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December 16th, 2008
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Install custom Pear packages on 1and1

Posted by plattapuss on December 16th, 2008

Canadians find the weather really interesting. Don't we? I mean, after all, it changes every day from a cool -19°C in the morning to a toasty +6°C in the afternoon. Okay, so maybe not every day do we get extremes like that, But Canadians still seem fascinated with the weather.

For me, I am fascinated with part of the weather, namely METAR data and using it to mash up Google map stuff. I haven't actually done any mashups but I plan too. To help me with my fascination, I was thinking of trying out the PEAR Services_Weather package. Installing this is super easy on my own servers, just enter 'pear install Services_Weather' and poof, there it is. On a 1and1 account, if you have never installed any non-mainstream packages for PEAR, you are in for a short shock. 1and1 won't let you install your own packages by default. Luckily there is a work around, and it is really quite simple.

You need an account with SSH access to do this.

First, take a look at the current configuration in your 1and1 account:

PLAIN TEXT
CODE:
  1. pear config-show
  2. Configuration (channel pear.php.net):
  3. =====================================
  4. Auto-discover new Channels     auto_discover    <not set>
  5. Default Channel                default_channel  pear.php.net
  6. HTTP Proxy Server Address      http_proxy       <not set>
  7. PEAR server [DEPRECATED]       master_server    pear.php.net
  8. Default Channel Mirror         preferred_mirror pear.php.net
  9. Remote Configuration File      remote_config    <not set>
  10. PEAR executables directory     bin_dir          /usr/bin
  11. PEAR documentation directory   doc_dir          /usr/lib/php/doc
  12. PHP extension directory        ext_dir          /usr/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20020429
  13. PEAR directory                 php_dir          /usr/lib/php
  14. PEAR Installer cache directory cache_dir        /tmp/pear/cache
  15. PEAR data directory            data_dir         /usr/lib/php/data
  16. PEAR Installer download        download_dir     /tmp/pear/cache
  17. directory
  18. PHP CLI/CGI binary             php_bin          /usr/bin/php
  19. php.ini location               php_ini          <not set>
  20. PEAR Installer temp directory  temp_dir         /tmp/pear/temp
  21. PEAR test directory            test_dir         /usr/lib/php/test
  22. Cache TimeToLive               cache_ttl        3600
  23. Preferred Package State        preferred_state  stable
  24. Unix file mask                 umask            22
  25. Debug Log Level                verbose          1
  26. PEAR password (for             password         <not set>
  27. maintainers)
  28. Signature Handling Program     sig_bin          /usr/bin/gpg
  29. Signature Key Directory        sig_keydir       /usr/etc/pearkeys
  30. Signature Key Id               sig_keyid        <not set>
  31. Package Signature Type         sig_type         gpg
  32. PEAR username (for             username         <not set>
  33. maintainers)
  34. User Configuration File        Filename         /kunden/homepages/X/dXXXXXXXX/htdocs/.pearrc
  35. System Configuration File      Filename         /usr/etc/pear.conf

The important lines to use are directory entries. Note that they are all out of reach in /usr/bin and /usr/lib. We can't install in there! So how do we install our PEAR package? Easy. Set PEAR up to work from our own home directory.

PLAIN TEXT
CODE:
  1. pear config-create $HOME .pearrc
  2. pear install -o PEAR

The first command tells pear to create a local config file. The next command simply tells PEAR to install itself according to the local config file you just created. Don't forget to include the new path in your PHP files with something like:

PLAIN TEXT
CODE:
  1. ini_set('include_path','/kunden/homepages/NN/dNNNNNNNN/htdocs/pear/php');

Now when you run pear config-show you should see something like this:

PLAIN TEXT
CODE:
  1. Auto-discover new Channels     auto_discover    <not set>
  2. Default Channel                default_channel  pear.php.net
  3. HTTP Proxy Server Address      http_proxy       <not set>
  4. PEAR server [DEPRECATED]       master_server    pear.php.net
  5. Default Channel Mirror         preferred_mirror pear.php.net
  6. Remote Configuration File      remote_config    <not set>
  7. PEAR executables directory     bin_dir          /kunden/homepages/NN/dNNNNNNNN/htdocs/pear
  8. PEAR documentation directory   doc_dir          /kunden/homepages/NN/dNNNNNNNN/htdocs/pear/docs
  9. PHP extension directory        ext_dir          /kunden/homepages/NN/dNNNNNNNN/htdocs/pear/ext
  10. PEAR directory                 php_dir          /kunden/homepages/NN/dNNNNNNNN/htdocs/pear/php
  11. PEAR Installer cache directory cache_dir        /kunden/homepages/NN/dNNNNNNNN/htdocs/pear/cache
  12. PEAR data directory            data_dir         /kunden/homepages/NN/dNNNNNNNN/htdocs/pear/data
  13. PEAR Installer download        download_dir     /tmp/pear/cache
  14. directory
  15. PHP CLI/CGI binary             php_bin          /usr/bin/php
  16. php.ini location               php_ini          <not set>
  17. PEAR Installer temp directory  temp_dir         /tmp/pear/temp
  18. PEAR test directory            test_dir         /kunden/homepages/NN/dNNNNNNNN/htdocs/pear/tests
  19. Cache TimeToLive               cache_ttl        3600
  20. Preferred Package State        preferred_state  stable
  21. Unix file mask                 umask            22
  22. Debug Log Level                verbose          1
  23. PEAR password (for             password         <not set>
  24. maintainers)
  25. Signature Handling Program     sig_bin          /usr/bin/gpg
  26. Signature Key Directory        sig_keydir       /usr/etc/pearkeys
  27. Signature Key Id               sig_keyid        <not set>
  28. Package Signature Type         sig_type         gpg
  29. PEAR username (for             username         <not set>
  30. maintainers)
  31. User Configuration File        Filename         /kunden/homepages/NN/dNNNNNNNN/htdocs/.pearrc
  32. System Configuration File      Filename         /usr/etc/pear.conf

This little how-to would not have been so easy to figure out without the aid of thecodecase.com.



Reader Comments

Comment:
1
Written by:
Warth Publishing Inc
Posted on:
December 20th, 2008 at 8:29 pm

I believe I made the horrendous mistake of choosing a company because it had a 5 page ad in a popular computer magazine. In my opinion 1and1 is a horrible company and many customers have voiced a host of complaints on various blogs. It should be a warning that when their phone is answered by a recording that tells you if you have gotten a notice from NCO, a collection agency, to press a certain number. If they are a reputable business, why do they have to send so many accounts to a collection agency?
Also Investigative journalist, Kelli Jack, has written 30 articles about this company and has a suit pending against them. Kelli alleges that 1and1 stole her domain name and sold it. Kelli states: “1and1 should be shut down.”

And finally, the Washington DC, Pennsylvania Better Business Bureau has them listed as “Unsatisfactory” Read comments on the BBB why. Read some customer comments on Red Flag.

Comment:
2
Written by:
plattapuss
Posted on:
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 pm

As I have mentioned on other posts on my site, I have not had any issues with them. Granted their tech support sucks, so if you need hand holding, don’t go to 1and1.

Also, you MUST read the small print on their contracts carefully. If you do that and accept the fact that they don’t really offer much support, then you should be good, I have read hundreds of posts about people complaining and most of the complaints are more than a year old.

From what I have seen, 1and1 seems to be attempting to pull themselves up to a higher level. Still a ways to go, but I am happy with their service so far.

Hopefully suggestions above will help someone that is actually hosting at 1and1.

Comment:
3
Written by:
Brian Gothard
Posted on:
March 26th, 2009 at 8:21 pm

1and1 is completely incompetent, dishonest, and has no concept of customer service. I just posted my entire story, and pasted the emails I received from them proving that they are liars and cheats. I didn’t hold anything back. They took over a month to complete a bulk domain transfer, then tried to charge me for domain renewals I did not want and had no way to cancel. Then they pretended it was my fault that I did not cancel the renewals on time when I had no access to the domain control panel.
The proof is all there, if you are brave enough to wade through close to a hundred pages of documentation. It has been over three months and they still have my account screwed up and have me locked out of my account so that I can’t access 250+ domains.
The bottom line is that 1and1 does not care one iota about their customers. They treat you like a bother when you try to get them to correct their mistakes, and make you jump through hoops that are well outside their normal procedures, then never actually fix the problem. But they still turn you over to collections, even for fraudulent charges that you can prove you did not incur.
After three months and
All in all, I wish anyone luck who does business with them, because if anything ever gets messed up, you are on your own.