This is the README file for VenomBoard v1.0
---------------------------------------------------
VenomBoard is a web-discussion forum written entirely in php and html.  
This particular forum uses MySQL as it's database backend, although
the software could easily be adapted to work with other databases. This 
software comes with no warranty of any sort.  It should work on just 
about any system that fulfills the requirements listed below.  This 
software also is licensed under the GPL (Gnu General Public License).
The GPL is included with this distribution and is called gpl.txt.  

+--------------------------------+
|  System Requirements           |
+--------------------------------+
php 3.0.14 or better
MySQL 3.22 or better

+--------------------------------+
|  Developement Platform         |
+--------------------------------+
This software was developed and tested on the following system:
  Operating System: Redhat Linux 6.0
  PHP version: 3.0.14
  MySQL version: 3.22.32
  Architecture: pentium 200, w/ 48 megs of ram
This software has also been reported to work on the following systems:
  FreeBSD
  Redhat Linux 6.1

+--------------------------------+
|  Installation Notes            |
|    -see below for upgrades     |
+--------------------------------+
This software is packaged in tarball format.  This is because it is 
really the standard method of packaging and compressing downloadable
software such as this.

In order to install this software there are a few things you'll need to 
do.  They are:

1) Unpack the archive somewhere in your webspace with the following 
   command:
     tar -xzf venomBoard-latest.tar.gz

2) You will need to set up your database this can be accomplished using
   the file (which is included with this distribution) called forum.mysql
   Use the following command to do this:
    Login to your MySQL server's command line and type the following:
      mysql> create database <name of your database>
      mysql> \q
    Now make sure you have a user for that database which has the 
    permissions to select, insert, delete, update. A MySQL grant
    statement to do this would look like:
      grant select,insert,delete,update 
      on database.* 
      to user@localhost
      identified by 'password';      
    Now use the forum.mysql file to create the correct tables. Use the
    following to do this:
      mysql -u user -p password dbname < forum.mysql

3) Finally, you will need to edit two files: forum/db_misc.php3 and 
   forumadmin/db_misc.php3  In these two files you will need to fill in
   the appropriate information for mysqlhost mysqluser mysqlpassword and
   databasename in the db_connect function.

   As a suggestion, you should have a php file outside of your webspace
   that contains functions to return the host,username,password of your
   sql implementation. That way, your username and password are not listed
   anywhere in your webspace.  You can do this by using htaccess to 
   include this file in your webspace, or you can just put a statement
   like to following at the top of both of the db_misc.php3 files:
    require( "/path/to/your/file.php3" );

4) For security, you should probably rename the 'forumadmin' directory to 
   something else and protect that directory with htaccess or something.
   If you have questions on how to do this, please email me.

5) That's it, you should be up and running now.

+--------------------------------------------+
| Upgrading from version 1.0 to version 1.2  |
+--------------------------------------------+
To upgrade version 1.0 of venomboard do the following:

1) unpack the venomboard-1.2.tar.gz archive

2) Replace all the existing venomboard files with the new ones included
   with this release.  Also, there are several new files that need to be
   put into place.  Putting them into the corresponding directory should be
   sufficient.

3) Now you'll have to upgrade your database.  All we have to do for this
   particular upgrade is to create a new table.  Use the following command
   to do this:
     mysql -u user -p password dbname < 1.0-1.2_upgrade.mysql
   You'll have to replace user, password, and dbname with your own appropriate
   variables.  Also, the forum_upgrade.mysql file is included with this
   release.

+-------------------------------+
|  Questions and Comments       |
+-------------------------------+
If you have any questions or comments regarding this software, or if
you have a bug to report, send email to the following address:
 venom@venom600.org
      
+-------------------------------+
|  Change Log                   |
+-------------------------------+
04/28/2000 - Version 1.21 of VenomBoard.  This is a service release, since
             it seems that I left a few major bugs in the code for version 1.21.
             Oops.  They're fixed now.
04/27/2000 - Version 1.2 of VenomBoard.  I know I skipped a release number,
             but that's because I have slowly been upgrading the software
             on my own site.  So I know it works. This version of the soft-
             ware adds host blocking to the set of tools.  FQH and IP blocking
             work great, although I haven't had time to implement the full
             Domain blocking yet.

04/09/2000 - This is the first release of VenomBoard.  It is quite
             stable and useable as it is right now.  Most of the 
             administrative functionality is there right now, with the
             exception of the host blocking feature.  

+------------------------------+
|  ToDo List                   |
+------------------------------+
- I'd like to write a feature that displays the text of replys auto-
  matically when replying.
- It'd also be cool to be able to display the text of replys in a 
  different color when a poster replies to another post.
- I need to get the host blocking feature up and running so that if 
  spamming becomes a problem, the administrator can block certain hosts 
  from using the board.
- I'm sure I'll think of more features to add :) Suggestions are welcome.



