Question

When someone tries to add their address to my notification list, this error comes up:

Email notifications have not been configured! The weblog owner needs to set the EmailVerificationSecret configuration variable.

Answer

If you wish to add a form to your site so that visitors can sign up for site update notifications, you will also need to set the EmailVerificationSecret variable in mt-config.cgi1. This setting allows Movable Type to secure the notification signup process so that visitors have to verify their email addresses.

Here are the steps to enable...

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So Thursday AM is "The Big Day", the day when we all get to experience Movable Type 3.2, sans beta.

My entries are slow-in-coming for a few days while I launch my brand new design site. The current site is truly ghastly. I'm also currently slogging my way through 12 rounds in the ring with a couple of ornary problems:

Headache#1: .htaccess

First, I'm trying to get my server to process my .html files as .php files so I can use includes for my sidebar. I'm up to my neck in .htaccess, and I've tried adding the simple "AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .html" with no luck. The site keeps returning a happy 500 error any time I try to view a .php file or...

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Question

When viewing dynamic pages, I see the following error: Warning: main(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/full/path/to/cgi-bin/movabletype/php/mt.php) is not within the allowed path(s): (/full/path/to/tmp) in /full/path/to/blog/mtview.php on line 2

Answer

This error indicates that your host has enabled the PHP open_base_dir setting on your server. Your host needs to add your Movable Type installation folder to the allowed paths for this setting (i.e., add the file path referenced in the error as "not within the allowed...

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Finding Perl on your Server

Problem

You need to find out where the Perl interpreter resides on your system.

Solution

Your hosting provider may have provided you with the location of the Perl interpreter in the introductory email or welcome message you received when you created your account. Most of the time, this will be something like /usr/bin/perl. If you're unsure, ask your hosting service or system administrator. And if you have shell access you can use the whereis command.

Discussion

The Movable Type software is written in the Perl programming language. In order for Perl...

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Question

I've logged in to Movable Type, but everything I click takes me back to the Login page again.

Answer

This is related to the cookie Movable Type must set to keep you logged in during your session.

Note: There is a Known Issue in version 3.16 which prevents the login cookie from being set correctly when Movable Type is installed in the root folder of a domain. This issue was resolved in version 3.17 (released on June 2, 2005), so you should upgrade in order to correct this particular type of login problem.

If the Known Issue above does not...

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Running Movable Type With mod_perl

Problem

You want to improve the performance of Movable Type by eliminating the overhead of CGI.

Solution

Run Movable Type under mod_perl 1.x.

Discussion

mod_perl embeds a Perl interpreter into the Apache server, so that dynamic content produced by Perl scripts can be served in response to incoming requests, without the significant overhead of re-launching the Perl interpreter for each request.

Movable Type can run under mod_perl 1.x in either Registry mode or as a set of full-fledged handlers. Note that in order to run under mod_perl, you must...

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Question

When visitors post comments to my site, they see a 500 Internal Server Error; however, the comment does show up within the Movable Type interface.

Answer

This typically means your server does not support the background tasks feature. Try disabling this feature in mt-config.cgi1 by adding the following line to it: LaunchBackgroundTasks 0

Then, save mt-config.cgi and upload it back to your server in ASCII mode.

1 In versions prior to 3.2, the configuration file is named mt.cfg.

...

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Question

When rebuilding my site or saving an entry, I get the following error:

Build error in template 'Main Index': Error in <MTSubCategories> tag: <$MTCategoryArchiveLink$> can be used only if you have enabled Category archives.

Answer

You will need to either enable Category Archives on your weblog; or remove the code which is causing the error from your Main Index Template.

Enable Category Archives

Navigate to Settings > Publishing : Archive Mapping1 and check the box next to Category. Click Save Changes and then Rebuild Site...

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Question

I get an error message that says Can't call method "[something]" on an undefined value.

Answer

Can't call method "maketext"

Make sure you uploaded the following files and folders, all in ASCII mode: • extlib/I18N/ (and everything inside) • extlib/Locale/ (and everything inside) • lib/MT/L10N.pm • lib/MT/L10N/en_us.pm

Can't call method "id" on an undefined value at lib/MT.pm line 770

Please upgrade to the latest version of Movable Type - there was a bug in previous versions where a Tag error in a Template would cause this error to appear, instead...

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Question

My activity log reports these errors when trying to send pings, for example: Ping 'http://www.movabletype.org/update/' failed: HTTP error: 500 Can't connect to www.movabletype.org:80 (Bad protocol 'tcp').

Answer

This error typically indicates network problems on your hosting server. You will need to check with your webhost to see if they are blocking any outgoing traffic.

GoDaddy in particular is one host whose servers do not permit these pings to be sent, so users running Movable Type on GoDaddy will not be able to use this feature.

Some users hosting with...

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Weblogs are not just a one-way medium for publishing. With the use of a singular, often conversational voice, enhanced by the loosely coupled nature of the Internet and lightweight syndication formats, weblogs are akin to conversations, regardless of the size and makeup of the audience. "A" writes about something on their mind -- an experience, the news, or a project's status. "B" reads it and expresses their take. "C" finds both posts interesting and notes something A and B has not mentioned and so on.

Not everyone has a weblog (sadly) and not everyone wants to make a post to their weblog for everything...

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Question

When visitors sign in with TypeKey to commment, they see a message which says The validation failed.

Answer

If the failed sign-in is recorded in the Activity Log

• Make sure you are using the following setting in mt-config.cgi1: TypeKeyVersion 1.1 • If you have upgraded but are not using the newest default templates, update the TypeKey sign-in links in your template to use the new shortcut tag for these. Using the new tag will force the TypeKeyVersion setting from mt-config.cgi to be applied for these links.

So, look for any sign-in links in...

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Question

When clicking View Site from within Movable Type, I get a 404 Not Found error.

Answer

• Have you created and saved a new entry with a status of Published (rather than Unpublished); or used the REBUILD SITE option to generate your weblog files?

• Is your Main Index Template set to rebuild automatically? Make sure the option for "Rebuild this template automatically when rebuilding index templates" is checked on the Edit Template screen.

• Do you get any errors when publishing an entry or rebuilding your site? If so, resolve the errors...

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Question

I have a MySQL database available on my server, and my hosting account uses CPanel. How can I set up my database?

Answer

If your host uses CPanel for your site management, you can use this visual interface to create the database. • Log into your CPanel (typically located at http://www.example.com/cpanel for your domain).

• Look for the option to work with databases - it may read Manage MySQL in the Databases box.

• Scroll down to where it says: Db: _________ [add]

• Enter your preferred database name. • Click Add.

This will create a database in...

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Question

When viewing dynamic archive pages, I see an error which says Notice: Undefined index: SchemaVersion in /mt/php/mt.php on line 180.

Answer

"Notice" messages are informational and come from PHP, not from Movable Type.

Check the php.ini file on your server for an "error_reporting" setting. The default value should be: E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE which excludes "notice" messages from being output.

See PHP Manual: Error Handling and Logging Functions for more information.

...

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Question

When trying to upload a file, I received an error message saying it was too large. What is the size limit, and can it be changed?

Answer

The default setting for the size of uploaded files is 1MB, to prevent denial-of-service attacks. If you wish to increase this size limit, use the CGIMaxUpload setting in mt-config.cgi1.

For example, to increase the size limit to 1.5MB, use: CGIMaxUpload 1500000

Remember to uncomment the setting2 in mt-config.cgi. Save and transfer the configuration file back to your server in ASCII mode.

1 In versions prior to 3.2,...

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Question

No one can leave a comment on my weblog; everyone who tries sees an error which says You are not allowed to post comments.

Answer

This error message appears when the IP address of the commenter matches one which is on the list at Settings > IP Banning1,2.

If all comments are being rejected with this error, check your IP Banning list to see if you have inadvertently banned a particular IP, or you have a blank item on the list (which would cause comments from all IP addresses to be banned). If so, delete the item which is causing the...

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Question

I get an error that starts with Unmatched right curly bracket at [path/filename].pm.

Answer

This error is an indication that there was a problem uploading the specified file to your server: either it was not uploaded in ASCII mode, or the file was truncated during transfer.

Upload the file again, making sure to specifically choose an ASCII or plain text transfer mode; and verify that the file size on the server after the upload matches the original file size.

If the file referenced in the error is extlib/DateTime/LocaleCatalog.pm, and is also accompanied by messages stating...

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AdminCGIPath

Movable Type uses the CGIPath and AdminCGIPath settings to construct links back to Movable Type CGI scripts. For example, the MT tag MTCGIPath is replaced with the value of the CGIPath setting. AdminCGIPath is used to construct links to mt.cgi, and CGIPath is used to construct links to all other CGI scripts.

AdminCGIPath is optional. If you do not provide a value for it, it will default to the value of CGIPath. You may wish to use it if you want to place your mt.cgi in a separate directory than the other CGI scripts, or if you wish to use an SSL-enabled URL for your mt.cgi...

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CGIPath

Movable Type uses the CGIPath and AdminCGIPath settings to construct links back to Movable Type CGI scripts. For example, the MT tag MTCGIPath is replaced with the value of the CGIPath setting. AdminCGIPath is used to construct links to mt.cgi, and CGIPath is used to construct links to all other CGI scripts.

AdminCGIPath is optional. If you do not provide a value for it, it will default to the value of CGIPath. You may wish to use it if you want to place your mt.cgi in a separate directory than the other CGI scripts, or if you wish to use an SSL-enabled URL for your mt.cgi usage....

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