Why does it have to be so difficult to install? about to give up

  • Application Version - downloaded from the link https://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/download/ojs-3.2.1-2.tar.gz. First of all, it says 40 MB but download is about 160 MB
  • I cannot get past the http 500 error on the install page instead of the install options. Followed all instructions on the installation in readme page; tried mysql and mysqli; tried different mysql versions from 5.6; tried on bluehost servers/local wamp64; tried diff php versions (5.6 to 7.4); - am now close to giving up on this.
  • furthest I got to was installation appears to complete with the bluehost softaculous tool but still end up with a 500 error with the following error log entry
    “Parse error : syntax error, unexpected ‘?’, expecting variable (T_VARIABLE) in
    /home4/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/ojs/lib/pkp/classes/notification/PKPNotificationOperationManager.inc.php on line 374”

Any suggestions would be very helpful

Hi @tryOJS,

The ojs-3.2.1-2.tar.gz package is 41MB; you’re probably measuring the uncompressed size.

OJS 3.2.1-2 requires at least PHP 7.2 (see docs/README.md), so older versions won’t work.

Use the mysqli driver, not mysql. The mysql driver is depecated by PHP.

The error message you quoted:

Parse error : syntax error, unexpected ‘?’, expecting variable (T_VARIABLE) in
/home4/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/ojs/lib/pkp/classes/notification/PKPNotificationOperationManager.inc.php on line 374

…stems from trying to use a version of PHP that’s too old.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

Thanks. I had tried with php 7.4 and mysqli. Nevermind, asked bluehost and they sorted it out after 30 mins. Yet to be told what the issue was