A "Script Execution Error" occurs when you attempt to access a Discus CGI script on an improperly configured Discus board. Improper specification of the directory paths during setup is almost the exclusive cause of this error message.

These instructions are for a script execution error when you first access your board.

If you have successfully set up your board and it's been working for a while, but you are now suddenly getting a Script Execution Error, use these instructions instead.

The following are suggestions to diagnose and repair a "Script Execution Error" as reported by the Discus program.

1. What do your program diagnostics say?

   By studying the most frequent errors made by our customers, recent versions of our software products contain enhanced diagnostics that can often find the cause of the problem and tell you exactly how you can fix it. For assistance on locating and accessing program diagnostics, please click here.

2. What did ftpdiag.cgi recommend?

   We suggest you access your discus.conf file (open it in a text editor) and point your browser back to the ftpdiag.cgi script. Look at the "admin_dir" variable in discus.conf and the "Administration Directory" setting on ftpdiag.cgi. Note that ftpdiag.cgi will generate a new set of random numbers after "discus_admin" in the suggestion each time it's accessed. Determine if the directory path you used is significantly different from the suggestion. If so, you might want to try setup again, taking the suggestions made by ftpdiag.cgi, which are over 95% accurate!

3. Did you spell the administration directory properly?

   Believe it or not, the most common cause of this error is that when the end-user created the Discus administration directory, the directory name was typed incorrectly (numbers were transposed, the letter "O" was used instead of the number zero, etc.).

   On most systems, the names of directories and files are case sensitive (so discus_admin_12345 is NOT the same as DISCUS_ADMIN_12345).

   Log in to your server with your FTP client and compare the name of your administration directory to admin_dir from discus.conf, making sure that the directory name is entered correctly. If not, rename the entire directory with your FTP program.

4. Did you place the administration directory in the right spot?

   Compare the admin_dir and html_dir settings in your discus.conf file. If the only difference between these directory names is that one is "discus_admin_12345" and the other is "discus", then on your server, the "discus_admin_12345" and "discus" subdirectories should be themselves located in the same subdirectory.

   However, if admin_dir and html_dir differ (e.g., html_dir has a "htdocs" but admin_dir does not), then "discus_admin_12345" and "discus" should NOT be in the same place. If necessary, create the administration directory in the proper place and then re-upload the files to it.

5. What error message is given on the Discus script?

   The "Script Execution Error" message generally occurs because the discus.conf file cannot be found at the location where the program expects to find it. When this happens, the condition "No such file or directory" appears in the error message. However, there are rare occasions where another error message will appear. If you see "Permission denied" then the permissions on the directories have not been properly set.

6. Were you unable to place the administration directory as instructed?

   If you were unable to place the administration directory exactly where you were told to place the directory in the readme.html file, please read the following help document:

   • Adjusting Directory Paths

Please note that DiscusWare support cannot definitively help you with this error, as it is a problem with the directory paths you specified in setup. Since DiscusWare does not know the structure of your server, we do not know the exact configuration of the server.

The party in the best position to offer advice is your web host, who has a good understanding of how your server is set up and how the directory paths work. Contact your web host with your questions of which directories to use.

If you wish DiscusWare to install Discus for you, you can consider our installation services, which are available for very reasonable rates.