specified", here are some possible reasons and some possible solutions.

* Your '''database server''' isn't installed or running. To check this for MySQL try typing the following command line
$telnet database_host_name 3306
:You should get a cryptic response which includes the version number of the MySQL server.
* If you are attempting to run '''two instances of Moodle on different ports''', use the ip address of the host (not localhost) in the $CFG->dbhost setting, e.g. $CFG->dbhost = 127.0.0.1:3308.
* You don't have the '''PHP mysql or postgresql extensions''' installed (please refer to FAQ re. whether PHP is installed).
* You haven't created a '''Moodle database and assigned a user''' with the correct privileges to access it.
* The '''Moodle database settings''' are incorrect. The database name, database user or database user password in your Moodle configuration file ''config.php'' are incorrect. Use phpMyAdmin to set up and check your MySQL installation.
* Check that there are '''no apostrophes or non-alphabetic letters''' in your MySQL username or password.
* You are using MySQL version 4.1 or higher but the PHP MySQL extension is pre-4.1 (check in your phpinfo output). In this case the '''default password hashing algorithm''' is incompatible with that available in the PHP mysql extension versions 4.x.x. Use these MySQL commands to change the passwords to the old format:

mysql>SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = OLD_PASSWORD('password');
mysql>SET PASSWORD FOR 'moodleuser'@'localhost' = OLD_PASSWORD('password');

:Also, consider upgrading your PHP MySQL extension. See [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/old-client.html this MySQL document] for further information on how to deal with this problem.
* You are using Fedora core 3 or some other Linux system with '''SELinux installed''' and enabled. See the following URL for information on how to disable SELinux: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/selinux/ If you don't want to disable SELinux, you have to allow httpd process to create network connections:

setsebool httpd_can_network_connect true

* Mac OSX users -- if you are running MySQL on a Mac OSX, try changing '''$CFG->dbhost''' from 'localhost' to '127.0.0.1'
'''See also''': MySQL page on [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/common-errors.html common errors] which lists several possible scenarios for connection failure, with advice on how to fix the problems.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==I can't log in - I just stay stuck on the login screen==

The most common cause for this is that your own computer (not your Moodle server) has a firewall that is stripping referrer information from the browser. Here are some instructions for fixing [http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nip.nsf/46f26a2d6dafb0a788256bc7005c3fa3/b9b47ad7eddd343b88256c6b006a85a8?OpenDocument&src=bar_sch_nam Norton firewall products].

The server admin can also fix this for everyone by changing the ''secureforms'' variable to 'No' in the security section of Administration >> Configuration >> [[admin/config|Variables]].

Another possible cause of this problem is that sessions are not configured properly on the server. You can test this by calling the script <nowiki>http://yourserver/moodle/lib/session-test.php</nowiki>.

If you are still having problems, read the [[Can_not_log_in | Cannot log in]] page.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==I can't log in with message "Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct" ==

This error occurs when PHP is having problems saving its session files. You may also see these other error messages displayed on the screen or in your log files:

Warning: Unknown: open(some-path/sessions/sess_acbf942a7399db3489ffa910e35d5242, O_RDWR)
failed: Permission denied (13) in Unknown on line 0

Warning: Unknown(): open(some-path/sessions/sess_acbf942a7399db3489ffa910e35d5242, O_RDWR)
failed: No space left on device (28) in Unknown on line 0

Warning: Unknown: Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current
setting of session.save_path is correct (some-path/sessions) in Unknown on line 0

To temporarily bypass these errors, '''use database sessions''' by editing your [[Configuration_file | moodle configuration file]] and adding this line:

$CFG->dbsessions = true;

Database sessions may overload your mysql database and are not ideal in a shared hosting environment, so if this solves the problem, you can start fixing the problem as follows:
* Check '''access rights'''. The session.save_path should be accessible by the apache user. Try this command:

chown -R apache:apache some-path/sessions

:This assumes that 'apache' is the name of the user your webserver runs under - it could also be 'nobody'.
* Check the '''permissions''' to the directory that PHP is trying to save to (session.save_path = some-path/sessions). Set the permissions initially to 0777 (everyone read, write, execute) with this command:

chmod -R 0777 some-path/sessions

:If this fixes the problem, reduce the permissions (700 is recommended).

'''See also''': Session problems can be specific to your server environment. As an example, see [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=55925#254596 this forum discussion] about session problems with Lycos hosting.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==I log in but the login link doesn't change. I am logged in and can navigate freely.==

Make sure the URL in your <code>$CFG->wwwroot</code> setting is exactly the same as the one you are actually using to access the site.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==I keep getting this error: A server error that affects your login session was detected.==

Please refer to the Using Moodle forum discussion [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=73716 A server error that affects your login session was detected. Please login again or restart your browser.].

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==I keep getting this error: Failed opening required '/web/moodle/lib/setup.php'==

In your ''config.php'', the setting that you use for the dirroot variable must be the complete path from the root of your server's hard drive.

Sometimes people only use the path from their home directory, or relative to the root of the web server directory.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==My pages show fatal errors such as : Parse error, call to undefined function: get_string()==

If you see errors like:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in /path/to/moodle/config.php on line 94
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: get_string() in /path/to/moodle/mod/resource/lib.php
on line 11

then you have probably left out a semi-colon or closing quote from a line in ''config.php'' (previous to line 94).

Another possibility is that you edited ''config.php'' in a program like Word and saved it as a HTML web page, instead of using a plain text editor like Notepad.

Another thing to check, particularly if you are using 3rd party modules or plugins, is whether any of the php scripts use short open tags (<? ?>) instead of proper ones (<?php ?>). Short tags are bad for various reasons, so first contact the author of that extension to tell them about the problem. Then either replace short tags with conventional ones, or set this line in php.ini:

short_open_tag = On

You should never find short tags in core moodle code. If you do, please file a bug in the bug tracker.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Serious Error! Could not set up the site!==

Please refer to the Using Moodle forum discussion [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32071 Serious Error! Could not set up the site!].

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Uploaded files give "File not found"==

For example: Not Found: The requested URL /moodle/file.php/2/myfile.jpg was not found on this server.

Your web server needs to be configured to allow the part of the URL after a script name to be passed directly to the script. This is usually enabled in Apache 1, but is usually disabled by default in Apache 2. To turn it on, add this line to your ''httpd.conf'', or to a ''.htaccess'' file in your local directory (see [[Installing Moodle]] for more details):

'''AcceptPathInfo''' on

Note, this will ONLY work for Apache versions 2.x.

If you are not using Apache 2 and you still have this problem (unlikely) then you can switch Moodle to use an alternative method. The disadvantages are a slight loss of performance for your users and you won't be able to use relative links within HTML resources.

To use this alternative method, you should change the ''slasharguments'' variable. For moodle versions < 1.7, this is located in the Operating System section of ''Administration > Configuration > [[admin/config|Variables]]''. In later versions, this option is located in ''Site Administration > Server > HTTP''. You should now be able to access your uploaded files.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

==When I go to the admin page, I get told to make dirroot blank!==

If you see errors like this:

Please fix your settings in config.php:
You have: $CFG->dirroot = "/home/users/fred/public_html/moodle";
but it should be: $CFG->dirroot = "";

then you have encountered a small bug that occurs on some servers. The problem is with the error-checking mechanism, not with your actual path. To fix it, find this line (line 66) in the file ''admin/index.php'':

if ($dirroot != $CFG->dirroot) {

and change it to this:

if (!empty($dirroot) and $dirroot != $CFG->dirroot) {

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==When trying to add a resource I receive error messages==

Assuming you are using Apache, then it's quite likely that your setting in ''config.php'' for <code>$CFG->wwwroot</code> is different from the actual URL you are using to access the site. Also try turning off the ''secureforms'' variable in the security section of Administration >> Configuration >> [[admin/config|Variables]].

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Why are all my pages blank?==

Check the dirroot variable in ''config.php''. You must use complete, absolute pathnames e.g.

$CFG->dirroot = "d:\inetpub\sites\www.yoursite.com\web\moodle";

Another reason might be that PHP has not been configured to support MySQL. This is common on Redhat and OpenBSD installations. In this case, an error is generated, but since error displays are often disabled by default, all that is seen on the browser is a blank screen. To enable PHP error displays, set these lines in your ''php.ini'' file and reload the web page.

display_errors = On
display_startup_errors = On

To determine if MySQL support is your problem, insert this as the second line in your ''config.php'' file

phpinfo();

then reload the web page. Examine the output closely to see if MySQL is supported. If not look for a package you are missing.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
== Why is a particular page blank or incomplete? ==

*'''Check your web server log files!!'''
:If a particular page is blank or incomplete (it doesn't display the footer), before you do anything else [[Installation_FAQ#How_to_enable_and_check_PHP_error_logs | check your error logs]]. Having established that PHP error logging is working, reproduce the error. Immediately check the error log file right at the end. Hopefully you will see a PHP error message at or very near the end of the file. This may solve your problem directly or makes it a lot easier to diagnose the problem in the Moodle forums.

*If you are '''upgrading to a new version of Moodle''', check that you do not have an old version of a non-standard block or module installed. Remove any such blocks or modules installed using the admin settings page and start the install process again. However, do also make sure that you have included all required optional plugins that were required by your courses.

*If you '''do not see any blocks listed''', turn editing on and remove any blocks that you have added to that page and try reloading.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Installation hangs when setting-up database tables==
*Sometimes the installation will hang when setting up tables. This will be an abrupt hang with half the page displayed in the browser and/or other outputs removed, e.g. the “Scroll to continue” link is displayed but no “Continue” button is there. If this is the case, it is usually a mysql error and not a php error. Check that there is no limit placed on your mysql database, e.g. a "questions" limit.

*If the install is on a webhost, adding the following line to the .htaccess file in the moodle directory has been known to solve the problem.
AddType x-mapp-php5 .php

*Try also renaming the .htaccess file so that it is disabled.

*You may also want to look and see if you've customized any of your code. Look at the last successful table, and then look at the block, mod, or other code that is referenced by that table. For example, if your install hangs and continues to say that the forum tables were successful as the last message, look at /mod/forum/ for any custom code. If you have customized code, backup those files and replace with the correct files. You can then restart the install by renaming config.php or reinstalling your database from the backup. If your install is successful, you can make your code changes back into the stock Moodle code.

*It may also be that the "memory_limit" in your php.ini is set too low. Please check your php.ini file and allocate the recommended amount (see [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_Moodle#Requirements Moodle requirements]). For Moodle version 1.8 and above at least 40MB is recommended.

*A work-around to this problem is to setup a working Moodle system on your local PC or server using the [http://download.moodle.org Moodle Packages]. Once you have a running Moodle, [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Upgrading_Moodle#Backup_important_data backup the database] and import to your webhost. Then backup the Moodle code itself (the "moodle" directory on your PC) and copy this to your webhost using (for example) FTP. Finally, edit the moodle/config.php file for the new settings that have to be changed for the webhost.

*To avoid this problem when upgrading, prefer to upgrade incrementally. For example: upgrade from 1.6.* to 1.7.* and then to 1.8.* rather than straight from 1.6.* to 1.8.*

'''Note''': When upgrading an existing database, the installation may appear to hang at the roles generation phase. This process can take a very long time - so please be patient.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Why can't I upload a new image into my profile?==

If you don't see anything on your user profile pages to let you upload user images then it's usually because GD is not enabled on your server. GD is a library that allows image processing.

1. Make sure '''GD has been included in your PHP installation'''. You can check this by going into Administration >> Configuration >> [[Variables]] and looking for the gdversion setting. This setting is chosen automatically every time you visit that page. If it shows GD version 1 or version 2 then everything should be fine. Save that configuration page and go back to your user profile.

2. If Moodle thinks GD is not installed, then you will need to '''install the GD library'''.
*On Unix you may need to re-compile PHP with arguments something like this:

./configure --with-apxs=/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs --with-xml --with-gd
--with-jpeg-dir=/usr/local --with-png-dir=/usr --with-ttf --enable-gd-native-ttf
--enable-magic-quotes --with-mysql --enable-sockets --enable-track-vars
--enable-versioning --with-zlib

* On Windows this is usually a matter of "turning on" the extension in PHP by editing your php.ini file. To do this remove the semicolon for the php_gd2.dll extension - check that this file is actually present in your php extensions folder first (search your php.ini for extension_dir to determine where this points to on your hard disk). You should then have a line that looks like this:
extension=php_gd2.dll

:Windows users should see the [[Installing AMP|installation instructions]] for further help.

3. Remember to '''restart your webserver''' (if possible) and re-visit the Moodle configuration page after making any changes to PHP so it can pick up the correct version of GD.

'''See also''': Using Moodle forum discussion [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=44271 Profile pictures] for additional information.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Why do I keep getting error messages about "headers already sent"?==

If you see errors like this:

Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent by
(output started at /webs/moodle/config.php:87) in /webs/moodle/lib/moodlelib.php
on line 1322

Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent by
(output started at /webs/moodle/config.php:87) in /webs/moodle/lib/moodlelib.php
on line 1323

Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent by
(output started at /webs/moodle/config.php:87) in /webs/moodle/login/index.php
on line 54

you have blank lines or spaces after the final <code>?></code> in your ''config.php'' file. Sometimes text editors add these - for example Notepad on Windows - so you may have to try a different text editor to remove these spaces or blank lines completely.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
== Why doesn't my Moodle site display the time and date correctly? ==

Each language requires a specific language code (called a '''locale''' code) to allow dates to be displayed correctly. The language packs contain default standard codes, but sometimes these don't work on Windows servers.

You can find the correct locale codes for Windows on these two pages: [http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vclib/html/_crt_language_strings.asp Language codes] and [http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vclib/html/_crt_country_strings.asp Country/region] codes (e.g. "esp_esp" for spanish)

These new locale codes can be entered on the Administration >> Configuration >> [[admin/config|Variables]] page, where they override the ones in the currently chosen language pack.

==I receive this error "500:Internal Server Error"==
You'll get this error message if there is a syntax error in your .htaccess or httpd.conf files. You will also see this error if your server does not support .htaccess files, especially if it is running PHPsuexec. Also, you may have a directive in your .htaccess or httpd.conf files which are not compatible with your web server version.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==How do I uninstall Moodle?==
'''Moodle package installation''': If you have downloaded a Moodle package, simply uninstall using your system commands. On Windows PCs, you should access the Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs. Select the package name and click Change or Remove Programs.

'''Webhost/manual installation''': If you have installed Moodle manually or have installed onto a webhost, follow these steps:
*Delete the moodle database using this mysql command (or delete using your mysql client, e.g. PHPMyAdmin):
<pre>sql>DROP DATABASE moodle;</pre>
:In the above example replace 'moodle' with the name of the moodle database you created when installing.
*Delete the moodledata directory. If you, or your users, have uploaded materials into this directory take a copy of these before deleting this directory.
*Delete the moodle directory itself. This will delete all of the moodle PHP script files.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==How do I upgrade Moodle? Do I just overwrite the files?==
Do not overwrite files, it may cause strange errors. You should read the [[Upgrade]] documentation before proceeding.

==Migrating Moodle to a new site or server==
Migrating Moodle means that you have to move the current installation to a new server, and so may have to change IP addresses or DNS entries. To do this you will need to change the $CFG->wwwroot value in the config.php on the new server. You will also have to change any absolute links stored in the database backup file (before restoring the file on the new server) either using the admin/replace.php script, your text editor or another "search and replace" tool, e.g. sed. For more details see the [[Moodle_migration | Moodle Migration]] page.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

==Fatal error allowed memory size exhausted. How do I increase my php memory limit?==
You will sometimes see an error message something like this:
Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 67108864 bytes exhausted
(tried to allocate xx bytes) in /var/www/moodle/yyyy.php
This error means that the php memory_limit value is not enough for the php script. The memory_limit value is the "allowed memory size" - 64M in the example above (67108864 bytes / 1024 = 65536 KB. 65536 KB / 1024 = 64 MB). You will need to increase the php memory_limit value until this message is not shown anymore. There are two methods of doing this.
*On a hosted installation, add the following line to your .htaccess file (or create one in the moodle directory if it does not already exist):
php_value memory_limit <value>M
Example: php_value memory_limit 40M
*If you have your own server with shell access, edit your php.ini file (make sure it's the correct one by checking in your phpinfo output) as follows:
memory_limit <value>M
Example: memory_limit 40M
Remember that you need to restart your web server to make changes to php.ini effective. An alternative is to disable the memory_limit by using the command ''memory_limit 0''.

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Why does my new installation display correctly on the server, but when I view it from a different machine, styles and images are missing?==
In the installation instructions, one of the suggested settings for 'webroot' is 'localhost'. This is fine if all you want to do is some local testing of your new Moodle installation. If, however, you want to view your new installation from another machine on the same local area network, or view your site on the internet, you will have to change this setting:
*For local testing, 'localhost' is fine for the webroot ($CFG->wwwroot in config.php).
*If you want to test your site from other machines on the same local area network (LAN), then you will have to use the private ip address of the serving machine, (e.g. 192.168.1.2/moodle) or the network name of the serving computer (e.g. network_name_of_serving_machine/moodle) as the web root. Depending on your LAN setup, it may be better to use the network name of the computer rather than its (private) ip address, because the ip address can and will change from time to time. If you don't want to use the network name, then you will have to speak to your network administrator and have them assign a permanent ip address to the serving machine.
*Finally, if you want to test your new installation across the internet, you will have to use either a domain name or a permanent (public) ip address/moodle as your web root. To handle both types of access, see [https://docs.moodle.org/en/masquerading masquerading].
[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]
==Maximum upload file size - how to change it?==
There are several places to change the maximum file upload size. The first place to check is the Administration block. Security -> Site Policies -> and look for "Maximum Uploaded File Size". This is the "maxbyte" variable found in older versions of Moodle (under Admin > Variables). Teachers may also set the maximum file size by the [[Course_settings#Maximum_upload_size|course administration block]].

The second place to check are the server files. The php.ini file has a limit which will override any other setting. (Hint: remember to restart your server for changes to take effect). For more help see:
*[[Installing_Moodle#Check_PHP_settings]]
*[[Installing_Moodle#Using_a_.htaccess_file_for_webserver_and_PHP_settings]]
*[[Site_policies#Maximum_uploaded_file_size]]

[[Installation_FAQ#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

==See also==
[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Installation]]

[[es:FAQ Instalación]]
[[fr:FAQ d'installation]]
[[nl:Installatie FAQ]]
[[ja:インストールFAQ]]
[[ru:Установка FAQ]]
[[pl:Instalacja FAQ]]

Configuration

2008-01-13T22:59:31Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese translation

*[[Variables]]
*[[Site settings]]
*[[Themes]]
*[[Language]]
*[[Activity modules administration]]
*[[Blocks administration]]
*[[Filters]]
*[[Backup settings]]
*[[HTML editor settings]]
*[[Calendar settings]]
*[[Maintenance mode]]

[[Category:Administrator]]

[[es:Configuración]]
[[fr:Configuration]]
[[pt:Configuração]]
[[zh:配置]]

Add/edit course categories

2008-01-13T17:09:27Z

Jaime: Added link to Portuguese translation

Location: Category link in ''Administration block > Courses > Add/edit courses''

Course categories organize courses for all Moodle site participants. Miscellaneous is the default course category on a new Moodle site. A course creator or administrator can put all courses in the miscellaneous category. However, teachers and students will find it easier to find their classes if they are organized in descriptive categories.

The list of courses within a category by default shows the teachers and the summary of each course. If the number of courses within a category exceeds 9 (10 or more), then a short list without teachers and summary is shown.

==Adding a category==
Most people organize their courses by department and college or by topic. Be sure to test the organizational scheme with a few users before entering a large number of courses, to save time in moving them later.

Adding categories is very simple:

#From the Site Administration block, click Courses then "Add/edit courses".
#At the top of the "Course Categories" page is a text area and an "Add new category" button. Type the name of your new category in the text area and click the button.

==Adding sub course categories==

Course sub-categories may be created by adding a new course category then using the "move category to" drop-down menu to move the category inside another category. Similarly, sub-sub-categories etc. may be created.

==Hiding categories==
[[Image:Hidden_categories.JPG|thumb|Hidden categories]]
Categories may be easily hidden or shown via ''Administration block > Courses > Add/edit courses''. Click on the icon to show or hide a category. Hidden categories are only visible to site administrators. By default, all courses inside a hidden category are not available for students to access, but you can go to ''Administration > Front Page >Front Page Settings'' and click the checkbox to 'Allow visible courses in hidden categories'.

==See also==

*[[Edit category settings]] in Moodle 1.9 onwards

[[Category:Course]]

[[pl:Dodaj/edytuj_kategorie]]
[[pt:Adicionar/editar categorias de disciplinas]]

Talk:Teaching FAQ

2008-01-10T13:44:37Z

Jaime:

==What shall we do here, then?==
I'm not sure I fully understand this page as some of these answers can be found by simply searching this site eg ''what is a metacourse'' and all of the ''setting up activities'' questions. I have also noticed pedogical pages in this wiki and there is a teacher overview page also which covers getting started / day to day type needs and jumps to pages with more depth. I am wondering where this article fits without simply explaining the same things in different ways. I think a teacher FAQ could be very useful but would be intersted in what others want from it before I roll my sleeves up :-) --[[User:Darren Smith|Darren Smith]] 00:52, 11 April 2006 (WST)
:Well, this page is a translation of a page in the Dutch Moodle.org area. There it intends to provide some answers to questions teachers ask regularly to Moodle administrators. I agree that probably all questions are answered elsewhere already, so that gives IMHO two options: delete the page, since everything already answered or create links to the explanation and even extend the page. I don't like the idea of rewriting everything here. Nothing is worse then keeping the same information up to date on different locations. --[[User:koen roggemans|koen roggemans]] 04:51, 26 April 2006 (WST)

:If this page is not deleted, why not just put in a link to some index or other MoodleDoc pages. Yes it is redundant but it is also user friendly. Sometimes new users (and old bald ones) don't know what to search on. FAQ might be such a search term a newbie might use.I will add one in Lesson --[[User:chris collman 2|chris collman 2]] 00:07, 20 July 2006 (WST)

This page shows too many unanswered questions. In my opinion, they'd better be deleted and we should just start up again with a short collection of questions about teaching practices with Moodle (I can start, if nobody objects) [[User:Jaime Villate|Jaime Villate]] 07:44, 10 January 2008 (CST)

Backup and restore FAQ

2008-01-10T13:06:46Z

Jaime: Typos fixed

{{FAQ}}
;Site backups
:Site backups, as explained in [[Upgrading_Moodle#Backup_important_data|upgrading Moodle]], are recommended in order to have all data saved with the best confidence and the shortest recovery time.

;Course backups
:Course backups, configured on the [[admin/backup|backup]] page, are more expensive in terms of time and CPU usage. The recovery time to have your site running again is longer. Course backups are useful for obtaining "fresh" copies of courses to be re-used or distributed individually, however they should never be used as a primary backup system (unless your hosting doesn't allow the preferred site backups). In order to make scheduled backups, you have to set up CRON to run periodically. Please refer to the [[Cron|cron instructions]].

==How do I backup my whole Moodle site?==

There are two main things you need to make a copy of - the database and the uploaded files. The Moodle scripts themselves are less important, since you can always download a fresh copy if you have to.

There are many ways to do such backups. Here is an outline of a little script you can run on Unix to backup the database (it works well to have such a script run daily via a cron task):

cd /my/backup/directory
mv moodle-database.sql.gz moodle-database-old.sql.gz
mysqldump -h example.com -u myusername --password=mypassword -C -Q -e -a mydatabasename > moodle-database.sql
gzip moodle-database.sql

For the files, you can use rsync regularly to copy only the changed files to another host:

rsync -auvtz --delete -e ssh mysshusername@example.com:/my/server/directory /my/backup/directory/

'''Character Encoding'''

When dumping the entire Moodle database, Administrators should be careful to watch for possible character encoding issues. In some instances, backups created with mysqldump or phpmyadmin may not properly encode all of the data resulting in spurious A characters. One solution is to use mySQL Administrator 1.1 or another tool that will force a UTF-8 dump of the data.

==How do I restore a backup of my whole Moodle site?==

If you have followed the above instructions and created a backup of a Moodle site, you may need to know how to restore the site backup you created. Here is a set of basic steps that make up the restore process.

1. Rename the original moodle directory to something different (so you still have it) and copy the backed up moodle directory or a newly downloaded moodle directory in its place.

2. If you are running mysql, a backup of the database should be a .sql, .gz or .tar.gz file. If it is .tar.gz or .gz you need to extract it until it is an sql file.

tar -xzvf moodlesqlfile.tar.gz

3. If you are running mysql, import the sql file back into a newly created database on the mysql server. Be careful here, some backups try to import right back into the same working database that moodle is connected to. This causes database problems that damage a Moodle installation. The best thing to do is make a new database, restore the backed up database into it, and change the Moodle config.php file to connect to this new database (this way you still have the original database).

once you have created the new database:
mysql -p new_database < moodlesqlfile.sql

==What data is not contained in course backups?==

By selecting all the options when setting up the backup you can include almost all the data in the course. However you should be aware of the fact that some things are not backed up:
* Quiz questions are only backed up if at least one question from their category has been added to a quiz.
* Scales are only backed up if they are used by at least one activity.

==The process ends with: "Error: An error occurred deleting old backup data". What should I do?==

This part of the backup (or restore) procedure tries to delete old info, used in previous executions, performing the following tasks:

* Delete old records from "backup_ids" table: Check the table exists, repair it and try again.

* Delete old records from "backup_files" table: Check the table exists, repair it and try again.

* Delete old files from "moodledata/temp/backup": Delete the dir completely and try again.

There are various ways of repairing tables, including using MySQL Admin.

==The process ends with: "XML error: not well-formed (invalid token) at line YYYY". What can I do?==

This problem can appear at any point in the restore process. It's caused when the XML parser detects something incorrect in the backup file that prevent correct operation. Usually, it's caused by some "illegal" characters added in the original course due to some copy/paste of text containing them (control characters, or invalid sequences...).

The best method to handle this issue is:

* Unzip the problematic backup file under one empty folder.

* Open the moodle.xml with Firefox. It will show you where (exact char) the problem is happening.

* Edit the moodle.xml file with some UTF8-compatible editor and delete such characters. Save changes.

* Test the moodle.xml file again with Firefox until no error was displayed.

* Zip everything again (all the folder contents but not the folder itself!).

* Restore the course. It should work now.

* Restore still not working? See the next question.

Also, if possible, it's highly recommended to solve those problems in the original course too from Moodle itself. Once "repaired" there, problems will be out if you create new backup files in the future.

==I Still get an XML error. How can I clean the borked XML file?==

In some cases XML backup files may contain characters causing the restore process to abort, even after the steps described in the previous question. In such cases you may want to try the following:

* Download the [http://repository.atlassian.com/atlassian-xml-cleaner/jars/atlassian-xml-cleaner-0.1.jar Atlassian XML Cleaner Utility] from the [http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Removing+invalid+characters+from+XML+backups JIRA Atlassian site].

* Unzip the problematic Moodle backup file under one empty folder. Moodle will create the course file folders as long as the unclean moodle.xml file. Please unzip using the Moodle unzip feature.

* Rename the unclean moodle.xml file to moodle-unclean.xml.

* If you don't have access to your Moodle server's command prompt, using the Moodle zip feature, zip the moodle-unclean.xml file only, download the zip file locally and unzip it. It is very important to download the xml file in zipped format to avoid unwanted character encoding when transferring from an operating system to another.

* Move the downloaded Atlassian XML Cleaner Utility in the same folder where is your moodle-unclean.xml file.

* Issue the following command from the command prompt:

java -jar atlassian-xml-cleaner-0.1.jar moodle-unclean.xml > moodle.xml

* If you launched the utility on your local computer, zip the just created (and hopefully cleaned) moodle.xml file and upload it in the same place from where you downloaded the moodle-unclean.xml file. Once uploaded, unzip it using the Moodle unzip feature.

* Zip everything again (all the folder contents but the folder itself!).

* Restore the course. It should work now.

==What does "Some of your courses weren't saved!!" mean?==

There are three possible causes of this problem:
# Error - this happens when the backup procedure has found an error and so hasn't finished the backup of a particular course. These are "controlled" errors and the scheduled backup continues with the next course.
# Unfinished - this happens when the backup procedure dies without knowing why. When the cron is next executed it detects that the last execution went wrong, and continues skipping the problematic course. A possible solution would be to raise the PHP/Apache limit in your installation (memory, time of execution...). By taking a look to your log tables you should be able to see if the "crash" is happening at exact time intervals (usually a problem with the max_execution_time php's variable), or if there is some exact point were all the courses are breaking (generally internal zip libraries, try to switch to external executables instead).
# Skipped - this happens when a course is unavailable to students and has not been changed in the last month (31 days). This isn't an error situation - it's a feature, especially useful for sites with many unavailable old courses, saving process time.

==How can I restore pre 1.6 non-ISO-8859-1 backups to Moodle 1.6 (Unicode)?==

{{Moodle 1.6}}Any backup files with contents which are not 100% ISO-8859-1 will be a problem to restore to Moodle 1.6 (and upwards) running under Unicode. Instead, please try the following:

# Make a clean install of Moodle 1.5.x (the latest version available)
# Restore all your courses there (they should work if they were working originally)
# Upgrade your site to Moodle 1.6 and run the UTF-8 migration script
# Backup your courses again

This will produce a new set of backup files that will be 100% UTF-8 and you will be able to use them with Moodle 1.6 without any problems.

==Why are some courses being skipped?==

{{Moodle 1.6}}From 1.6 onwards, course backups automatically skip courses which are unavailable to students AND have not been changed in the last month.

== See also ==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=128 Backup and Restore forum]
*[[Backup restore]] Version 1.6 description of screens for both
*[[Restore]] almost same as backup_restore
*[[Roll courses forward]] new Version 1.7 option
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66708 Scheduled backup fails] forum discussion including possible solution to "An error occured while copying files".

== External links ==

*[http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mysql/article.php/10897_3300511_2 Repairing Database Corruption in MySQL]

==See also==

*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=ufAmf_jm_p8 How to backup a whole Moodle site video]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Backup]]

[[es:FAQ Backup]]
[[pl:Backup FAQ]]
[[fr:FAQ de sauvegarde]]
[[ja:バックアップFAQ]]
[[pt:FAQ sobre cópias de segurança]]

Backup and restore FAQ

2008-01-10T12:49:44Z

Jaime: A misleading sentence corrected, and a few refinements.

{{FAQ}}
;Site backups
:Site backups, as explained in [[Upgrading_Moodle#Backup_important_data|upgrading Moodle]], are recommended in order to have all data saved with the best confidence and the shortest recovery time.

;Course backups
:Course backups, configured on the [[admin/backup|backup]] page, are more expensive in terms of time and CPU usage. The recovery time to have your site running again is longer. Course backups are useful for obtaining "fresh" copies of courses to be re-used or distributed individually, however they should never be used as a primary backup system (unless your hosting doesn't allow the preferred site backups). In order to make scheduled backups, you have to set up CRON to run periodically. Please refer to the [[Cron|cron instructions]].

==How do I backup my whole Moodle site?==

There are two main things you need to make a copy of - the database and the uploaded files. The Moodle scripts themselves are less important, since you can always download a fresh copy if you have to.

There are many ways to do such backups. Here is an outline of a little script you can run on Unix to backup the database (it works well to have such a script run daily via a cron task):

cd /my/backup/directory
mv moodle-database.sql.gz moodle-database-old.sql.gz
mysqldump -h example.com -u myusername --password=mypassword -C -Q -e -a mydatabasename > moodle-database.sql
gzip moodle-database.sql

For the files, you can use rsync regularly to copy only the changed files to another host:

rsync -auvtz --delete -e ssh mysshusername@example.com:/my/server/directory /my/backup/directory/

'''Character Encoding'''

When dumping the entire Moodle database, Administrators should be careful to watch for possible character encoding issues. In some instances, backups created with mysqldump or phpmyadmin may not properly encode all of the data resulting in spurious A characters. One solution is to use mySQL Administrator 1.1 or another tool that will force a UTF-8 dump of the data.

==How do I restore a backup of my whole Moodle site?==

If you have followed the above instructions and created a backup of a Moodle site, you may need to know how to restore the site backup you created. Here is a set of basic steps that make up the restore process.

1. Rename the original moodle directory to something different (so you still have it) and copy the backed up moodle directory or a newly downloaded moodle directory in its place.

2. If you are running mysql, a backup of the database should be a .sql, .gz or .tar.gz file. If it is .tar.gz or .gz you need to extract it until it is an sql file.

tar -xzvf moodlesqlfile.tar.gz

3. If you are running mysql, import the sql file back into a newly created database on the mysql server. Be careful here, some backups try to import right back into the same working database that moodle is connected to. This causes database problems that damage a Moodle installation. The best thing to do is make a new database, restore the backed up database into it, and change the Moodle config.php file to connect to this new database (this way you still have the original database).

once you have created the new database:
mysql -p new_database < moodlesqlfile.sql

==What data is not contained in course backups?==

By selecting all the options when setting up the backup you can include almost all the data in the course. However you should be aware of the fact that some things are not backed up:
* Quiz questions are only backed up if at least one question from their category has been added to a quiz.
* Scales are only backed up if they are used by at least one activity.

==The process ends with: "Error: An error occurred deleting old backup data". What should I do?==

This part of the backup (or restore) procedure tries to delete old info, used in previous executions, performing the following tasks:

* Delete old records from "backup_ids" table: Check the table exists, repair it and try again.

* Delete old records from "backup_files" table: Check the table exists, repair it and try again.

* Delete old files from "moodledata/temp/backup": Delete the dir completely and try again.

There are various ways of repairing tables, including using MySQL Admin.

==The process ends with: "XML error: not well-formed (invalid token) at line YYYY". What can I do?==

This problem can appear at any point in the restore process. It's caused when the XML parser detects something incorrect in the backup file that prevent correct operation. Usually, it's caused by some "illegal" characters added in the original course due to some copy/paste of text containing them (control characters, or invalid sequences...).

The best method to handle this issue is:

* Unzip the problematic backup file under one empty folder.

* Open the moodle.xml with Firefox. It will show you where (exact char) the problem is happening.

* Edit the moodle.xml file with some UTF8-compatible editor and delete such characters. Save changes.

* Test the moodle.xml file again with Firefox until no error was displayed.

* Zip everything again (all the folder contents but not the folder itself!).

* Restore the course. It should work now.

* Restore still not working? See the next question.

Also, if possible, it's highly recommended to solve those problems in the original course too from Moodle itself. Once "repaired" there, problems will be out if you create new backup files in the future.

==I Still get an XML error. How can I clean the borked XML file?==

In some cases XML backup files may contain characters causing the restore process to abort, even after the steps described in the previous question. In such cases you may want to try the following:

* Download the [http://repository.atlassian.com/atlassian-xml-cleaner/jars/atlassian-xml-cleaner-0.1.jar Atlassian XML Cleanr Utility] from the [http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Removing+invalid+characters+from+XML+backups JIRA Atlassian site].

* Unzip the problematic Moodle backup file under one empty folder. Moodle will create the course file folders as long as the unclean moodle.xml file. Please unzip using the Moodle unzip feature.

* Rename the unclean moodle.xml file to moodle-unclean.xml.

* If you don't have access to your Moodle server's command prompt, using the Moodle zip feature, zip the moodle-unclean.xml file only, download the zip file locally and unzip it. It is very important to download the xml file in zipped format to avoid unwanted charachter encoding when transferring from an operating system to another.

* Move the downloaded Atlassian XML Cleaner Utility in the same folder where is your moodle-unclean.xml file.

* Issue the following command from the command prompt:

java -jar atlassian-xml-cleaner-0.1.jar moodle-unclean.xml > moodle.xml

* If you launched the utility on your local computer, zip the just created (and hopefully cleaned) moodle.xml file and upload it in the same place from where you downloaded the moodle-unclean.xml file. Once uploaded, unzip it using the Moodle unzip feature.

* Zip everything again (all the folder contents but the folder itself!).

* Restore the course. It should work now.

==What does "Some of your courses weren't saved!!" mean?==

There are three possible causes of this problem:
# Error - this happens when the backup procedure has found an error and so hasn't finished the backup of a particular course. These are "controlled" errors and the scheduled backup continues with the next course.
# Unfinished - this happens when the backup procedure dies without knowing why. When the cron is next executed it detects that the last execution went wrong, and continues skipping the problematic course. A possible solution would be to raise the PHP/Apache limit in your installation (memory, time of execution...). By taking a look to your log tables you should be able to see if the "crash" is happening at exact time intervals (usually a problem with the max_execution_time php's variable), or if there is some exact point were all the courses are breaking (generally internal zip libraries, try to switch to external executables instead).
# Skipped - this happens when a course is unavailable to students and has not been changed in the last month (31 days). This isn't an error situation - it's a feature, especially useful for sites with many unavailable old courses, saving process time.

==How can I restore pre 1.6 non-ISO-8859-1 backups to Moodle 1.6 (Unicode)?==

{{Moodle 1.6}}Any backup files with contents which are not 100% ISO-8859-1 will be a problem to restore to Moodle 1.6 (and upwards) running under Unicode. Instead, please try the following:

# Make a clean install of Moodle 1.5.x (the latest version available)
# Restore all your courses there (they should work if they were working originally)
# Upgrade your site to Moodle 1.6 and run the UTF-8 migration script
# Backup your courses again

This will produce a new set of backup files that will be 100% UTF-8 and you will be able to use them with Moodle 1.6 without any problems.

==Why are some courses being skipped?==

{{Moodle 1.6}}From 1.6 onwards, course backups automatically skip courses which are unavailable to students AND have not been changed in the last month.

== See also ==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=128 Backup and Restore forum]
*[[Backup restore]] Version 1.6 description of screens for both
*[[Restore]] almost same as backup_restore
*[[Roll courses forward]] new Version 1.7 option
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66708 Scheduled backup fails] forum discussion including possible solution to "An error occured while copying files".

== External links ==

*[http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mysql/article.php/10897_3300511_2 Repairing Database Corruption in MySQL]

==See also==

*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=ufAmf_jm_p8 How to backup a whole Moodle site video]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Backup]]

[[es:FAQ Backup]]
[[pl:Backup FAQ]]
[[fr:FAQ de sauvegarde]]
[[ja:バックアップFAQ]]
[[pt:FAQ sobre cópias de segurança]]

Backup and restore FAQ

2008-01-10T11:05:51Z

Jaime: Added Moodle 1.6 template and link to Portuguese translation

{{FAQ}}
;Site backups
:Site backups, as explained in [[Upgrading_Moodle#Backup_important_data|upgrading Moodle]], are recommended in order to have all data saved with the best confidence and the shortest recovery time.

;Course backups
:Course backups, configured on the [[admin/backup|backup]] page, are more expensive in terms of time and CPU usage. The recovery time to have your site running again is longer. Course backups are useful for obtaining "fresh" copies of courses to be re-used or distributed individually, however they should never be used as a primary backup system (unless your hosting doesn't allow the preferred site backups). In order to make scheduled backups, you have to set up CRON to run periodically. Please refer to the [[Cron|cron instructions]].

==How do I backup my whole Moodle site?==

There are two main things you need to make a copy of - the database and the uploaded files. The Moodle scripts themselves are less important, since you can always download a fresh copy if you have to.

There are many ways to do such backups. Here is an outline of a little script you can run on Unix to backup the database (it works well to have such a script run daily via a cron task):

cd /my/backup/directory
mv moodle-database.sql.gz moodle-database-old.sql.gz
mysqldump -h example.com -u myusername --password=mypassword -C -Q -e -a mydatabasename > moodle-database.sql
gzip moodle-database.sql

For the files, you can use rsync regularly to copy only the changed files to another host:

rsync -auvtz --delete -e ssh mysshusername@example.com:/my/server/directory /my/backup/directory/

'''Character Encoding'''

When dumping the entire Moodle database, Administrators should be careful to watch for possible character encoding issues. In some instances, backups created with mysqldump or phpmyadmin may not properly encode all of the data resulting in spurious A characters. One solution is to use mySQL Administrator 1.1 or another tool that will force a UTF-8 dump of the data.

==How do I restore a backup of my whole Moodle site?==

If you have followed the above instructions and created a backup of a Moodle site, you may need to know how to restore the site backup you created. Here is a set of basic steps that make up the restore process.

1. Rename the original moodle directory to something different (so you still have it) and copy the backed up moodle directory or a newly downloaded moodle directory in its place.

2. If you are running mysql, a backup of the database should be a .sql, .gz or .tar.gz file. If it is .tar.gz or .gz you need to extract it until it is an sql file.

tar -xzvf moodlesqlfile.tar.gz

3. If you are running mysql, import the sql file back into a newly created database on the mysql server. Be careful here, some backups try to import right back into the same working database that moodle is connected to. This causes database problems that damage a Moodle installation. The best thing to do is make a new database, restore the backed up database into it, and change the Moodle config.php file to connect to this new database (this way you still have the original database).

once you have created the new database:
mysql -p new_database < moodlesqlfile.sql

==What data is not contained in course backups?==

By selecting all the options when setting up the backup you can include almost all the data in the course. However you should be aware of the fact that some things are not backed up:
* Quiz questions are only backed up if at least one question from their category has been added to a quiz.
* Scales are only backed up if they are used by at least one activity.

==Error: An error occurred deleting old backup data==

This part of the backup (or restore) procedure tries to delete old info, used in previous executions, performing the following tasks:

* Delete old records from "backup_ids" table: Check the table exists, repair it and try again.

* Delete old records from "backup_files" table: Check the table exists, repair it and try again.

* Delete old files from "moodledata/temp/backup": Delete the dir completely and try again.

There are various ways of repairing tables, including using MySQL Admin.

==XML error: not well-formed (invalid token) at line YYYY==

This problem can appear at any point in the restore process. It's caused when the XML parser detects something incorrect in the backup file that prevent correct operation. Usually, it's caused by some "illegal" characters added in the original course due to some copy/paste of text containing them (control characters, or invalid sequences...).

The best method to handle this issue is:

* Unzip the problematic backup file under one empty folder.

* Open the moodle.xml with Firefox. It will show you where (exact char) the problem is happening.

* Edit the moodle.xml file with some UTF8-compatible editor and delete such characters. Save changes.

* Test the moodle.xml file again with Firefox until no error was displayed.

* Zip everything again (all the folder contents but not the folder itself!).

* Restore the course. It should work now.

* Restore still not working? See the next paragraph.

Also, if possible, it's highly recommended to solve those problems in the original course too from Moodle itself. Once "repaired" there, problems will be out if you create new backup files in the future.

==Still XML error: how to clean xml borked file==

In some cases XML backup files may contain characters causing the restore process to abort, even after the steps described in the previous paragraph. In such cases you may want to try the following:

* Download the [http://repository.atlassian.com/atlassian-xml-cleaner/jars/atlassian-xml-cleaner-0.1.jar Atlassian XML Cleanr Utility] from the [http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Removing+invalid+characters+from+XML+backups JIRA Atlassian site].

* Unzip the problematic Moodle backup file under one empty folder. Moodle will create the course file folders as long as the unclean moodle.xml file. Please unzip using the Moodle unzip feature.

* Rename the unclean moodle.xml file to moodle-unclean.xml.

* If you don't have access to your Moodle server's command prompt, using the Moodle zip feature, zip the moodle-unclean.xml file only, download the zip file locally and unzip it. It is very important to download the xml file in zipped format to avoid unwanted charachter encoding when transferring from an operating system to another.

* Move the downloaded Atlassian XML Cleaner Utility in the same folder where is your moodle-unclean.xml file.

* Issue the following command from the command prompt:

java -jar atlassian-xml-cleaner-0.1.jar moodle-unclean.xml > moodle.xml

* If you launched the utility on your local computer, zip the just created (and hopefully cleaned) moodle.xml file and upload it in the same place from where you downloaded the moodle-unclean.xml file. Once uploaded, unzip it using the Moodle unzip feature.

* Zip everything again (all the folder contents but the folder itself!).

* Restore the course. It should work now.

==Some of your courses weren't saved!!==

There are three possible causes of this problem:
# Error - this happens when the backup procedure has found an error and so hasn't finished the backup of a particular course. These are "controlled" errors and the scheduled backup continues with the next course.
# Unfinished - this happens when the backup procedure dies without knowing why. When the cron is next executed it detects that the last execution went wrong, and continues skipping the problematic course. A possible solution would be to raise the PHP/Apache limit in your installation (memory, time of execution...). By taking a look to your log tables you should be able to see if the "crash" is happening at exact time intervals (usually a problem with the max_execution_time php's variable), or if there is some exact point were all the courses are breaking (generally internal zip libraries, try to switch to external executables instead).
# Skipped - this happens when a course is unavailable to students and has not been changed in the last month (31 days). This isn't an error situation - it's a feature, especially useful for sites with many unavailable old courses, saving process time.

==Restoring pre 1.6 non-ISO-8859-1 backups to Moodle 1.6 - Unicode==

Any backup files with contents which are not 100% ISO-8859-1 will be a problem to restore to Moodle 1.6 (and upwards) running under Unicode. Instead, please try the following:

# Make a clean install of Moodle 1.5.x (the latest version available)
# Restore all your courses there (they should work if they were working originally)
# Upgrade your site to Moodle 1.6 and run the UTF-8 migration script
# Backup your courses again

This will produce a new set of backup files that will be 100% UTF-8 and you will be able to use them with Moodle 1.6 without any problems.

==Why are some courses being skipped?==

{{Moodle 1.6}}From 1.6 onwards, course backups automatically skip courses which are unavailable to students AND have not been changed in the last month.

== See also ==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=128 Backup and Restore forum]
*[[Backup restore]] Version 1.6 description of screens for both
*[[Restore]] almost same as backup_restore
*[[Roll courses forward]] new Version 1.7 option
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66708 Scheduled backup fails] forum discussion including possible solution to "An error occured while copying files".

== External links ==

*[http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mysql/article.php/10897_3300511_2 Repairing Database Corruption in MySQL]

==See also==

*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=ufAmf_jm_p8 How to backup a whole Moodle site video]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Backup]]

[[es:FAQ Backup]]
[[pl:Backup FAQ]]
[[fr:FAQ de sauvegarde]]
[[ja:バックアップFAQ]]
[[pt:FAQ sobre cópias de segurança]]

MoodleDocs:Guidelines for contributors

2008-01-09T23:15:40Z

Jaime: Link to Portuguese version

{{Help}}
==Introduction==
* You are welcome to contribute to Moodle Docs. Find something that can be improved, either in content, grammar or formatting, and fix it!
* If you've not done so already, please [[Special:Userlogin|login]].
* Please note that all contributions are released here under [[License|GNU General Public License]].
* From Moodle 1.6 onwards, every page in Moodle has a link to a corresponding page in Moodle Docs. You can see this on [http://moodle.org moodle.org] and, from an administrator's perspective, on the [http://demo.moodle.com/ Moodle demo site].
* Please note that the [http://moodle.org/help.php?file=index.html Moodle help files] will remain in each language pack and so their text need not be included in this documentation.
* You are encouraged to illustrate documentation with screenshots. Please refer to the [[MoodleDocs:Style guide|style guide]] for further information.
* If you find any page requiring deletion, please type <code><nowiki>{{Deletion}}</nowiki></code> at the top of the page.

==Creating new pages==

* You are welcome to create pages for additional documentation. Simply type the name of your new page between double brackets <code><nowiki>[[New page name]]</nowiki></code> on an existing page and follow the link to start editing the new page. Alternatively, you may type in your browser address bar: <code><nowiki>https://docs.moodle.org/en/New_page_name</nowiki></code> (i.e. replace spaces in the new page name with underscores).
* Please choose a short name and capitalize the first word only (with a few exceptions, such as the word ''Moodle'').
* New developer documentation pages should be added to the ''Development namespace'' by typing <code>Development:</code> before the new page name i.e. <code><nowiki>[[Development:New page name]]</nowiki></code>.
* Please follow the [[MoodleDocs:Style guide|style guide]], in particular ensuring that new pages are categorised.
* Page titles may be changed in the future by redirecting/moving pages, as part of documentation restructuring.

==Inter-language linking==

* You are welcome to add inter-language links between pages in different languages. Simply type, for example, <code><nowiki>[[es:Corresponding page title in Spanish]]</nowiki></code> in the English MoodleDocs, or <code><nowiki>[[en:Corresponding page title in English]]</nowiki></code> in the [[:es:Portada|Spanish MoodleDocs]], at the bottom of the page, below the category link. Inter-language links will appear automatically in the "In other languages" block.

==Moodle version templates==

* When adding documentation about a new feature, please add a Moodle version template by typing, for example, <code><nowiki>{{Moodle 1.9}}</nowiki></code>.
* In addition to highlighting differences in Moodle versions, Moodle version templates automatically categorize articles into version categories, for example [[:Category:Moodle 1.9]].
* Templates for Moodle versions no longer available from [http://download.moodle.org/ Moodle downloads] can be removed and replaced with ordinary text, for example "From Moodle 1.5 onwards, ...".

== Page comments ==

* For comments about a particular page, and/or short discussions, please use the corresponding talk page (click on the page comments tab). Please sign and date your talk page contribution by typing four tildes <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>.
* For longer discussions about the documentation, please use the Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=5838 Documentation forum].

[[Category:MoodleDocs|Guidelines for contributors]]

[[es:MoodleDocs:Normas para colaboradores]]
[[fr:MoodleDocs:Recommandations pour contributeurs]]
[[ja:MoodleDocs:寄稿のガイドライン]]
[[ru:MoodleDocs:Путеводитель_для_разработчиков_документации]]
[[zh:MoodleDocs:贡献者指引]]
[[sv:MoodleDocs:Riktlinjer för bidrag]]
[[pt:MoodleDocs:Manual para colaboradores]]

Category:MoodleDocs

2008-01-09T22:29:37Z

Jaime: Added link to Portuguese version

An index of pages relating to Moodle documentation.

[[fr:Catégorie:MoodleDocs]]
[[pt:Categoria:MoodleDocs]]

Help:Contents

2008-01-09T22:14:43Z

Jaime:

{{Help}}

*You are welcome to explore Moodle Docs using the links on the [[Main Page|main page]] and/or browse the various [[Special:Categories|categories]]. Alternatively, you may try [[MoodleDocs:Searching|searching]] Moodle Docs.
*Please feel free to [[MoodleDocs:Guidelines for contributors|contribute]] to Moodle Docs and help create the best documentation for Moodle!
*If you wish to ask a question about Moodle, please visit the moodle.org [http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5 Using Moodle] forums.
*If you'd like to experiment with this wiki, please do so in the [[Sandbox|sandbox]].

[[Category:MoodleDocs]]

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[[fr:Aide:Contenu]]
[[ru:Справка:Содержание]]
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[[ar:مساعدة: محتويات]]
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[[pt:Ajuda:Conteúdo]]

Student FAQ

2008-01-09T00:56:21Z

Jaime: A typo fixed

{{FAQ}}

This article is intended to prepare teachers for the kinds of questions their students may ask about their Moodle courses. The article could also be given to students (either printed, copied electronically or simply linked to) but the contents may need to be modified depending upon the age / ability of the students concerned.

==Access and Navigation==

===Why can't I log in?===
There could be many reasons but the most probably is you have simply forgotton your password, are trying the wrong one or are entering it incorrectly. Some other things to think about include:
* Does you username or password contain a mixture of upper and lower case letter? It should be entered exactly
* Are cookies enabled on your browser

===How do I gain access to a course?===
Locate or search for the desired course (you can click 'All courses...' in the 'My courses' block) and click on the course name. If your teacher has given you an enrollment key, enter it when prompted, and click '''Enroll me in this course'''. Once you are enrolled in a course, it will appear under "My courses" any time that your are logged into that Moodle site.

===How do I jump between my courses?===

* 'My Courses' block if it has been added to the page you are on
* Go back to the homepage (see below) and then use the main course block (if it has been added!)

===How do I get back to the homepage?===

Use the navigation trail at the top left of the page or the button at the very bottom of the course

===How do I find course X?===
If you are not already enrolled in a course you can search for it by name and description.

==Course content==
===Where have all of the weeks / topics gone?===
You have probably clicked on the [[Image:One.gif]] icon. To reveal all of the other weeks / topics you need to click on the [[Image:All.gif]] icon which you will see in the right margin of the week / topic.
You can also use the dropdown box underneath the displayed week / topic to jump to a hidden section

==Emails and forums==

===Why am I not getting any e-mails and others are?===
Chances are your email address in your profile is either wrong or disabled. It could also be that you are not subscribed to the forums that are generating emails. AOL users may also not receive e-mails if the administrator has banned the use of AOL email addresses.

===How can I stop all of these e-mails?===
E-mails are an essential part of the way Moodle works. They are used to keep you up to date with what is going on. If you wish to reduce the amount of emails you get you could:
* Edit your profile and change your e-mail settings to digest
* Unsubscribe from non-essential forums (although they are there for a reason!)
* Disable your e-mail address in your profile although this is not recommended and may go against in house rules.

==Assignments and grades==

===Why is there no upload box?===
This is either because:
* The assignment has now closed
* The assignment is not yet open
* You already uploaded something and the settings prevent resubmissions

===How can I see my recent assignment feedback?===
There are many ways you can access their feedback.
The most common method is by simply going to the same place where you uploaded the work.
Another common method is to follow the link in the recent activity block (if the teacher has included it on the course).
Another method would be to access the grade book and then follow the link for the required assignment.
Depending upon how the assignment was set up, you may receive an email when it has been marked with a direct link to the feedback.

===Why is my course average so low?===
Don't panic! The Moodle gradebook takes into account unmarked and unsubmitted work. In other words, you start with zero and as you progress through the course and complete graded activities the percentage will steadily rise

==Quizzes==

===Which button do I press when I have finished a quiz?===
That depends upon what you want to do ....

==See also==
*[[Student documentation]]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=43084 AOL - no friend of education!] forum discussion

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[Category:Student]]
[[Category:FAQ]]

[[es:FAQ Estudiante]]
[[fr:FAQ d'étudiant]]

User:Jaime Villate

2008-01-07T13:42:17Z

Jaime:

Professor of Physics at the University of Porto. Responsible for the Portuguese translation of Moodle.

Translation

2006-05-26T14:50:27Z

Jaime: Updated the name of the CVS server, to reflect changes in Sourceforge

Moodle has been designed for internationalisation. Each 'string' or 'page' of text that is displayed as part of the interface is drawn from a set of language files.

== Structure of a Moodle language pack ==
{{Moodle 1.6}}
All Moodle language packs are located in the lang directory, with each language in a unique directory named the same as the language short name (en, fr, nl, es ...). Since Moodle 1.6, you will find the lang directory in your data folder with a clear notice they are UTF-8 language packs: es_utf8, fr_utf8. The default English language pack (en_utf8) is in ''moodle/lang'', along with a tiny non utf8 version (en) for during the 1.5 to 1.6 upgrade, prior to the database migrationproces.

All the main files are in this ''lang/xx_utf8'' folder, with .php extensions (eg ''moodle.php'', ''resource.php'' etc). These files contains short phrases, often called "strings". Each string supports variable substitution, to support variable ordering in different languages.

e.g. <code>$strdueby = get_string("assignmentdueby", "assignment", userdate($date));</code>

If a string doesn't exist in a particular language, then the equivalent in English will automatically be used instead.

There is also a help folder containing .html web pages for pop-up context-sensitive help.

In the folder install/lang/xx you will also find some language packs. These language packs contain a small summary of each language pack, containing only the strings needed for the installation process. These files are generated automatically every night by the download.moodle.org server and '''must not be changed manually'''. For translators this is a unusual experience, since changes you add to the strings used in the installation script will not be visible before a new download of your 1.6 installation and after 24 hours.

==Creating a new language pack==

If your language is not yet supported by Moodle, you may want to start a new translation. If you are starting a new language, please contact [[User:koen roggemans|Koen Roggemans]] our Translation Coordinator (''translation@moodle.org''). You may also like to post in the Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=43 Languages Forum].

All you need to do is create a new folder in the lang directory using the 2-letter code for your language. You can find these standard codes in ''lib/languages.php''. If you are making a local variation of another language, use the code of that language with an underscore and a meaningful two letter extension (e.g. pt for Portuguese and pt_br for Brasilian variation of the Portuguese language pack). If you are making a Unicode version add _utf8 at the end (eg sr_utf8). Language packs created with a new Moodle 1.6 or with a Moodle 1.6 in Unicode mode are always in Unicode and should get the _utf8 suffix.

Next, copy the ''langconfig.php'' from another language into your new directory. The one from the "en_utf8" folder is usually best.

You are now ready to start inserting new strings by editing your language... see below for details on this.

Note that your new language pack may not show up immediately on the dropdown list if under your site configuration you have langcache set to "Yes."

{{Moodle 1.6}}
Since Moodle 1.6, only UTF-8 is used as characterset. This setting is located in a string named "thischarset" in ''langconfig.php'' and should not be changed. All other settings for your language pack, as the notation of dates, the locale string, the direction etc. are in this file and can be changed there. Just be careful! ;-)

==Editing an existing language pack==

===Making small customisations===

If you just want to change a few things in the interface to suit your own site better, don't start editing one of the standard language packs. If you do then your changes will be overwritten next time you upgrade to a new Moodle.

Instead, use the instructions above for making a brand new language pack, add a string 'parentlanguage' (in ''langconfig.php'') with the code of the language that is most similar to yours. That language will be checked by Moodle for anything missing from yours.

In Moodle versions BEFORE 1.6, a good name for a local English variant could be "en_local", and the parent language would be defined as "en" or "en_us".

<nowiki>$string['parentlanguage'] = 'en';</nowiki>

Note that you also have to create a string 'thislanguage' in ''moodle.php'' for your "en_local" language pack:

<nowiki>$string['thislanguage'] = 'English at OCU';</nowiki>

In Moodle 1.5.x and earlier you would have to then make sure everyone chooses your new language pack. They can change it in their profiles or you can issue an SQL command to change everyone, and prevent them changing it by restricting the available languages on Administration >> Configuration >> [[Variables]].

{{Moodle 1.6}}
Starting in Moodle 1.6, the very best method is just to create a new language directory called "xxxx_local" where xxxx is the name of the language pack you want to modify (eg es_utf8_local or ja_utf8_local). This new local language pack will automatically be checked before the main one. The local pack only needs to contain the local changes (you don't need a complete copy of the language you are modifying). It will not appear in the language menus for selection and your users do not need to change their settings.

The 'parentlanguage' method described above for 1.5 still works, just in case you want to create more than one variant of one language. In this case, you still have to add the 'thislanguage' string, except in 1.6 you add it to the ''langconfig.php'' and not to ''moodle.php''.

===Translating the Moodle interface language files (the "string" files)===

# Log on to your Moodle server as an administrator.
# Go to Administration >> Configuration >> [[Language]], which is the language administration page.
# On this page you can choose your language from the menu, then choose "Compare and Edit Language".
# You should see forms you can edit for each file. If you do not, then you may have to make sure that the files are writeable - you may have to change file permissions in your web folder.
# The forms consist of three columns, the first is the name of each string, the second is that string in English, and the last is translation in the current language.
# Edit missing strings in each files (highlighted in colour), remembering to hit the "Save changes" button at the end of each form.
# It's OK to leave strings empty - Moodle will simply use the parent language for that string instead. You can define the parent language in langconfig.php, otherwise English is always used by default.
# A quick way to see all the missing strings is by using the button to "Check for missing strings". Leave the untranslated strings completely empty or this handy tool won't work.

===Translating the help files===

There is a built-in editor in Moodle to translate the help files. It uses the en_utf8 language pack as a reference language. You are strongly advised to use this editor: it cleans out some possible problems, it warns you for old translations and it marks (with stars in the drop down list) wich files are out of date and takes care of Unicode.
If you want another language than English as a reference (wich is not a good idea), you copy a help file from the reference language pack and paste it on the same location in your own language pack. Then use a plain text editor with Unicode support to translate the file, making sure not to modify any code in the file (there usually is no code, just HTML-tags). (DON'T USE A WORDPROCESSOR to write the help-files because these programs add too much rubbish to the files).
Don't leave untranslated help files or empty files in your language pack.

Take care to write the helpfiles XHTML-compliant. This means in short:

* All tags should be closed: <pre>lalala</pre>
* All elements should be nested: <pre> lalala lalala </pre>
* All elements and attributes must be lower case
* All atributes should be written in full and with quotes : <pre> lalala </pre>
* Empty elements must end with />: <pre> <hr /></pre>. You should add an extra space before the "/" symbol.
* An <img should have an alt="" (it can be empty) en must be closed like other empty elements with a space and /> like <pre><img alt="" src="picture.gif" /></pre>
* <?= and <? should be <pre><?php</pre>
* There should not be ANY font tags at all. <pre> <h1> <h2></pre> etc should be enough for the language files ...

None of the files in the help folder need a doc type, html, body, head opening and closing tags - these files are included with ''help.php''. The script will take care of welforming the pages. This means also there is not much room for HTML creativity! Please stick to the English example.
{{Moodle 1.6}}
The files in the docs folder must be completely XHTML compliant, including doc type, header etc. From Moodle 1.6 they will be moved to this wiki.

Clicking on "Check for missing strings" in the language administration screen will also show you what files you are missing. If you have missing files then Moodle will use the parent language instead, so don't leave copies of untranslated help files in your language pack or this handy tool won't work.

==Submitting your language pack to the Moodle project==

Sharing your translation with Moodle will ensure that you help other people who speak your language. Your interface language will be available in future versions of Moodle.

Simply archive your whole new language directory as a zip file and email it to ''translation@moodle.org''.

We will get back to you with further details.

Checklist you can use before committing:

* No empty files?
* No untranslated files or strings?
* Help files not edited with a wordprocessor?
* README file contains language, name and emailadress of the translator?
* Foldername is the right language code (check ''moodle\lib\languages.php'')?
* Does the language pack run errorfree on a testsite?
* Are the strings and files XHTML compliant?
* Does ''langconfig.php'' exists and is it correct?

==Maintenance of a standard language pack==

If you are committed to maintaining a language in Moodle, it's best to use [[CVS for Developers|Moodle CVS]] so that you have an up-to-date version of Moodle, and can easily "check in" your changes directly into the Moodle project.
{{Moodle 1.6}}
You should always use HEAD to do translation. Instead of modifying the lang pack within your main code tree as it was until Moodle 1.6, you will now be modifying the one within your dataroot/lang directory.

* Always check out the very latest Moodle code
* Upgrade your site. Of course you use a NON-PRODUCTION server for this.
* Go to your dataroot directory and check out the new lang directory from CVS there like this on Unix/Linux

cd moodledata (for example)
cvs -z3 -d:ext:me@moodle.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/moodle co lang

or like this with Tortoise on Windows,

right click on your dataroot folder, choose "CVS Checkout",
CVSROOT field: :ext:sfusername@moodle.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/moodle
Module: lang

* Continue editing languages from within the Moodle GUI as you did before Moodle 1.6.

To check them into CVS, just go into the dataroot/lang directory and commit your changes.

If you really want to continue updating the language packs for 1.5.x or earlier, then you should zip the folder of your langpack and mail it to ''translation@moodle.org''. CVS write access on moodle/lang/xx will be moved to lang/xx

Please contact ''translation@moodle.org'' if you need help setting this up.

==See also==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=43 Languages Forum] - news and discussion about issues that affect translations
*[[Translation credits]]
*To keep in touch with changes in the project on a day-to-day basis it is recommended that you subscribe to the [http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=30935 CVS mailing list]. This helps to keep your translation as close to the English text as possible.

[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:Language]]

[[es:Traducciones]]
[[nl:Vertalen]]