Note: This documentation is for an old version of Webinator. The latest documentaion is here.

Unix Download and Installation

For Unix platforms, download the webinator-5.1.tar.gz file, from the URL given to you during the registration procedure, to a temporary directory on your machine. (The number 5.1 in the filename may differ, if you are downloading a different version.) Then uncompress it, extract it, and run the install script using the following two commands:

gunzip <webinator-5.1.tar.gz | tar xvf -

sh ./install

Note: The Webinator install should preferably be run as the user that will actually run the software, not as root. The user should be the same one your web server uses to run CGI programs (typically a non-login user); consult your web server config files for details. This user must have permission to place and move files in the install directory and the web server tree. If you must run the install as root, it will ask you for the name of a non-root user that will be used to run Webinator. Note: Once installed, Webinator should never be run as root.

You will be asked several questions during the installation. For some of these questions, a default answer may appear in square brackets. Eg.:

Install dir [ENTER for /usr/local/morph3]:

In this case, if you just hit Enter without typing a path, the install will use the answer /usr/local/morph3 as if you'd typed that. Note: Just because a default answer is given, does not necessarily mean that is the correct or best answer for your particular environment. It is up to you to choose the default or enter your own value based on knowledge of your machine's setup.

You will be asked the following questions:

Install directory
This is the directory where Webinator will place its files and subdirectories. It should be a unique (empty) directory. If it does not exist the install script will ask permission to create it for you. The standard install directory is /usr/local/morph3; you should use this if at all possible to avoid potential path issues later. Only enter a different directory if you are specifically unable to install to the standard directory. Whatever directory you choose should be inaccessible to your web server (ie. outside its server and document directories): the install will place just the public files of Webinator in your web server tree later.
CGI directory
This is the directory from which your web server runs CGI programs. The install will create a symbolic link to the texis executable here. Note: Since Webinator runs as a CGI program your web server must be configured to run CGI programs. Consult your web server documentation and config files to find out how and where your server places CGI programs. For Apache servers it is typically done with a ScriptAlias directive. Note that this is the file path to your CGI directory, not the URL entered in a browser.
CGI URL prefix
This is the URL prefix to the CGI directory you just entered. In other words, it's the URL that you would enter in a browser to access a CGI program in that directory, but without the program name.
For example, assume you already have a CGI program findit installed on this machine, and you access it via the URL http://www.mysite.com/cgi-bin/findit. You would enter /cgi-bin as your URL prefix. If your site uses virtual hosts, or runs on a non-standard port, you can enter a full URL instead (eg. http://www.myothersite.com:2001/cgi-bin).
If you want to start over with a new CGI directory (previous question), then enter /newdir to back up a step.
CGI extension
This is the filename extension that CGI programs have in the URL. On some web servers, instead of just one directory for CGI programs, any program with a special extension such as .cgi at the end signifies a CGI program. If this is true for the CGI URL prefix you've selected, enter it here. For example, if your CGI programs are named findit.cgi or shop.cgi, then you might enter .cgi as the extension. (This may be the case for Apache servers if CGI is set up with an AddHandler cgi-script directive instead of ScriptAlias.) If your programs do not have an extension in the URL, type none.
Webinator admin password
This is the password for the default Webinator administration account. This password is used to control access to your Webinator walks, so choose a password with care, and ensure that only authorized administrators know it. (Once installed, you can create multiple administration accounts with different passwords if you desire, from the web-based admin interface.) Under some circumstances on some OSes, setting the password from the install may fail. Don't worry: you will be asked to set the password the first time you access the administrative interface.

Once the installation has completed successfully, you can remove the tar and install files, as they are no longer needed:

rm -f install webinator-5.1.tar.gz webinator.tar install.sum webinator.sum

Note: If you move your web server directories around or change your CGI configuration after installing Webinator, you will have to re-install it.