cUrl

OK so what's with this? Any link to the threads on this forum relating to cUrl come back as follows:

Not Acceptable
An appropriate representation of the requested resource /forum/showthread.php could not be found on this server.

Apache/1.3.39 Server at www.zen-cart.com Port 80

Just upgraded to 1.38. I need my PayPal payment method ASAP. Can't use it without cUrl. How do I configure the thing? My hoster says the following:

There are two basic ways to use cURL. One is to compile it into PHP so it is available as a PHP function call. The other way is to have cURL installed on the server as a utility. Most web software can use either method but some cannot.

You don't need to locate the cURL folder. Your ZenCart software should have an option to use cURL as an external utility. If it does, then you just need to enter the following in the ZenCart settings:

/usr/local/bin/curl

If ZenCart can't use cURL as an external utility then you should contact the authors of the software and ask them to adjust the software to be able to use cURL externally instead of compiled into PHP.

So what's the story and help everyone out there? Urgent. Thanks.

enquirer66:

OK so what's with this? Any link to the threads on this forum relating to cUrl come back as follows:

Not Acceptable
An appropriate representation of the requested resource /forum/showthread.php could not be found on this server.

Apache/1.3.39 Server at www.zen-cart.com Port 80

It is a security setting on the Zen Cart forum site that is blocking URLs with 'curl' in them. For the moment just remove the &highlight=curl part of the url after clicking on the link.

enquirer66:

Just upgraded to 1.38. I need my PayPal payment method ASAP. Can't use it without cUrl. How do I configure the thing? My hoster says the following:

There are two basic ways to use cURL. One is to compile it into PHP so it is available as a PHP function call. The other way is to have cURL installed on the server as a utility.

As far as I know Zen Cart uses curl php function calls so requires curl support compiled into PHP.

I believe you only need curl for PayPal Express, PayPal IPN doesn't use it.

DrByte is the expert though so maybe he can give you more definite answers.

Regards,
Christian.

If ZenCart can't use cURL as an external utility then you should contact the authors of the software and ask them to adjust the software to be able to use cURL externally instead of compiled into PHP.

Sounds like they are not intune with providing proper assistance for several scripts - Zen Cart included

enquirer66:

There are two basic ways to use cURL. One is to compile it into PHP so it is available as a PHP function call. The other way is to have cURL installed on the server as a utility. Most web software can use either method but some cannot.

You don't need to locate the cURL folder. Your ZenCart software should have an option to use cURL as an external utility. If it does, then you just need to enter the following in the ZenCart settings:

/usr/local/bin/curl

If ZenCart can't use cURL as an external utility then you should contact the authors of the software and ask them to adjust the software to be able to use cURL externally instead of compiled into PHP.

There are no plans to rewrite Zen Cart to use external CURL resources. It's written to depend on CURL (and SSL) being compiled into PHP.

OK so my hoster doesn't provide this. I've now upgraded and I can't use ZenCart for the very reason I upgraded it. What should I do? Downgrade to v1.37 or is there another module I can use for payments (PayPal) which doesn't use cUrl). I need to do this asap. It appears that the single module of PayPal express doesn't work without cUrl either even if I deactivate Web Payments Pro. Any advice much appreciated.

According to my hoster who seems fairly on the ball and whom I've used for approx 5 years:

I would recommend that you contact the Zen Cart people and ask that they build in support for external cURL calls.

I think you'll find that many web hosting providers do not compile cURL into PHP due to security considerations.

enquirer66:

According to my hoster who seems fairly on the ball and whom I've used for approx 5 years:

I would recommend that you contact the Zen Cart people and ask that they build in support for external cURL calls.

DrByte:

There are no plans to rewrite Zen Cart to use external CURL resources. It's written to depend on CURL (and SSL) being compiled into PHP.

DrByte can correct me if I am mistaken,but CURL has been used in at least the past several distributions and possibly back to the 1.2.x series
So I do not see how this worked before??

That would be interesting to know. PayPal Express Checkout and IPN both worked when apparently cUrl was not compiled into php on the previous version I used. But surely, there are going to be lots of people for whom using this version is no longer a possibility? I don't understand.... why go the route of alienating users. Is PayPal not the most widely used of all your payment modules? Perhaps not? Anyway, I will downgrade... I assume that is what I need to do?

I think you'll find that many web hosting providers do not compile cURL into PHP due to security considerations.

your host dosnt have a clue,

The PayPal IPN (website payments standard) module does NOT use CURL.
If your host refuses to compile CURL into PHP, you're stuck with using the IPN module.

You should really do some research to determine whether or not your host's knowledge is credible. It doesn't seem so thus far. But, that's for you to decide.

You were right. They were wrong. They now say it is compiled but that a firewall parameter was blocking it. Actually, checking through their offers on hosting plans I see they support cUrl for the plan I subscribed to. Very tedious time-wasting for all... thanks for your elucidations.