Ignore that banging sound...

...it's just my head hitting the wall, repeatedly.

OK, I'll admit it--I have not been learning the intricacies of PHP (which stands for PHP Hypertext Processor) because I've been dealing with a major bug or two in the current release of Moodle (version 1.9.7). Ah, the joys of Free Open Source Software--something goes sideways and the search is on to discover if it's the computer, the operator, or the software. Add to this a Webhost server that is back in the very snowy Midwest, and hitting body parts against hard surfaces sounds reasonable.

Long story short: there is a bug in the install programming for Moodle that causes it to hang, lock up, or commit honorable seppuku when configuring the database where all the course files, assignments, tests, quizzes, student work, etc. are stored. The software is supposed to create the database automatically, then let the user create the database user and password. In actuality, it does none of those things, but mocks you with an evil red message that it can't connect to the database and you should check your settings. This destroyed the first Moodle last night. At that point, I did the only thing possible: Walk away. I took the time to remove everything from the site server, and left everything else for the morrow.

This morning I started with a fresh download from Moodle. One positive: I was able to check my instructions by using them for the download and installation. The software package uploaded and extracted, so I started the long process of configuration only to hang up at exactly the same point. This time there was a difference--the database wasn't locked, locking the entire program, possibly because I hadn't done any manual configuration to the program. It also meant I could eliminate most of the "operator errors." I systematically went through each part of the database creation process, and located the first bug: the program does not create the database automatically. That's an easy fix--simply use the "back office" tools (cPanel) to create the database and its user manually, using the names suggested by Moodle. No luck--the evil red message appeared again. That's when I found the second bug: the software will not recognize a database with the name "moodle" alone because it's the name used for a number of folders. Once that bug was identified, it was a simple matter to create an acceptable database and user and finish the configuration.

It feels very good to not be banging my head against a wall.

PHP UPDATE: I actually did get some reading on PHP done this week. There is a dandy little online tutorial on PHP at the PHP website, so I've started working my way through it. First step: download the necessary WAMP (Windows-Apache-MySQL-PHP) tools, then install them. That's done.