[plug] Web Application Installer

[Carl Gherardi]

Hey Onno,

On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 14:37:41 +1100, Onno Benschop <onno at itmaze.com.au> wrote:
> 
> Am I fundamentally trying to make something work that should never work,
> or am I missing something else obvious?
> 
> Fingers crossed,
> 

Correct me if i'm wrong but you want to make a (web site|web
application) installable on a remote web server using a php script
wrapped around an archive, so you only have to ask the user to upload
one file and go to one web page.

Assuming the latter implementation metioned.

The user directory you upload to will very likely have permission of
user:notthewebgroup, so the php script running from apache wont be
able to write to the directory in question at all.

If the directory is world writable - catch-22, either 
1) The files will be extracted with the same permissions as the
process requiring a chown and chmod across the entire hierachy.
2) The files will be extracted as the user, and the script will no
longer be able to modify further files.

I think you are looking at the reason why many applications use a
database backend to store user modifyable preferences and settings

Carl G