Oh yeh…one other question:
Since I’m using WP 2.8-beta2 (upgraded from 2.7.1 and everything has worked fine), is there any chance that BP will work with the new release of WP 2.8 without the need for a .htaccess file? I really don’t need the mult-forum capability, anyway….I just wanted to use BP.
Thanks for any help I can get with this.
BTW: Before anyone asks, I did the installations for both WP2.7.1, 2.8-beta2, and WPMU, myself. I didn’t use any yahoo functions to install my original WP installation. (Did that at the beginning, and all I had was headaches, afterwards. Once I figured out how to install WP and connect it to mysql, I did it myself and everything worked great, afterwards.)
Sorry for the three posts in a row. Just wanted to get all this out before all the questions were asked about what I’ve done with the WPMU and BP installation.
> WP2.7.1, 2.8-beta2, and WPMU
What? BuddyPress is a plugin that runs only on WPMU. You don’t need to install regular WP. Or have you? Confused.
I know that, DJPaul. What I was stating was that everything I did previously to installing WPMU, I did myself with no problems. I guess stating that was irrelevant…sorry for the confusion. I’ve only been using WP for three months now, and I’m still trying to figure out things.
Forget anything I said about regular WP. It’s like this: I had been using regular WP and wanted to use BP with WPMU, so, I installed WPMU…twice. First, I installed it in a folder in the root directory. Second time, I installed it in the root directory. Both times got me the same result…that is, 404 errors.
Does that clear up things for you?
Does WPMU work on your install on itself? i.e. no BP. Do hosted blogs work properly (in terms of links etc).
Okay, here are the answers to the questions that I know will get asked. Hope this helps.
1. Which version of WPMU you are running: 2.7.1
2. Whether you’ve installed WPMU in a subdirectory or as a subdomian: it is installed in the root folder. I also did a previous installation in a subdirectory. Both results were the same.
3. Whether you upgraded from a previous version of WPMU. If so, from which version: No, first time installed wpmu
4. Whether WPMU was functioning properly before installing/upgrading BuddyPress: yes. If you are defining “functioning properly” as using the multi-forum capability, then I wouldn’t know….I didn’t want WPMU for that. I just wanted WPMU so I could use BP.
5. Which version of BuddyPress you are running: v1.0. Installed myself….didn’t use any scripts.
6. Whether you have any plugins other than BuddyPress installed and activated, No. BP was the only plugin that was installed.
7. Whether you are using the standard BuddyPress themes or customized themes: standard. I attempted to use the standard BP themes, and yes, I made sure that all files had been moved to the appropriate locations as per the instructions that were given.
8. If running bbPress, which version: ????? What’s bbPress?
9. A list of any errors in your server’s log files? Didn’t look. You’re talking to a novice. Wouldn’t know how to look at any server log files. I’m using Yahoo if that tells you anything.
I’ll repeat my original question so it doesn’t get lost in the mix:
Does WPMU and BP need the .htaccess file for both to work correctly?
Michael-
Since BuddyPress is a plugin for WordPress Mu, all that it requires is for WordPress Mu to be functioning properly. If WPMU does not find a .htaccess file in the directory in which it is installed, it will try to create one automatically.
Now, does WPMU require a .htaccess file? No. Why? Because people have successfully installed and run large WPMU-based sites on LightTPD and Nginx. These webservers do not support .htaccess files.
What WPMU uses the .htaccess file for (in an Apache or IIS environment) is to set rewrite rules for permalinks. In LightTPD and Nginx, this is accomplished through the webserver’s configuration file.
So, the question is this: What web server platform does Yahoo! Hosting use?
If their webservers are running Apache, then find out if mod_rewrite is turned off. A .htaccess file is basically useless without mod_write. This may be why they say that you can’t use a .htaccess file.
Here’s some information that might help: https://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks#Using_.22Pretty.22_permalinks
If you continue to have issues with this, I would switch to a host that allows you to use the WPMU .htaccess file.
Jeff, thanks for the response. You confirmed what I originally thought about the pretty permalinks and the .htaccess file.
Here’s some more information:
When I first got involved with WordPress (WP2.7), I had my installation set to use pretty permalinks, and it worked great. I eventually went back to using the default settings because I heard pretty permalink structures presented performance issues. When I recently installed WPMU, I left the permalink structure set to default for the same reason. Then, when I installed BP, I noticed that it used pretty permalinks. I got nothing but 404 errors, so I assumed that pretty permalinks had to be set in WPMU for MU and BP to work together. Setting MU to pretty permalinks didn’t work….still got the 404 errors.
Maybe I missed something somewhere in the installation of MU, but does pretty permalinks need to be set to something other than the default before installing BP, or does that even matter? If it doesn’t matter, then I’m back to square one and completely at a loss as to why this isn’t working for me.
I’ll attempt to find out what server platform yahoo uses. From experience, I can tell you that even if they did have the mod re-write turned off, they wouldn’t turn it on for silly old me.
(I’m still confused….you said that MU doesn’t need a .htaccess file to work, but your last sentence states that if I continued to have issues, then I should switch to a host that does allow .htaccess files. Sounds to me like MU does need a .htaccess file for the same reason you stated stated…for the permalink rewrite rules. Suppose I’ll just need to switch hosts. Lesson learned…don’t use yahoo for anything…they aren’t too cooperative.)
Found out that Yahoo uses a Linux platform on Apache servers with the mod rewrite turned off (and they won’t turn it on…probably because the same reason they don’t allow a .htaccess file). I’ve discovered that others had the same issue with Yahoo using WordPress. They switched host and their problem went away. I’ll just have to do the same.
Thanks for all the help. I don’t see anyway out of this unless I switch providers.
Michael-
I looks like you have your answer. Without mod_rewrite enabled, you will have issues using WPMU on your Yahoo! Hosting account. Please set the light to green on top as your question has been resolved.
Now, on to your final question:
I’m still confused….you said that MU doesn’t need a .htaccess file to work, but your last sentence states that if I continued to have issues, then I should switch to a host that does allow .htaccess files. Sounds to me like MU does need a .htaccess file for the same reason you stated stated…for the permalink rewrite rules.
The reason I said switch to a hosting firm that allows, and supports, .htaccess files is because it is the simplest proposition. Since most WPMU installs are on servers running Apache, and WPMU comes with a prewritten .htaccess file, it is the best choice for most users. Unless you are comfortable installing and configuring your own web server platform, your best alternative is to stick with Apache which is the de facto web serving platform the vast majority of hosting firms offer clients.
Now, as I stated, WPMU does not require a .htaccess file to operate properly. People run WPMU on LightTPD and Nginx web serving platforms. These two platforms do not support, do not use, .htaccess files. They cannot use .htaccess files. But, they can be configured to properly rewrite permalinks. The .htaccess file is not essential, not required, for WPMU to run properly. What is required is a facility to rewrite permalinks.
