Can't Login - No Error

[SaintPaul]

Hi,

I have just installed dotProject on a SuSe box running apache 2 and php 4.x.

After the installation, I attempt to login for the first time with 'admin' and 'passwd' but the page simply refreshes clearing out the input boxes.

I do not receive any error message, my cookies are turned on and I am getting a cookie from the site.

Any help would be great!

[pedroa]

Hi SaintPaul...

How's Saint Peter and the rest of the bunch?

Sorry for not answering sooner, I have been very very busy, and since the forums does not make hands meet here, I got to catch my fish first and help the rest of the flock later...

Your friend sar has just bought a free ride for you to get your dotProject properly working from me... so lets have some fun.

Tell me a thing (or two):

How did you install dotProject, step by step as if I were really dumb (which occasionally I am), like "first I downloaded the zip file from sf, then I unzipped it to..." and so on and blah blah blah forth.

Thank you very much and enjoy the ride...

Pedro A.

[ugaMack]

I'm having the same problem... I'll run you through what I did.

First my system:
Windows Server
Apache 2.0.59
PHP 5.1.4
MySQL 4.1.7

--Basically, I followed the online instructions
I downloaded dotproject-2.0.4.tar.gz
Moved it to the server and decompressed the file.
I used phpMyAdmin to create a database named "projects"
In my browser I navigated to "dotproject/install"
Noticed my Session Save Path was not set properly
Noticed the Session AutoStart was not on
Opened my php.ini file
uncommented this line -- session.save_path = "/tmp"
changed this line -- session.auto_start = 0 -- to -- session.auto_start = 1
Clicked "Start Installation"
Left DB type as MySQL - recommended
I entered the DB hostname, DB name, DB username, DB password
Left the checkboxes unchecked
Clicked "install db & write cfg

I received no errors.

I clicked the "login & config" link, but when I try to login I get the exact same result that SaintPaul had.

I viewed the DB using phpMyAdmin again and it appears as though the default admin user has been setup properly. The admin user exists in the users tabel and the permissions table shows the following:

permission_id = 1
permssion_user = 1
permission_grant_on = all
permission_item = -1
permission_value = -1

Thanks for any help

[pedroa]

"I used phpMyAdmin to create a database named "projects""

Did you just created or also populated? if the first ok if the second then drop it, delete the includes/config.php file and fire the installer again but don't create/populate anything this time.

What do you get afterall? a Login Failed screen or a white screen of death (WSOD)?

Cheers,

Pedro A.

[ugaMack]

I just created the db, no population.

I get what SaintPaul describes. When I go to the login page I enter "admin" & "passwd" and click login, the page refreshes with the input fields emptied. No white screen, no error messages. It looks exactly the same as when I first arrive at the page.

Thanks

EDIT
----------
Just for the heck of it, I dropped the db & deleted the config file. Then I went through the same installation process without first creating the DB. I let the install do the creation. Unfortunately, I had the exact same result.

[ugaMack]

Looks like the issue is with the php.ini file

Changed the session.hash_bits_per_character from 5 to 4, and it is now working.

[bosco500]

Looks like the issue is with the php.ini file

Changed the session.hash_bits_per_character from 5 to 4, and it is now working.

ugsMack you are the MAN! I've been fighting with this issue for days. Thank you very much.

Just so I know, what exactly does the session.hash_bits_per_character do?

[pedroa]

http://www.php.net/session

It affects the way MD5 works, so the password hashes stored in the database when this directive is other than 4 will never match the users input MD5(ed) passwords.

Again this is a php 5 issue, this directive is available since php5 but by default this directive should be 4, so it may well not affect most people, only the folks that explicitly like trouble :)

Pedro A.

[ugaMack]

http://www.php.net/session

It affects the way MD5 works, so the password hashes stored in the database when this directive is other than 4 will never match the users input MD5(ed) passwords.

Again this is a php 5 issue, this directive is available since php5 but by default this directive should be 4, so it may well not affect most people, only the folks that explicitly like trouble :)

Pedro A.

I'm not sure how accurate that statement is. Our installation of PHP 5.1.4 had this set at 5 by default.

[ugaMack]

ugsMack you are the MAN! I've been fighting with this issue for days. Thank you very much.

Just so I know, what exactly does the session.hash_bits_per_character do?

Glad to hear it.

It's good to finally give help for once, instead being on the receiving end.

[pedroa]

I'm not sure how accurate that statement is. Our installation of PHP 5.1.4 had this set at 5 by default.

Well, that's what you read from php.net Table 1. Session configuration options.
I may be getting old but I am fortunatly not blind :)

Eitherway, thanks for reporting the problem and solution, it is indeed appreciated.

Pedro A.

Table 1. Session configuration options
Name Default Changeable Changelog
session.save_path "" PHP_INI_ALL
session.name "PHPSESSID" PHP_INI_ALL
session.save_handler "files" PHP_INI_ALL
session.auto_start "0" PHP_INI_ALL
session.gc_probability "1" PHP_INI_ALL
session.gc_divisor "100" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.3.2.
session.gc_maxlifetime "1440" PHP_INI_ALL
session.serialize_handler "php" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cookie_lifetime "0" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cookie_path "/" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cookie_domain "" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cookie_secure "" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.0.4.
session.cookie_httponly "" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 5.2.0.
session.use_cookies "1" PHP_INI_ALL
session.use_only_cookies "1" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.3.0.
session.referer_check "" PHP_INI_ALL
session.entropy_file "" PHP_INI_ALL
session.entropy_length "0" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cache_limiter "nocache" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cache_expire "180" PHP_INI_ALL
session.use_trans_sid "0" PHP_INI_ALL PHP_INI_ALL in PHP <= 4.2.3. PHP_INI_PERDIR in PHP < 5. Available since PHP 4.0.3.
session.bug_compat_42 "1" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.3.0.
session.bug_compat_warn "1" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.3.0.
session.hash_function "0" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 5.0.0.
session.hash_bits_per_character "4" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 5.0.0.
url_rewriter.tags "a=href,area=href,frame=src,form=,fieldset=" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.0.4.

[ugaMack]

Well, that's what you read from php.net Table 1. Session configuration options.
I may be getting old but I am fortunatly not blind :)

Eitherway, thanks for reporting the problem and solution, it is indeed appreciated.

Pedro A.

Table 1. Session configuration options
Name Default Changeable Changelog
session.save_path "" PHP_INI_ALL
session.name "PHPSESSID" PHP_INI_ALL
session.save_handler "files" PHP_INI_ALL
session.auto_start "0" PHP_INI_ALL
session.gc_probability "1" PHP_INI_ALL
session.gc_divisor "100" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.3.2.
session.gc_maxlifetime "1440" PHP_INI_ALL
session.serialize_handler "php" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cookie_lifetime "0" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cookie_path "/" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cookie_domain "" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cookie_secure "" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.0.4.
session.cookie_httponly "" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 5.2.0.
session.use_cookies "1" PHP_INI_ALL
session.use_only_cookies "1" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.3.0.
session.referer_check "" PHP_INI_ALL
session.entropy_file "" PHP_INI_ALL
session.entropy_length "0" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cache_limiter "nocache" PHP_INI_ALL
session.cache_expire "180" PHP_INI_ALL
session.use_trans_sid "0" PHP_INI_ALL PHP_INI_ALL in PHP <= 4.2.3. PHP_INI_PERDIR in PHP < 5. Available since PHP 4.0.3.
session.bug_compat_42 "1" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.3.0.
session.bug_compat_warn "1" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.3.0.
session.hash_function "0" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 5.0.0.
session.hash_bits_per_character "4" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 5.0.0.
url_rewriter.tags "a=href,area=href,frame=src,form=,fieldset=" PHP_INI_ALL Available since PHP 4.0.4.



Glad to "hear" you're not blind. It would be difficult to lend a hand on these forums if you were.

Something is wrong somewhere. Either the documentation on php.net needs to be brought up to date or the Windows binary package needs to be adjusted.

All I know is this. We did a fresh install of PHP on a new webserver, migrated dotProject over and the problem started. Then we did a diff of the php.ini on the old server with the php.ini on the new server and saw the session.hash_bits_per_character was set to 5 on the new install.

By the way, just so you know, I'm not blind either. :)

[kenlyle]

What's the exact fix? It sounds like change one byte in the php.ini from 5 to 4?

But what of us who are on shared servers? php.ini is a server wide setting, no?

Can I some how ask my host(gator) to change this setting just for me?

Thanks,
Ken