Dot Matrix/TGPDevil TGP System Disclaimer & Terms of Use
LICENSOR's grant to LICENSEE of the right to use and possess the copy of the licensed materials described on the cover page of this License shall be subject to the following additional terms and conditions:
1. Definitions of Terms Used.
A. "LICENSOR" means Dot Matrix Web Services/Dot Matrix Adult Web Services/TGPDevil.com, the holder of the copyright on the Licensed Software.
B. "LICENSEE" means the individual or the entity licensing the copy of the Software described on the front part of this Agreement. Only those persons in LICENSEE's organization having a need to use the Software in the normal course of their employment are authorized to use the Software in the operation of the business of LICENSEE on the Licensed Site and under the terms of this Agreement.
C. "LICENSED SITE" is the specific domain name and/or server for which this software is intended to be used on. LICENSEE is only licensed to use this Software to render services from that SITE. Use of the Software or the rendering of services using the Software on any other SITE is prohibited and is a violation of this Agreement.
D. "SOFTWARE" is the set of copyrighted and object code computer programs licensed hereunder, and to be provided by LICENSOR, from time to time. The Software is an unpublished work, copyrighted by LICENSOR under the United States copyright laws.
E. "DOCUMENTATION" means any Software manual and any written or printed technical material provided by LICENSOR with the Software to explain the operation of the Software and aid in its use.
F. "LICENSE" means this License Agreement and the rights and obligations which it creates under the United States copyright laws and other applicable state or federal law.
G. "DERIVATIVE" means any computer software program which may be developed containing any part of the Software, regardless of the form of the resulting code, the media it is carried on, or its intended use.
H. "TRADE SECRET" means the program structure, logic, data structures, design, processes, procedures, formulae, and algorithms contained in the ordered set of instructions which together constitute the Software that may be disclosed by either the Software or the Documentation. Trade Secret does not include information which is publicly known through no fault of LICENSEE or LICENSEE'S employees, contractors, or agents, nor does it include information which is lawfully received by LICENSEE from a third party not bound in a confidential relationship to LICENSOR, nor information disclosed by LICENSOR to a third party without obligation of confidentiality.
I. "Monitored User". Means any computer or computer terminal located at the Licensed Site upon which the Software is installed or used.
2. Grant of License and Licensee's Agreements.
2.1 In consideration of LICENSEE's payment of the License and setup fees, and of LICENSEE's agreement to abide by the terms and conditions of this License, LICENSOR grants LICENSEE a non-transferable right to use the Software, only on the LICENSED SITE, and to render services using the Software and Documentation within the LICENSED SITE during the term of this Agreement and any renewals thereof. LICENSOR retains the right to terminate this License, at any time, should LICENSEE violate any of its provisions. LICENSOR reserves all rights not expressly granted to LICENSEE.
2.2 LICENSEE agreed to pay LICENSOR all the License and setup fees on or before their due dates.
2.3 LICENSEE agrees to comply with the terms and conditions of this License and agrees not to use the Software and Documentation licensed hereunder in any way beyond the scope of this License. LICENSEE agrees to take all reasonable steps to protect the Software and Documentation from theft or from use by others contrary to the terms of this License. LICENSEE agrees not to disclose or use any Trade Secrets which are provided to LICENSEE in LICENSEE's Software, technical manuals, or Documentation except in accordance with the terms of this License. In addition, LICENSEE agrees not to seek to discover or to disclose any of LICENSOR's Trade Secrets by disassembling, decompiling, or otherwise reverse engineering the Software.
2.4 LICENSEE agrees to return the original and all existing copies of the Software and Documentation to LICENSOR within five (5) days after the termination date set forth in the written notice of LICENSOR's termination of this License for any authorized reason, whether a breach or expiration under the Agreement.
2.5 To the extent provided for and allowed by the terms of paragraph 5.2 in the section entitled "Term and Termination" in the front part of this Agreement, LICENSOR consents to the assignment of this License and any existing or future customer service agreements LICENSEE may enter into under this License.
3. Ownership of Software. An express condition of this License is that LICENSOR shall at all times retain ownership of the Software recorded on the original media copy or copies and all subsequent copies of the Software, regardless of the form or media in or on which the original and other copies may subsequently exist. This License is not a sale of the Software data content recorded on LICENSEE's copy or any subsequent copy. All risk of loss, however, shall be borne by LICENSEE. LICENSOR agrees to provide a replacement copy of any destroyed Software at LICENSOR's cost of reconstructing the same, plus 20% for administrative costs, upon request of LICENSEE.
4. Possession and Copying of the Software. LICENSEE agrees that the Software will only be displayed or read into or used on computers required to render services within the Licensing Territory. LICENSEE agrees to make no more than two (2) copies of the Software for archival or backup purposes only, all of which copies (together with the original) shall be kept in the possession or direct control of LICENSEE and within the Licensing Territory. LICENSEE agrees to place a label on the outside of each backup copy showing the program name, version number, and the LICENSOR's copyright and trademark notices, in the same form as they appear on the original licensed copy.
5. Transfer or Reproduction of Software.
5.1 LICENSEE is NOT licensed to rent, lease, transfer, network, reproduce, display, or distribute this Software, except as specifically provided in Paragraph 2.4 of this License Agreement. LICENSEE acknowledges that unauthorized reproduction of copies of the Software may constitute a serious crime; such actions may also result in a suit for damages, injunctive relief, and attorney fees.
5.2 Except as provided in Paragraph 2.4 of the second part of this Agreement entitled "Detailed Licensing Terms" and as provided for by the terms of Paragraph 5.2 in the first part of this Agreement entitled "Term and Termination," LICENSEE may not transfer any copy of the Software and Documentation to another person or entity outside LICENSEE's immediate organization, on either a permanent or a temporary basis without the express written consent of LICENSOR. If LICENSEE attempts an unauthorized transfer, this License shall terminate immediately on notice from LICENSOR.
5.3 This License shall terminate immediately on notice from LICENSOR in the event of a sale or other transfer of LICENSEE's service business without the express written consent of LICENSOR. In addition, this License shall terminate immediately on notice from LICENSOR in the event of a sale or other transfer of stock, partnership, or other interests in LICENSEE, that results in LICENSEE's original shareholders or their families owning, in the aggregate, less than fifty-one percent (51%) of the voting stock of the LICENSOR or any permitted transferee without the express written consent of LICENSOR. Any required consents shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed.
5.4 If a transfer is made without a required approval, LICENSEE shall return the Software and Documentation to LICENSOR, including all copies, within five (5) days of receiving notice of termination from LICENSOR. In the event of an authorized transfer of the service business, the transferee shall sign a new license for the Software and Documentation directly with LICENSOR on LICENSOR's then current terms and conditions. There will be no change in the licensing terms, except that the transferee shall pay LICENSOR a transfer and retaining fee of $500.00, due upon approval by LICENSOR. LICENSOR retains the right to terminate this License and to take legal action if any of these conditions are violated.
6. Derivatives, Adaptations, and Modifications to the Software. LICENSEE is prohibited from making any modifications to the Software and Documentation and from creating any derivative of the Software and Documentation. If any other changes or adaptations are desired, LICENSEE may request assistance from LICENSOR; however, LICENSOR shall have no obligation to provide customizing services, other than those required for initial installation and for updates as provided from time to time.
7. Limited Warranty and Disclaimer of Liability. LICENSOR HAS NO CONTROL OVER THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH LICENSEE USES THE SOFTWARE. THEREFORE, LICENSOR DOES NOT AND CANNOT WARRANT THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED BY ITS USE. HOWEVER, LICENSOR PROVIDES THE FOLLOWING LIMITED PERFORMANCE WARRANTIES:
7.1 LICENSOR warrants that the magnetic media, which the Software and Documentation is recorded on and the Documentation provided with it, are free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use. LICENSOR warrants that the Software itself will perform substantially in accordance with the specifications set forth in the Documentation provided with the Software.
7.2 The above warranties are made for a period of thirty (30) days from the date each item of Software and Documentation licensed hereunder is delivered to LICENSEE.
7.3 LICENSOR will replace any magnetic media or any copy of the Documentation which proved defective in materials or workmanship without charge.
7.4 LICENSOR will either replace or repair any Software that does not perform in accordance with the specifications set forth in the Documentation with a corrected copy of the Software or corrective code. In the case of an error in the documentation, LICENSOR will correct errors in the Documentation without charge by providing addenda or substitute pages.
7.5 If LICENSOR is unable to replace defective Documentation or defective media or if LICENSOR is unable to provide corrected Software or corrected Documentation within a reasonable time, LICENSOR will either replace the Software with a functionally similar program or refund the fees paid for the License.
7.6 LICENSOR does not warrant that the functions contained in the Software will meet LICENSEE's requirements or that the operation of the Software will be uninterrupted or error free. The warranty does not cover any media or Documentation which has been subjected to damage or abuse. The Software warranty does not cover any Software which has been altered or changed in any way by any one other than LICENSOR. LICENSOR is not responsible for problems caused by changes in the operating characteristics of the computer hardware or operating system which are made after the delivery of the Software or for problems that occur as a result of the use of LICENSOR's Software in conjunction with non-LICENSOR software.
7.7 NO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE SHALL APPLY TO THE MEDIA, THE DOCUMENTATION OR THE SOFTWARE PROGRAM.
7.8 LICENSOR SHALL NOT IN ANY CASE BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT OR OTHER SIMILAR DAMAGES ARISING FROM BREACH OF WARRANTY, BREACH OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY EVEN IF LICENSOR OR ITS AGENT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
7.9 This warranty allocates risks of product failure between LICENSEE and LICENSOR. LICENSOR's Software and Documentation pricing reflects this allocation of risk and the limitations of liability contained in this warranty. The warranties set forth above are in lieu of all other express warranties, whether oral or written, and the remedies set forth above are LICENSEE's sole and exclusive remedies. The agents and employees of LICENSOR are not authorized to make modifications to this warranty, or additional warranties binding on LICENSOR. Accordingly, additional statements such as advertising or presentations, whether oral or written, do not constitute warranties by LICENSOR and should not be relied upon.
8. General Conditions.
8.1 The validity and performance of this License shall be governed by the law of the State of Kansas, except as to copyright and trademark matters which are covered by United States laws and international treaties. This License Agreement is deemed entered into at the LICENSOR'S Address.
8.2 The failure of any party to enforce any of the provisions hereof shall not be construed to be a waiver of the right of such party thereafter to enforce any such provisions.
8.3 The expiration or termination of this License shall not affect provisions of this License which by their terms and meaning are of a continuing nature such as the provisions relating to the use or disclosure of trade secrets.
8.4 This License sets forth the entire understanding and agreement between LICENSOR and LICENSEE as to the subject matter hereof and merges all prior advertising, discussions, proposals, purchase orders, agreements, communications, and representations between them, whether written or oral. None of the parties shall be bound by any conditions, definitions, warranties, or representations with respect to any of the terms or conditions hereof other than as expressly provided in this License. This License may only be modified by a written agreement made subsequent to the date of this License and signed by an officer of LICENSOR and LICENSEE.
8.5 If any provision of this License agreement shall be held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be contrary to law, the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
8.6 Headings included in this Agreement are for convenience only and are not to be used to interpret the agreement between the parties.
8.7 This License shall be deemed effective from the date LICENSEE receives the Software and Documentation, and shall be valid only so long as LICENSEE uses or possesses the Software and Documentation, unless cancelled by LICENSOR for a violation of its terms.
8.8 Recognizing the unusual nature of software and trade secrets, LICENSEE acknowledges LICENSOR's right to immediate injunctive relief in case of any breach of this Agreement by LICENSEE, in addition to any other remedy in damages.
8.9 Each and all of the provisions of this Agreement shall be binding upon and shall inure to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors and assigns.
Requirements
UNIX/Linux server
MySQL
Perl 5 or higher
Perl DBI (Database Interface)
DBD::mysql (MySQL database driver)
Contents:
admin.cgi - Administration script.
blocker.cgi - Script that will set a cookie in browsers. Blocks auto submitters.
categories.cgi - Script that will display a drop down list of categories.
config.pl - Configuration script.
generate.pl - Script that will regenerate the gallery pages.
Police.cgi - Script to handle user reports of abuse.
setup.cgi - Setup script. This script will create tables in your database.
verify.cgi - Script used to help verify a users email address.
bott.pl - Link checking bot.
Files directory contains miscellaneous data files and templates. You should not need to manually edit any of these files. Templates can be modified from the admin panel.
submit.shtml - The document that will be used to gather gallery submissions.
Installation
Installation should be fairly simple. All you will need is an FTP client and a basic text editor and about 10 minutes.
Create a directory within your cgi-bin. For example, we'll call ours “tgp”.
Upload the contents (in ASCII mode) of the CGI directory to this new directory on your server.
Chmod all scripts (.cgi and .pl files) to 755 and the files directory and its contents to 777.
Edit config.pl in your favorite text editor. The variables are explained below.
$dbhost - The host name of your MySQL server. This can usually be left as localhost.
$dbport - The port MySQL uses. The default port is 3306. This can usually be left as is.
$user - The username for your MySQL database.
$pass - The password for your MySQL database.
$database - The name of your MySQL database.
$mailprog - The location of sendmail on your server and any switches you'd like to use (such as -t).
$adminemail - Your email address. This is the email address messages sent from your script will be from. Don't forget to escape the @ with a \ (e.g. user\@domain.com).
$sitename - The name of your site.
$reciplink - If you're going to require a reciprocal link, this is the text the link robot will look for. It will match anything as long as the text specified exists. If you entered “domain.com”, the script would consider a match if http://www.domain.com is found as well as http://domain.com.
$adminusername - The username to access the administration panel.
$adminpassword - The password to access the administration panel.
$requireapproval - Do you want to approve posts before they are added to the database? You should always leave this set to “yes”. If you set it to “no” then every post submitted will be allowed.
$timefix - If you are in a different time zone from your server, set this to compensate. For instance, your web server is 1 hour faster than your time, set this to -1. You may also set it to positive numbers (no + sign) If your server is in the same time zone as you, just set this to 0.
$zone - Title for your time zone. You can enter something like “CST” or “Pacific”.
$main_html - The full system path to the document that will become the main page of your TGP. Make sure to include the name of the document!
$cat_html - The full system path to the directory that will contain your archives pages.
$filesdir - The full system path to the files directory that is in your cgi-bin.
$adminurl - The URL to the admin.cgi script.
$cgiurl - The URL to the directory containing all of the DM TGP scripts.
Once you have all of your variables set and have uploaded the modified config.pl, call setup.cgi in your browser. This should create all of the tables in your MySQL database. If this script ran successfully, you should see a green box at the bottom of the page letting you know that everything is ready to go!
Now you'll need to upload the submit.shtml form to your server. Put this wherever you'd like. This is the page webmasters will use to submit their galleries to you. Make sure the form action points to submit.pl. There are also two SSI (Server Side Include) tags contained on this form. Make sure it calls your categories.cgi and blocker.cgi scripts. If you don't think you will ever want to block auto-submission programs, you may omit the blocker.cgi SSI call.
That's it! You're done!
Usage
Dot Matrix TGP system comes with categories, templates, tags and designs actually used on GiggleBerries.com TGP which has acted and will continue to act as a development and testing ground for Dot Matrix TGP. You will need to spend some time customizing the system to fit your site. Using the system is extremely simple once you get the initial setup completed.
Categories
The first thing you'll probably want to do is set up some categories or remove some of the categories that came pre-installed. To do this, log in to the admin panel and click “Manage Categories”.
Here you can create or remove categories. To remove a category, just click the “Delete Category” button next to the undesired category.
To add a new category, enter a descriptive name in the “Category Name” box. In the “Category Tag” box, enter a single, descriptive word that will identify the category. DO NOT USE SPACES OR SPECIAL CHARACTERS IN THIS BOX! This “Category Tag” is used for several things within the script. Most importantly, it is used as the document name for the individual category archives.
Template Tags
Template tags are used to display a specified number of links from the specified category.
Click on “Manage Template Tags” in the admin panel. From this screen you will be able to add, remove and modify tags. To add a new tag, first choose the category from which you would like to display links. For this example, we're going to make a tag named AMATEURS30 to display the first 30 links from the “Amateurs” category. In the dropdown menu, choose the Amateurs category. Then in the tag box, enter AMATEURS30 (or whatever you want to name your tag). In the “Start At” box, enter 0 (the first link is always number 0, not 1) and in the “Show How Many” box, enter 30.
Another example: We want to start with link 31 from the Amateurs category and show the next 30 links. Choose a tag name, for example AMA2. Then in the start at box, enter 31. For show how many, you guess it, enter 30.
TIP: Make a printed list of all of your Tags and what they do!
HTML Templates
HTML templates are the heart of this program. You can customize all the pages this program generates. When logged in to your admin panel, click “Modify Templates”. In the text area, you will be able to modify all of the pages your TGP will present to users. Most of the templates should be self-explanatory, but we'll spend some time on the “Main Gallery Page” and the “Archive Pages” templates.
To edit a template, just choose the template you'd like to modify from the dropdown menu and then click “Open Template”. Make any changes you'd like and then click “Save Template” at the bottom of the text area.
Main Gallery Page
This template is the heart of the script. You should spend more time modifying this template than doing anything else. This is where you will be using the template tags you created in the last step. If you'd like to display the first 30 links from the “Amateurs” category (from the first example in the Template Tags section), you would place the tag name inside double pound signs like:
##AMATEURS30##
When the script parses the template and is generating the main HTML page, this tag will be replaced with whatever you specified when you set it up. In this case, ##AMATEURS30## would be replaced with links from the Amateurs category starting with the newest link and showing a total of 30 links. This should be done with all of your categories. PLEASE NOTE: The tag MUST be on a line of its own to be parsed properly. If the tag is not being parsed, make sure there is not a space before or after the tag or it will not work!
What changes the way the individual links appear when the page is generated? Glad you asked.
Regular Link Line Template
This is the template that controls how each link is displayed. There are some special tags that you should use when modifying the line template. They are as follows
#LINKURL# - This will be replaced by the URL of the link.
#LINKDESC# - This will be replaced by the description of the link.
#IDNUM# - This will be replaced by the ID number of the link. This is not really useful at this point, but if you elect to use any of the plug-ins for the script you may need this.
#NUMPICS# - This will be replaced by the number of pictures associated with this link.
#CATEG# - This will be replaced by the category name.
#DAY# - This will be replaced by the date the gallery was submitted.
#MON# - This will be replaced by the month the gallery was submitted.
By changing the line template, you can easily change the look of your entire site. Experiment with your line template, main gallery template and template tags to get the desired look.
Blind Link Line Template
This is the template that controls the appearance of your blind links. Again, there are some special tags that you can use.
#DAY# - This will be replaced by the CURRENT DAY.
#MON# - This will be replaced by the CURRENT MONTH.
#LINKURL# - This will be replaced by the URL of the link.
#LINKDESC# - This will be replaced by the description of the link.
#NUMPICS# - This will be replaced by the number of pictures with this link.
Main Header & Footer Templates
These control the header and footer of your main gallery page. This is a good place to put advertising and your company logo. In the footer template, you can use the tag #UPDATED# which will be replaced by the time that the gallery was last updated.
Blind Links
Blind links are a tough subject. Some people love `em, some people hate `em. Regardless, most major TGPs use blind links in conjunction with a good traffic trading script. This is almost always a sure road to success. You sure don't have to use them if you don't want to, but doing so will greatly improve your income and traffic if handled correctly.
To manage your blind links, select “Manage Blind Links” from the admin panel. You will see two sections. The first is to add blind links; the second is to search a blind link group.
There are 25 “groups” that you can add blind links into (named BLIND1 through BLIND25). To add a link, simply choose what group you would like it to be a part of, the URL for the link, a description of the link that will appear on your main gallery page, and how many pictures the link should claim to have.
Once you have added some blind links, you can insert the group name surrounded by percent signs into your main gallery template. For instance, you can add %BLIND1% into your main gallery template and the script will randomly choose a blind link from the BLIND1 group and will insert it in the appropriate place. If you are using a traffic trading script in conjunction with TGPDevil, you may want to hard code a few blind links into your TGP with this feature in addition to the traffic trading scripts shaving functions. It can drastically increase your outbound clicks.
Archives
Archives are the place to store older links that you no longer want to display on your main page. The template system for the archives is very similar to the main page template.
In the “Manage Template Tags” section, you'll notice a category that you didn't put there named “Archive”. This is what will display links in your archive pages. The links are displayed exactly the same way, but when the archive pages are generated, the name of your tag will be replaced by the links in each category. In other words, when your Amateurs archive is generated, the links you specified in the tag setup will be shown. The same holds true for every categories archive page. This way, you don't have to do a separate template for each archive page.
When you generate your archives, each categories archive will be named whatever you chose in the Create Categories section above.
You can use the tag #CATEGORYNAME# which will be replaced by the name of the category.
Archive Header & Footer Templates
These control the header and footer of your archive pages. This is a good place to put advertising and your company logo. In the footer template, you can use the tag #UPDATED# which will be replaced by the time that the page was last updated.
Targeted Archive Ads
You can add HTML that will appear in the appropriate categories archive. This is intended to be used for targeted advertising, but you can surely find other uses for it too. To edit these ads, select “Manage Archive Ads” from the admin panel. Select which category you would like to modify the ad text for and click “Open Template”. Once you have created/modified the text in the box, press “Save Ad”. You will need to rebuild your archives to see the changes.
Email Messages
TGPDevil TGP can send out emails for just about everything. All emails sent can be customized. To customize emails, choose “Modify Email Messages” from the admin panel. When customizing these emails, you may use the following tags:
#NAME# - This will be replaced by the posters name.
#GALLERYURL# - This will be replaced by the URL of the gallery.
#CATEGORY# - This will be replaced by the category the poster submitted to.
#IP# - This will be replaced by the IP address of the poster.
#DATE# - This will be replaced by the date the post was made.
#UNIQUEID# - This will be replaced by the unique ID of the post. This is only useful if using email verification. This should only be used in the “confirm email” template.
#DECLINEREASON# - This will be replaced with the reason the gallery was declined. You may only use this in the email that is sent when the post is declined. To add/remove/edit decline messages, see “Managing Decline Messages”.
All email options can be controlled from the “Modify Program Options” section of the admin panel.
Banning Users
IP Banning
Unfortunately, sometimes you will need to ban a user. This can be accomplished by banning a portion of their IP address. For instance, if someone is making undesirable posts and their IP addresses have been 34.23.34.34 and 34.23.34.98 you can enter 34.23.34 in the IP ban list and anyone with 34.23.34 in their IP address will no longer be able to post.
Domain Banning
You can also refuse posts from a certain website. Simply entering usersdomain.com to the domain ban list can do this and any URL containing usersdomain.com will be refused. You can also ban certain words contained in URLs. If you enter the word “lolita”, all URLs containing the word “lolita” will be refused.
Text Banning
You may also prevent galleries from being submitted that contain specified text. To set up a text ban, click on “Edit Banned Text List”. Now enter a name for the ban. Just make it something so you will know what the ban is. For instance, I ban the word “lolita” on all of my TGPs. So for the name, I would have simply lolita. Then in the “text to ban” field, enter the text that you would like to scan for. Again, I just want to look for the word “lolita”. Then in the “ban reason” field, you can enter a message that will be presented to the user if he/she submits a gallery containing text that you have chosen to disallow. This is also handy for scanning for popups or refusing galleries that promote the same sponsor as you are using on your TGP.
Cheat Reporting
DM TGP also includes a utility for your users to report cheaters, dead galleries or other miscellaneous problems with individual galleries. To use this feature, simply add a link to police.cgi?#IDNUM# in your line template. You MUST include ?#IDNUM# in the link to police.cgi. This is how the script knows which link is being reported. Most users will prefer to use a small icon to link to police.cgi.
To review your reports, just select “Check Cheat Reports” from the admin panel. Once inside you will be shown a listing off all reports received ordered by number of complaints. The more complaints a gallery receives, the higher on your list it will be. For each report, you can either delete the report if the complaint was unfounded or delete the gallery from your database if it was found to be in violation of your rules.
Rebuilding Galleries
Rebuilding your main gallery page can be handled in a couple of different ways. You can always click on the “Rebuild Gallery Page” button in the admin panel, or you can call generate.pl via cron to automatically rebuild the pages at given intervals.
Not sure how to use cron? Here's a quick and dirty explanation.
Cron is basically like a task scheduler for UNIX. It will run programs at given times. Setting it up is a little tricky, but definitely worth it in the long run. Here is the actual cronfile from GiggleBerries.com
0 0 * * * /htdocs/giggleberries.com/cgi-bin/tgp/generate.pl
0 4 * * * /htdocs/giggleberries.com/cgi-bin/tgp/generate.pl
0 8 * * * /htdocs/giggleberries.com/cgi-bin/tgp/generate.pl
0 12 * * * /htdocs/giggleberries.com/cgi-bin/tgp/generate.pl
0 16 * * * /htdocs/giggleberries.com/cgi-bin/tgp/generate.pl
0 20 * * * /htdocs/giggleberries.com/cgi-bin/tgp/generate.pl
This looks complicated, but it's really simple. Here's how the cron entries are laid out.
MINUTE(0-59) HOUR(0-23) DAYOFMONTH(1-31) MONTHOFYEAR(1-12) DAYOFWEEK(0-6)
(Sunday is 0) /path/and/name/of/script/to/be/executed
So let's look at the last entry from the cronfile.
0 20 * * * /htdocs/giggleberries.com/cgi-bin/tgp/generate.pl
The first number is 0, this means 0 minutes. Second number is 20, this is in the hour spot so it's the 20th hour (8:00PM). The day of month, month of year and day of week entries are all * which is a wildcard. This will match anything so the final line in our cronfile will execute /htdocs/giggleberries.com/cgi-bin/tgp/generate.pl at 8:00PM every night. As you can see, GiggleBerries.com is automatically updated every 4 hours.
Once you have decided when to auto update your galleries, create a new file called “cronfile”. Enter 1 cron entry per line in this new file. After your last entry, you MUST include a blank line or cron will not run. Upload this file to your server in ASCII mode. Now Telnet into your server and change to the directory that you uploaded your cronfile to and type the following command
crontab cronfile
This should load the contents of cronfile into cron to be executed. To make sure your entries were accepted, type
crontab -l
This should print a list of all of your cron jobs. To remove your list of cron jobs, use
cron -r
Please note: If you are receiving error messages when trying to rebuild, make sure all of the template tags you are using exist in the database!
Rebuilding Archives
To rebuild archives, click on the “Rebuild Archives” button. Since the archives can get very big, try not to do this more than once per day to cut down on server overhead. This cannot be done via cron.
Link Bot
The link bot is quite simple to use. To use it properly, you should set up a cron job as described above. You should only run the bot a couple of times a week during the off peak hours since the script can take a considerable amount of time to run. Once you have set the bot to run via a cron job, simply log into the admin panel and select “Link Bot Settings”. You will be able to set the rules that your BOT will operate by. If you have chosen for your bot to queue possible dead links (which is recommended) you will need to visit the “Check Bot Report” section of your admin panel to see the links that your bot believes to be dead.
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