Question

I see one or more very large files in my Movable Type installation folder which include core in the file name.

Answer

These are probably "core dump" files, which are created when a Perl script crashes. These files contain information about what the program was doing when it crashed and can be useful for debugging in some circumstances; but should just be deleted in most cases.

Core dumps don't happen very often, so if you've been experiencing unusual troubles with Movable Type recently, that could explain the presence of these...

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Question

How do I change the information on my account, such as my email address or password?

Answer

Changes to your account information must be made in your TypeKey Profile. Log into your TypeKey account and make your changes there; then, the next time you log into Your Account, you must say YES to "Share your email address?" so that it will update your account with us.

You can change your email address, password, and public name, but your username cannot be changed.

Note that if you change your email address, you will need to confirm...

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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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Question

When I upload an image, I do not get an option to thumbnail it.

Answer

The thumbnailing option depends on your server having both the ImageMagick libraries and the Perl module Image::Magick installed and working correctly. You can run mt-check.cgi to see if the module is installed.

If the module is not installed, you'll need to contact your host to request that it be installed. Once Image::Magick is detected and working correctly, the thumbnailing option should be visible.

If it does not, then the problem may be with the ImageMagick...

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Question

How do I tell IIS to use the index.html file as the default directory page when loading my site?

Answer

• Open IIS manager • Select the web site • Right click and choose Properties • Go to the Documents tab • Click Add • Enter index.html into the dialog box and click OK • Click OK to close the Site Properties dialog • Close IIS manager

Please note that these instructions are provided as general information only. Support staff is unable to provide detailed assistance with server configuration issues.

...

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Question

I downloaded both the Full Package and the Upgrade Package from my account, and they both look the same. Shouldn't they be different?

Answer

Due to improvements in the installation and upgrade process, including renaming the configuration file which ships with the download from mt.cfg to mt-config.cgi-original, we're now able to offer a single distribution package that works regardless of whether you're upgrading from an older version or installing Movable Type for the first time.

This not only simplifies our ability to prepare the...

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Question

When trying to load the script in my browser, I get an error that says %1 is not a valid Win32 application.

Answer

Your server may only be configured to recognize files with .pl extensions as valid Perl scripts. Try changing the file extension on the script file from .cgi to .pl to see if the script will execute with this change.

If changing the file extension resolves the error, then this could indicate that .cgi is not mapped to the PERL executable; and you'll need to contact your host or server administrator to update the...

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Question

Can I receive upgrade credit for donations or commercial license payments for versions prior to 3.x?

Answer

If, in the past you have donated or paid for a Movable Type commercial license, we want to thank you by providing credit for your past payments.

Donations

You will need the Recently Updated Key(s) issued to you in exchange for your donation.

We will credit you $20 for the first key, $25 for your second key, and $20 for any subsequent keys up to the price of the license. Your keys can only be used once and if you subsequently...

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Question

How can I deal with comment spam on my weblog?

Answer

In January of 2005, we released our Guide for Fighting Comment Spam.

The guide covers many of the concepts and tools available to fight comment spam and explains the strengths and weaknesses that we've seen of each. We also included our "best practices" recommendations for not only keeping spam off of your site, but making sure that you and your readers have the best possible experience. The document is intended to be a fairly comprehensive, living document which will change and grow...

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Question

When running the script, I get an error message that says Got an error: Bad ObjectDriver config.

Answer

If no further information follows the error, this means mt-config.cgi1 has not been properly configured for your database; specifically, that you have not uncommented2 any of the database settings so that Movable Type will know which one you want to use.

If the error is followed by more information which includes Connection error, see Connection Errors (MySQL).

If the error is followed by more information which says Your DataSource directory ('/path/to/database/directory') does not exist....

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Question

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

You need to set the EmailAddressMain configuration value to your own email address in order to use notifications at lib/MT/App/NotifyList.pm line 33.

Answer

You need to set the EmailAddressMain variable for your email address in mt-config.cgi1. Download the file from your server in ASCII mode and open it in a plain text editor. Look for this setting2: EmailAddressMain you@alternate-email.com

Replace you@alternate-email.com with your preferred email...

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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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Question

How do I add a new weblog in Movable Type?

Answer

Assuming you have the necessary permissions to create weblogs in the system: • Determine the location for your new weblog and create the folder for it on your server, using FTP or a File Manager provided by your host. If your server is not running under cgiwrap or suexec, remember to set the permissions on the new folder to the UNIX equivalent of 777.

Tip: It may not always be necessary for you to create the weblog folder yourself: in version 3.21, Movable Type will try to create the folder...

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Question

My webserver requires that the permissions on my .php files be set to 755, but the files Movable Type generates have permissions set to 666.

Answer

The permissions on files created by Movable Type are determined by the HTMLPerms configuration default, which is 666. You can override this default in mt-config.cgi1: # HTMLPerms 0777

If you uncomment this setting2 in the file, default permissions for all files created by the system will then be set to 777.

Note that the setting for HTMLPerms will be adjusted by the the HTMLUmask setting in...

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Question

When viewing my pages, characters in my language are encoded incorrectly.

Answer

When encoding characters into HTML entities (either for editing, or when you use the encode_html global tag attribute), Movable Type uses the HTML::Entities Perl module, if your server has it; otherwise, it uses a simple encoding that encodes <, >, and & into the proper entities.

In some cases, however, HTML::Entities will not work properly for your characters. This may happen, for example, if your characters are encoded in a different character...

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Question

When I include blockquote tags in my entries, the page formatting is being broken by <p> tags, and renders incorrectly.

Answer

A blockquote can contain paragraph tags, but a paragraph should not contain blockquote tags. Having invalid HTML code results in display issues, so you need to adjust how you are entering your text in the Entry Body field. • The Convert Breaks Formatting option will insert <p> and <br /> tags automatically depending on where you have line breaks in your entry text. When using this option, you...

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Question

The lastn attribute, when used with the MTArchiveList tag, produces an incorrect number of archives. (Version 3.2)

Answer

As an example, if you specify the following: <MTArchiveList archive_type="Monthly" lastn="6">

the tag only returns the last two months, instead of the last six.

The way to get around this until the bug is resolved is to multiple the lastn value you want by three: <MTArchiveList archive_type="Monthly" lastn="18">

and that should actually give you only the last six...

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Question

When anyone tries to sign in to post a comment on my site, they keep getting this message:

The site you're trying to comment on has not signed up for this feature. Please inform the site owner.

Answer

Make sure you have entered the correct URL in your TypeKey profile under Your Weblog Preferences on the Account Preferences page: • Use the domain URL that matches your CGIPath in mt-config.cgi1, rather than the blog URL.

If you have http://www.example.com/cgi-bin/ for CGIPath, then use http://www.example.com/ as the application URL in...

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Question

When using Movable Type, the images don't appear, no styles are being applied, and the Help links don't work.

Answer

If you installed Movable Type into a cgi-bin, certain files (referred to as "static" files), must be situated outside of the cgi-bin in order to be readable by your browser. The rest of this article explains how to make sure Movable Type can find these files.

Which Files Are Static Files?

Version 3.2 and higher

In version 3.2 of Movable Type, all of the required static files are stored by default in a folder...

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