FAQs

Installation

I get "Too Many Redirects" or errors while making API calls

Please check whether mod_rewrite is working on your server. In addition, read the comment thread at #3153 for more steps on how to diagnose mod_rewrite.

Apache2 VirtualHost Config

see https://github.com/ChurchCRM/CRM/blob/master/cloud9/001-cloud9.conf for the config used by our cloud9 dev system.

How do i upgrade my VM to php 7

see https://github.com/ChurchCRM/CRM/blob/master/cloud9/upgradePhp7.sh

Internal Server Error 500

As seen in the following bug report the fix is to run the following command

chmod 755 churchcrm/ -R

Error reporting in PHP

Update the copy of Include\Config.php file change line 56

error_reporting(E_ERROR); to error_reporting(E_ALL);

also, see a listing of all PHP error reporting that can be used

Debug

Explore various methods for debugging the ChurchCRM application, including turning on error reporting and enabling app logs.

Enable the logs in the System Settings, the default value is INFO but you may want to change that. The logs are created in the /logs dir. Please note that logs are not cleaned by the system and it is up to the admin to clean files.

What if my host doesn't have register_globals turned OFF?

There is a simple workaround if your server does not have register_globals turned off. Create a file called ".htaccess" with a simple text editor and insert the following line into that new file: php_flag register_globals off Save this file and upload this file into the main ChurchCRM directory.

How can I enable the Phar extension?

Some web hosts allow you to selectively enable PHP extensions by the use of a phprc file. If your web host does not enable Phar by default and allows the use of phprc files, you can add the following to your phprc file:

extension=phar.so

Should I Self-Host, or use Shared Hosting?

Platform for ChurchCRM is flexible. It all depends on your technical ability and your system requirements.

Self-hosting a CentOS/Ubuntu or running a VPS on something like Linode gives you the most control over the platform. Some hosting providers place weird restrictions on upload sizes and script run times.

Using shared hosting like "A Small Orange," "Go Daddy," et.al. means less responsibility on your part to manage the platform, but at a possible cost of performance/features.

Another point of consideration is data security - If you're "self-hosting," you're not sharing your platform with other users (but you still have to make sure the server is locked-down). If you're using shared hosting, your data is only as secure as your provider has configured.

In either scenario, you're still responsible for backing up your data.

We maintain a list of issues encountered separated by platform type: Self - hosted: https://github.com/ChurchCRM/CRM/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue+label%3A%22Platform%3A+Self-Hosted%22+ Shared Hosting: https://github.com/ChurchCRM/CRM/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue+label%3A%22Platform%3A+Shared+Hosting%22+

We have had success with both styles of installation, and the choice is really up to you.