[3.0][3.1][3.2][TOOL] Mini Support Tool Kit Universal

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[3.0][3.1][3.2][TOOL] Mini Support Tool Kit Universal

Post by 3Di »

Hello,
I am writing a tool that aims to help the Support(ers) to easily find out which are the basic problems of an user's board. It tries and checks the basics of a right installation before the user asks for support, maybe getting wrong directions from the crowd. I saw a lot of useless hints and tips there that potentially lead the end-user to waste time and efforts doing something not needed.

Runs on 3.0.x, 3.1.x and >= 3.0.2-b2 (tested on 3.0.6, 3.0.14, 3.1.10 and 3.2.1)

The code is located here: vBETA 2.0.0-b4

This is a stand-alone script (TOOL) that self deletes after the usage. Isn't an extension yet.

[Code updated on 21.08.2017] to fit with the phpBB 3.2.1 and PHP less than 7.2
Last edited by 3Di on Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:57 pm, edited 18 times in total.
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by 3Di »

Implemented in this version 2.0.0-b4
  1. PHP version checks amended (for Rhea less than 7.2@dev)
Implemented in this version 2.0.0-b3
  1. check chmod for cache/production since 3.2.0
  2. check for cookie notice since 3.2.0
  3. fixed a small bug with styles check
Implemented in version 2.0.0-b2
  1. check if config.php exist and tells its size in bytes
  2. check for json
  3. check for getimagesize
  4. available stream wrappers
  5. re-defined phpBB version constants
  6. introduced error checking tested in dramatic situations
  7. backported the original function phpbb_version_compare for those running phpBB less than 3.0.10-rc1
  8. Succesfully checks if not compatible styles are uploaded
To-Do
  • add nice UI
  • add facility to copy/paste with BBcodes
Last edited by 3Di on Mon Aug 21, 2017 5:05 pm, edited 10 times in total.
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by HiFiKabin »

Neat tool.
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by KevC »

Excellent stuff.

A cookie output is always handy.
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by 3Di »

KevC wrote:Excellent stuff.

A cookie output is always handy.
That will be added. :)
Cookie and Board's URL output is better.. or?
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by KevC »

URL, cookie domain, path, name, secure yes/no

That's usually everything you need to know if there's a cookie issue.
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by John P »

Ever saw this System overview
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by gn#36 »

This is a nice idea.

I am curious why you check for the docs directory? I don't really see why that would be needed.

I would also check for other folders permissions maybe:
  • /cache
  • /store
  • /files
  • /images/avatars/upload
Regarding the language files, I think the only way to ensure they are complete is to compare the array keys of each file to those of the original. This could be done for all translations, not just for english and thereby also cover outdated language packs, which is quite a common error. Unfortunately, however, this would mean that your script needs an update with every version, so I am not sure that is what you want.

A smaller variant than checking all language files could be checking for specific language variables that have changed between versions. For example, the presence of [list=disc] in language/<lang>/help_bbcode.php would tell you that the language files are at least from phpBB 3.1.8, because the change was introduced between 3.1.7-pl1 and 3.1.8.

Consequently, the absence of the above code means that the language files are probably outdated, if the board version otherwise states it is 3.1.8. For 3.1.7, you could check for the presence of language key 'ACL_M_PM_REPORT' in phpBB/language/<lang>/acp/permissions_phpbb.php, because it was introduced after 3.1.6. If it is missing, the language pack is older than 3.1.7.

Some of these changes you can check on all language packs (e.g. if a variable was added), but not all. Again, this would require an update for each phpBB Version, but at least you wouldn't need to ship a complete set of language files but could rely on checking only a few language keys.

Something that would be very easy to check if you can access the database is whether all languages that are in use in the board are actually present at all. Especially after updates from phpBB 3.0.x, some languages may be missing completely. The same thing applies to styles.

Regarding styles, it would be nice if you checked the versions of all styles, not just prosilver. Custom styles are much more likely to be outdated than prosilver, because they are not automatically updated.
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by 3Di »

KevC wrote:URL, cookie domain, path, name, secure yes/no

That's usually everything you need to know if there's a cookie issue.
Everything has been added, just I am not sure about the URl. I used
$url = $request->server('SERVER_NAME', '');
but I could be wrong, I do not have a live forum where to test this, anyway you could help me testing this and evaluating what's better to be used. http://php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.server.php

I also added the DB infos and imagemagick too, in case.
gn#36 wrote:I am curious why you check for the docs directory? I don't really see why that would be needed.
Yes, it was something I forgot to remove, sort of debug into the very first stage ot this tool.
gn#36 wrote:I would also check for other folders permissions maybe:

/cache
/store
/files
/images/avatars/upload
Done. :)
About the rest of your reply, I will answer you later on (it is a good discussion)

First post updated with the new screenshot and the gist updated with the new code that implements also some small improvements.


Thank you all atm.
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by 3Di »

Added check for PHP7 too.
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by 3Di »

John P wrote:Ever saw this System overview
We are creating a self-alone basic PHP/phpBB/HTML file (without whistles and bells, so to speak) that aims to help the Support Team and generally the phpBB's supporters to catch the potential issues prior to give useles responses to the end-user.
Hence this is not an extension but a simple Board's overview for what are the common issues that are often asked into the Support Forum. ;)

If you like to contribute though you are more than welcome. :)
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by 3Di »

gn#36 wrote: Regarding the language files, I think the only way to ensure they are complete is to compare the array keys of each file to those of the original. This could be done for all translations, not just for english and thereby also cover outdated language packs, which is quite a common error. Unfortunately, however, this would mean that your script needs an update with every version, so I am not sure that is what you want.
Well, that can be done but is beyond, I think, the scope of this Tool. Once we know that the common.php (english) lies in its right place I guess is enough for the Supporters. But I could be wrong, I am open mind.
And yes the less I have to update the file the better, even if I will open a repository and anybody can partecipate. At the end of all is GPLed.
gn#36 wrote:A smaller variant than checking all language files could be checking for specific language variables that have changed between versions. For example, the presence of [list=disc] in language/<lang>/help_bbcode.php would tell you that the language files are at least from phpBB 3.1.8, because the change was introduced between 3.1.7-pl1 and 3.1.8.
This one is a good idea, I will try and do my best to implement it.
gn#36 wrote:Consequently, the absence of the above code means that the language files are probably outdated, if the board version otherwise states it is 3.1.8. For 3.1.7, you could check for the presence of language key 'ACL_M_PM_REPORT' in phpBB/language/<lang>/acp/permissions_phpbb.php, because it was introduced after 3.1.6. If it is missing, the language pack is older than 3.1.7.
Yes, precisely 3.1.7-rc1 as far as I remember.
gn#36 wrote:Some of these changes you can check on all language packs (e.g. if a variable was added), but not all. Again, this would require an update for each phpBB Version, but at least you wouldn't need to ship a complete set of language files but could rely on checking only a few language keys.
All language packs seems to me a an overkilling for this file. The FAQs in the Support Forum are others.
gn#36 wrote:Something that would be very easy to check if you can access the database is whether all languages that are in use in the board are actually present at all. Especially after updates from phpBB 3.0.x, some languages may be missing completely. The same thing applies to styles.
Please expand, interesting.
gn#36 wrote:Regarding styles, it would be nice if you checked the versions of all styles, not just prosilver. Custom styles are much more likely to be outdated than prosilver, because they are not automatically updated.
Well, in the case of prosilver I am not checking the version of the style but the version of phpBB the style has been released for.
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by gn#36 »

3Di wrote:All language packs seems to me a an overkilling for this file. The FAQs in the Support Forum are others.
Well, that may simply be because there are international support forums out there. In most cases this error doesn't really break much (unless complete files are missing), so I guess you are right, it is not too important. But really, it is only a loop through the folders in language/ instead of a fixed path, so once you have the check implemented for en, it would be easy to expand. Outdated files are, in my opinion, far more likely in translations than in en, because the english files are automatically updated, but the translations are not. So I would either not implement it at all (which would be also ok, because it is not a big problem), or for all languages.
3Di wrote:
gn#36 wrote:Something that would be very easy to check if you can access the database is whether all languages that are in use in the board are actually present at all. Especially after updates from phpBB 3.0.x, some languages may be missing completely. The same thing applies to styles.
Please expand, interesting.
If you update from phpBB 3.0.14 to 3.1.8, you essentially replace all the files. So usually, you wipe the board except for config, store, files, and images/avatars/ and replace everything else by the new phpBB 3.1.x files. Of course, that includes the language files, meaning if the phpBB package is downloaded from phpBB.com, it will only contain english, none of the other language packs are present unless the updater remembered to retrieve new files and upload them as well. However, some of them forget to do so, or upload only a few of the languages. So it would be nice to check if all languages that are used in the users table are actually present. This is even more important for styles, a missing style will usually break the board completely after the update if it is in use. Because of this, we advise users to switch to prosilver before running the update, but some people forget and this would remind them. After all, your tool will be useful both for supporters and for administrators themselves. I think an error message like "missing style abc" would be pretty self explanatory and probably solve the problem by itself for the admin without need of further assistance from the supporter.
3Di wrote:Well, in the case of prosilver I am not checking the version of the style but the version of phpBB the style has been released for.
That is what I meant. It would be nice to read that file from all installed styles, to see if any of the other styles are outdated. I think that is much more likely than an outdated prosilver because administrators have to remember to update their style. For me that is something I tend to forget myself when updating and unless you remember to ask for a styles version when supporting, it may take time to come by extension errors caused by missing template events. And again it comes down to simply replacing the name "prosilver" with a variable filled in a loop through the styles folder.
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by HiFiKabin »

How about having a BBCode format of the files output?
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Re: [DEV][TOOL] Mini Support Toolkit

Post by 3Di »

HiFiKabin wrote:How about having a BBCode format of the files output?
Hello, could you please expand? :) I guess I am not getting the whole point.
Do you mean to use the BBcodes for formatting the page output or?
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