"The Drupal installer requires that you create ./sites/default/settings.php as part of the installation process, and then make it writable. If you are unsure how to grant file permissions, please consult the on-line handbook."

I get this error message when doing a clean install of 6.3. Cleaning up and replacing the files with 6.2 in the same directory with the same permissions I do not get this error. The message occurs very early in the installation. It is easy enough to create a blank file and set its permissions, which seems to do the trick. It is irritating however and might confuse newcomers.

OpenSuse 11.0 with KDE 4.0 (combination which seems a bit flaky ...)
Apache 2.2.8
MySQL 5.0.51
PHP 5.2.6

Comments

bart jansens’s picture

bart jansens commented
Status: Active » Closed (won't fix)

The reason for this change was this: #225880: non-writablilty of settings.php when created by webserver

In short: If settings.php is created by drupal, it will be owned by the apache user and the admin can't change it afterwards.

AFowle’s picture

AFowle
he/him
commented
Status: Closed (won't fix) » Active

"Drupal 6.3 and Drupal 5.8, maintenance releases fixing problems reported ..." doesn't sound as if something important has changed.

Now that I understand the problem, I can see that it is described in the all the right places (announcement on the homepage, installation instructions and in the release notes) - but it wasn't obvious beforehand.

I think the installer itself should point out that this is a change of behaviour rather than just create an error when none had occurred before. Presumably an easy change for one of the experts to make.

grendzy’s picture

grendzy commented
Status: Active » Closed (works as designed)

I don't see this changing in Drupal 6. #536630: [Meta issue] Plugin manager for D7 code freeze spec has the potential to improve this aspect of the installation process, however.