kevinwiles

FATAL ERROR: register_globals is disabled in php.ini, please enable it!]

I have a new shop which I am trying to run

www.first4eco.co.uk/shop/catalog and i get the above error.

I used this theme pack

13 free OSCommerce templates - Web Design Blog

And now it doesnt seem to work.

Any help would be welcome!

Terra

You need to connect to your site via FTP and modify the /etc/php.ini file to have register globals ON and then it'll work. All the best - Terra

__________________
Underground, Overground, Wombling Free!

percepts

curious, I thought UH had switched it back on for everyone by default. Maybe only existing sites. I expect new signups get the default off. Perhaps UH could elaborate.

If you are unsure how to do it yourself, then raise a support ticket.

__________________
An old dog learning new tricks

Charles

Personally I think that programmers should program as if register_globals is off. It would make the program usable on more systems plus any programmer that depends on register_globals being on is doing bad coding in my opinion!

Just my 2 1/2 cents

Terra

It's osCommerce - when it was built there wasn't even a debate about register globals - that's like saying software from the 90s should be Vista compatible ..... So be gentle - whatever you're coding now will face the same problems in 5 years time - there's no way anything can be that future proof.

__________________
Underground, Overground, Wombling Free!

Charles

I understand what you are saying but then again osCommerce could have starting making the move to PHP5 (like slowly changing the code to work with it. Ie. not using http_request_vars(which I believe doesn't work in PHP5) among other things) so that when PHP4 does came to end of life that osCommerce would already be ahead of the game.

Sure I can understand a program that isn't actively developed but osCommerce development is very active as is CubeCart. One of the problems is with 3rd party stuff as mentioned before as 3rd party stuff may not be as active in development.

Terra

osCom in my view cannot be seen as active project - the "team" is one guy. Any updates put out depend on one 1 guy who's doing it in his spare time next to the day job. Just try to see when the project owner last posted an entry on the osCom forum - I think you'll find it was 8 Feb 2008. That's over 4 months ago ....

With osCom you need to be careful to distinguish between community coding (contributions) which is active and core development which isn't. My view is that core development is a dead project. It's currently limping along with PHP5 and MySQL5, but once we hit PHP6 it'll probably fade slowly into obscurity.

<rant>
And don't think - well, that's okay, just get involved then & do something .... we've tried that. I could post here a long list of names from talented coders who got banned from the osCom project. But the osCommerce name belongs to 1 guy, so he's the only one who can do anything with the osCom brand/coding. And I just can't see how 1 guy can do all the coding in his spare time, even if he's super talented .. there's just too much to do.
</rant>

__________________
Underground, Overground, Wombling Free!

Vger

I echo what Terra said about the state of the osCommerce project. It's all owned and controlled by one person. If he decides to pull the plug, or simply go missing for months at a time (not that unusual), then there's nothing that anyone else could do about it.

To my mind the definition of a "Project" is a team of people where no one person has total control/ownership of the whole thing. On those grounds osCommerce does not qualify as a Project at all.

Vger

__________________
Working with computers is a bit like getting old - the longer you're around the more wrinkles you find!

percepts

To the original poster I would suggest using Zencart instead of OsCommerce. It still has a healthy and active development lifecycle, an active forum and, although based on oncommerce, is more up todate coding wise. I think it works with register_globals off but there others here who know it better than me and may be able to confirm that. That way you get the added security without the aggravation of having to go through the oscommerce updates as they trickle out.

__________________
An old dog learning new tricks

Vger

Yes, Zen Cart does work with PHP 5, MySQL 5, and with Register Globals 'off' in php.ini.

However the problem that the poster is having is related to the use of a free template, which is no doubt based on osCommerce 2.2 MS2. The later RC versions do work with Register Globals 'off', but obviously the free template hasn't been built around that coding.

Vger

__________________
Working with computers is a bit like getting old - the longer you're around the more wrinkles you find!

Charles

I had no idea that osCommerce only had 1 developer that is doing it in their spare time. I assumed that because osCommerce is so well known and lots of people use it that the development of it was active. I was wrong.

To some degree I am surprised that osCommerce is as popular as it is but then again to another degree I am not.

OP: CubeCart is another good shopping cart and works with PHP5

Tim

Free often leads to popular.

pursuit

well i suppose anyone could take away all the code/files which are freely available (open source) and continue the work then post it as myCommerce to a website of your choice? so far theres a lot of complaints but none has ever dared to try it themselves - something not that easy i guess...

on another subject, which we hear so often, it is easy to say osCommerce is poorly coded due to its dependence on register globals. i dont want to go into this tech details again this time but would like to offer a few facts:

1. this poorly coded osc has actually earned many people a living by using it to run an online business, and for years;

2. some even have an annual turn over of over £1 million using also this poorly coded online shop;

3. osCommerce is reliable, proven, very well thought of, surprisingly secure (despite relies on register globals on), offers just the right features/functions, unlike other carts which are often over the top and/or bloated, unproven, difficult to modofy.

4. if you are coming from programming with major languages, first thing you would notice is that php does not require variables to be declared before they can be used, which is unthinkable for other major languages (C etc). php variables are all over the place whenever you come acroos one in the middle of hundreds of lines of code you have no idea where it starts and what it is. so, one day if php decides it is a fashion to follow the main stream languages, and change it to that all variables must be declared befoe use, then any today's excellent php code would face the same situation of today's register globals, fighting for a switch to be set ON or OFF (if there is one).

Vger

Mmmm ...let me think now?? Zen Cart? Cre Loaded? osc Max? To name just three Open Source offshoots of osCommerce. And of the 3 Zen Cart has at least branched out on its own and developed its own coding base.

Agreed. When osCommerce was first released there was no concept of having Register Globals 'off'.

The problem is that things have moved on from then and osCommerce hasn't.

Our own commercial ReadyCart is originally based on osCommerce, but in the next few months it will be MySQL 5 (Strict Trans Tables), Register Globals 'off', and Register Long Arrays 'off' compatible - and it is a much bigger programme than osCommerce (roughly four times the size). Only one minor change was needed to make it PHP 5 compatible.

So if we can do that then how come the osCommerce Project hasn't been able to do it in the whole of the past 4-5 years? The answer is quite simple really - the whole project is owned and run by just one person and for the past 4-5 years he has been living on past glories.

No one else can do anything under the name of osCommerce, because he owns almost every top level domain and the name, under his own personal name.

There's nothing that's registered to the "osCommerce Project". If they had been registered to the "osCommerce Project" then "The Team" could have shunted him to one side, or removed him completely, and moved the project forward. And that's why it's all registered in his name, and why that won't change!

Vger

__________________
Working with computers is a bit like getting old - the longer you're around the more wrinkles you find!

Tim

I'd say the core coding is excellent, but the system as a whole tries to be too many things at once - a common problem for open source projects, especially when they are promoted as easy to set up out of the box for novices.

I'd say the version of osC we've been hacking away at for 5 years or so is now a quarter of the size of the original. The main things we've done is got rid of what we see as a lot of bloating - languages completely removed (a big job), table based design removed (now fully css and fully validating) and almost total abstraction of php code from html code.

And getting back to register_globals, having it switched on is only a problem if the coder doesn't understand the possible vunerabilities that can arise. It's not insecure in itself.

pursuit

all under/belongs to point 3.

the latest osc release, whatever it is called, is mysql 4/5 and php 4/5 and register globals on/off happy!

most complaints are about the osc V3 being no progress but so far no one oculd take it away and make themselves a myCommerceV3 ...pity...