Faq-O-Matic Faq-O-Matic: README Faq-O-Matic Faq-O-Matic : Administrators' Guide : Install : README ==================== What is FAQ-O-Matic? ==================== The Faq-O-Matic is a CGI-based system that automates the process of maintaining a FAQ (or Frequently Asked Questions list). It allows visitors to your FAQ to take part in keeping it up-to-date. A permission system also makes it useful as a help-desk application, bug-tracking database, or documentation system. Current version (2.719) can handle 7 languages and have language specific functions for some languages like Japanese,Hungarian. This documentation itself is, naturally, maintained with Faq-O-Matic: =============== Latest Version: =============== Before you get in too deep, make sure you have the latest version of the FAQ-O-Matic. Check the main website to see which version it is running: Especially the Administrators' Guide: And check the download site for the most recent revision: =========== Quickstart: =========== % perl Makefile.PL % make % make install % mv fom /usr/local/etc/httpd/cgi-bin/fom (or wherever your CGIs live.) % netscape http://localhost/cgi-bin/fom (or whatever browser you prefer) (or whatever the URL would be to execute the CGI) * subscribe to faqomatic-users (see link to FOMFOM at bottom). * add your Faq-O-Matic (a description is fine if it's not public) to the List of Faqomatics (on the FOMFOM). * send Jon a postcard, if you're feeling generous. ====================== Themes and Variations: ====================== * If you don't have the privilege to install the modules in an "official" place, tell Makefile.PL that before you start: % mkdir ~/user_perl % perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=~/user_perl % make ... * If your web server requires CGIs to have a certain suffix, simply rename the generated file "fom" to something like "fom.cgi": ... % mv fom /usr/local/etc/httpd/cgi-bin/fom.cgi % netscape http://localhost/cgi-bin/fom.cgi * If the user that CGIs run as can't write to the directory in which CGIs reside (a wise security move), create a writable meta/ directory (or a link to one) there in advance: ... % mv fom /usr/local/etc/httpd/cgi-bin/fom % mkdir /usr/local/etc/httpd/cgi-bin/meta % chown nobody /usr/local/etc/httpd/cgi-bin/meta % netscape http://localhost/cgi-bin/fom or ... % mv fom /usr/local/etc/httpd/cgi-bin/fom % mkdir /somewhere/else/meta % chown nobody /somewhere/else/meta % ln -s /somewhere/else/meta /usr/local/etc/httpd/cgi-bin/meta % netscape http://localhost/cgi-bin/fom * If you'd rather not even put a link in that directory, modify the fom CGI stub to name the meta directly: % vi fom % cat fom #!/usr/local/bin/perl use Faq::Omatic::dispatch Faq::Omatic::dispatch::main('/somewhere/else/meta/'); % mv fom ... Either of the above two techniques are also suitable for running multiple FAQ-O-Matics on one server. Keep in mind that if the FAQs are related, they should probably be kept together as one FAQ with a few main categories, so searches will search the entire lot. ===== Bugs: ===== Bugs and problems are best reported at ============ Author Info: ============ Jon Howell jonh@cs.dartmouth.edu http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~jonh This document is at: http://www.jonh.net/cgi-bin/faqomatic/fom?file=1026 Generated by FAQ-O-Matic 2.719. available at http://faqomatic.sourceforge.net/