TetraBB.com Home of Tetra-WebBBS and TetraBB PRO

Operating system and webserver

Any platform with Perl and a CGI-capable webserver. If you don't have your own webserver, you need a host that supports Perl. Hosts like Tripod and Geocities do not. Most hosts' FAQ pages will say whether or not they support Perl.

Language

Perl version 5.6 or higher.
Perl can be downloaded from CPAN. ActivePerl, a Perl distribution for Windows, is available from ActiveState.

Database interface Perl module

Any one of the common database interface Perl modules. At least one should be available on any server on which Perl has been installed. Tetra-WebBBS will automatically use the DB_File module if it is available, or use an alternative module if it's not. DB_File allows Perl programs to make use of the facilities provided by the Berkeley DB database engine, and can be downloaded from CPAN.

Optional Perl modules

Certain optional features require additional modules:

• Benchmark
• LWP::Simple

These modules can be downloaded from CPAN. Most webservers already have them installed.

Additional requirements

You need a FTP program. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) lets you transfer files between your computer and your host's ftp server. Through the ftp server, you install WebBBS. If you don't already have a FTP program, download one from Download.com or similar sites.

Lastly, you need to know about chmod'ing. Chmod'ing is a process that only Unix, Linux, and other *nix web hosts support (if your host doesn't say it's a Windows host, most probably it's one of those.) It sets permissions on files. These permissions include reading, writing, and executing. You use your FTP program to chmod, and how you do so in every FTP program is different. For example, in WS_FTP, you right-click on a file, select "chmod", and then check the appropriate boxes.