allianceauth/docs/features/services/phpbb3.md

# phpBB3

## Overview

phpBB is a free PHP-based forum.

## Dependencies

phpBB3 requires PHP installed in your web server. Apache has `mod_php`, NGINX requires `php-fpm`. See [the official guide](https://www.phpbb.com/community/docs/INSTALL.html) for PHP package requirements.

## Prepare Your Settings

In your auth project's settings file, do the following:

- Add `'allianceauth.services.modules.phpbb3',` to your `INSTALLED_APPS` list
- Append the following to the bottom of the settings file:

```python
# PHPBB3 Configuration
PHPBB3_URL = ''
DATABASES['phpbb3'] = {
    'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
    'NAME': 'alliance_forum',
    'USER': 'allianceserver-phpbb3',
    'PASSWORD': 'password',
    'HOST': '127.0.0.1',
    'PORT': '3306',
}
```

## Setup

### Prepare the Database

Create a database to install phpBB3 in.

```shell
mysql -u root -p
create database alliance_forum;
grant all privileges on alliance_forum . * to 'allianceserver'@'localhost';
exit;
```

Edit your auth project's settings file and fill out the `DATABASES['phpbb3']` part.

### Download phpBB3

phpBB3 is available as a zip from their website. Navigate to the website’s [downloads section](https://www.phpbb.com/downloads/) using your PC browser and copy the URL for the latest version zip.

In the console, navigate to your user’s home directory: `cd ~`

Now download using wget, replacing the URL with the URL for the package you just retrieved

```shell
wget https://download.phpbb.com/pub/release/3.3/3.3.8/phpBB-3.3.8.zip
```

This needs to be unpackaged. Unzip it, replacing the file name with that of the file you just downloaded

```shell
unzip phpBB-3.3.8.zip
```

Now we need to move this to our web directory. Usually `/var/www/forums`.

```shell
mv phpBB3 /var/www/forums
```

The web server needs read/write permissions to this folder

Apache: `chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/forums`
Nginx: `chown -R nginx:nginx /var/www/forums`

```{eval-rst}
.. tip::
    Nginx: Some distributions use the ``www-data:www-data`` user:group instead of ``nginx:nginx``. If you run into problems with permissions try it instead.
..
```

### Configuring Web Server

You will need to configure your web server to serve PHPBB3 before proceeding with installation.

A minimal Apache config file might look like:

```ini
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName forums.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/forums
    <Directory /var/www/forums>
        Require all granted
        DirectoryIndex index.php
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>
```

A minimal Nginx config file might look like:

```ini
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name  forums.example.com;
    root   /var/www/forums;
    index  index.php;
    access_log  /var/logs/forums.access.log;

    location ~ /(config\.php|common\.php|cache|files|images/avatars/upload|includes|store) {
        deny all;
        return 403;
    }

    location ~* \.(gif|jpe?g|png|css)$ {
        expires   30d;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri =404;
        fastcgi_pass   unix:/tmp/php.socket;
        fastcgi_index  index.php;
        fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}
```

Enter your forum's web address as the `PHPBB3_URL` setting in your auth project's settings file.

### Web Install

Navigate to your forum web address where you will be presented with an installer.

Click on the `Install` tab.

All the requirements should be met. Press `Start Install`.

Under Database Settings, set the following:

- Database Type is `MySQL`
- Database Server Hostname is `127.0.0.1`
- Database Server Port is left blank
- Database Name is `alliance_forum`
- Database Username is your auth MySQL user, usually `allianceserver`
- Database Password is this user’s password

If you use a table prefix other than the standard `phpbb_` you need to add an additional setting to your auth project's settings file, `PHPBB3_TABLE_PREFIX = ''`, and enter the prefix.

You should see `Successful Connection` and proceed.

Enter administrator credentials on the next page.

Everything from here should be intuitive.

phpBB will then write its own config file.

### Open the Forums

Before users can see the forums, we need to remove the installation directory

```shell
rm -rf /var/www/forums/install
```

### Enabling Avatars

AllianceAuth sets user avatars to their character portrait when the account is created or password reset. We need to allow external URLs for avatars for them to behave properly. Navigate to the admin control panel for phpbb3, and under the `General` tab, along the left navigation bar beneath `Board Configuration`, select `Avatar Settings`. Set `Enable Remote Avatars` to `Yes` and then `Submit`.

You can allow members to overwrite the portrait with a custom image if desired. Navigate to `Users and Groups`, `Group Permissions`, select the appropriate group (usually `Member` if you want everyone to have this ability), expand `Advanced Permissions`, under the `Profile` tab, set `Can Change Avatars` to `Yes`, and press `Apply Permissions`.

## Setting the default theme

Users generated via Alliance Auth do not have a default theme set. You will need to set this on the phpbb_users table in SQL

```shell
mysql -u root -p
use alliance_forum;
alter table phpbb_users change user_style user_style int not null default 1
```

If you would like to use a theme that is NOT prosilver or theme "1". You will need to deactivate prosilver, this will then fall over to the set forum wide default.

### Prepare Auth

Once settings have been configured, run migrations and restart Gunicorn and Celery.

## Permissions

To use this service, users will require some of the following.

```{eval-rst}
+---------------------------------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Permission                            | Admin Site       | Auth Site                                                                |
+=======================================+==================+==========================================================================+
| phpbb3.access_phpbb3                  | None             | Can Access the PHPBB3 Service                                            |
+---------------------------------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
```