I was successfully able to install akelos with a version I checked out a couple of months ago, on 4/11/08.

Today I checked out the latest revision (#658) on a different server, changed the php executable path for all the "script" scripts to the appropriate local path, ran the setup/generate script and passed it the appropriate document root, after which it created all the appropriate files and ended with a success message:

Linking the application with the framework at /usr/local/akelos
Creating file: /var/www/htdocs/newapp/public/index.php
Creating file: /var/www/htdocs/newapp/public/.htaccess

Please point your browser to /var/www/htdocs/newapp/public in order to complete the installation process

I then do exactly that-- point my browser at the appropriate URL-- and the script executes, but it terminates without outputting anything at all, so I get a completely blank screen.

This is normally where I'd get the process that prompts me to choose my database type and feed it the config parameters for the production, development, and test environments, but instead I get nothing, and I can tell you why (I've debugged it: I just don't know what it's supposed to do instead of what it is doing).

The first block of executable code in public/index.php looks like this:


if(!defined('AK_CONFIG_INCLUDED')){
if(!file_exists(dirname(__FILE__).DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'..'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'config'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'config.php')){
define('AK_ENVIRONMENT', 'setup');
error_reporting(E_ALL);
@ini_set('display_errors', 1);
require(dirname(__FILE__).DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'..'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.
'app'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'controllers'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'framework_setup_controller.php');
exit;
}else{
include_once(dirname(__FILE__).DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'..'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'config'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'config.php');
}
}

Execution proceeds into the first two "if" blocks since the config.php file doesn't yet exist, and so it requires the framework_setup_controller.php controller and exits.

This require statement succeeds and the controller file executes, but all it does is define some constants, include some libraries, and define the FrameworkSetupController class. And that's it, the execution stops there.

So I'm really not sure what it is it's supposed to be doing instead. If anyone knows, please share. =)

I've figured it out:

dispatch (when called after I created a config.php at least) would fail here:

akelos/lib/AkRequest.php, line 814:

@session_start();

php would actually throw a fatal error with the message "Failed to initialize storage module: user"

(that is, only *after* I hunted down the point of execution cessation are removed that productive error suppression)

In case anyone runs into the same issue, that is, you are getting a blank page when trying to run the config generator or after having created config.php manually, if your php setting "session.save_handler" is set to "user" (as it was in my case, for what reason I know not), simply change it to "files", either in php.ini, or by adding the following line:

ini_set('session.save_handler', 'files');

before session_start() is called. (I put mine above the first line of code in public/index.php)