Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Scott Tolan -
Number of replies: 17

Hi

I am currently trying to install a theme onto a Moodle 2.9.1 site. I have installed themes in the past and had no problems whatsoever.

So I go through the procedure of downloading and unzipping a theme, through FTP I then copy it into the /theme directory. Back into Moodle site admin/notifications and check for updates where it indicates there are no updates. I thought it may be a permission problem somewhere, so I changed the folder permissions to 755, although I'm not 100% sure I'm doing this right because the permissions of the contents inside the theme folder are different to 755 so I think I may have to change these aswel, so I did this but it just white screened my Moodle site. I have also tried clearing theme cache and purging all cache throughout the procedure. 

From this I have now got 2 themes 'stuck' in the /theme directory and can't remove them.

If anybody could suggest anything to try then it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

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In reply to Scott Tolan

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Richard Oelmann -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

You will need to make sure the folder and all its contents, including subfolders and their contents are readable. 

What themes are they? 

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In reply to Richard Oelmann

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Scott Tolan -

I tried the essential theme and also the shoehorn theme.

When you say readable what permission code would this be?

I tried changing them all to 755 and it just crashed the site.


Cheers

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In reply to Scott Tolan

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Gareth J Barnard -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers

If the theme has a 'Readme.txt' then use this to check that you've not done something silly like FTP'ing to the wrong server.  So like 'mymoodlesite.org/theme/mytheme/Readme.txt' and see if the file loads in the browser.

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In reply to Gareth J Barnard

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Scott Tolan -

Cheers Gareth, I tried that and it came up with a permissions error, this must mean that I'm getting the permissions all wrong for the theme directories.

I'm just unsure to what these would need to be, as I changed everything inside the theme to 755 and it crashed.

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In reply to Scott Tolan

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Gareth J Barnard -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers

755 for folders and 644 for files should be fine, however is the user and group the same as the rest of the site?

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In reply to Gareth J Barnard

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Scott Tolan -
Actually no it doesn't look like it, the owner/group of the theme directories I've tried to install seem to be 1000 1000, as the ones that already exist are 1005 1005. I'll be honest I'm not sure what this exactly means?


Does this mean I have to change the directories I've added to the same user group 1005 1005? If so can this be done from FTP (Filezilla) as I don't have access to server.

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In reply to Scott Tolan

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Gareth J Barnard -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers

Read this about users and groups: http://wiki.dreamhost.com/Unix_File_Permissions

Changing them (I've searched) is not possible via FTP, you need to login to the server with ssh etc.

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In reply to Gareth J Barnard

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Scott Tolan -

Sorted it, although I was changing the permissions at folder level, the permissions for the files inside the folders were remaining as they were. So 'including all files and subdirectories' when changing permissions solved it. 

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In reply to Scott Tolan

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Mary Evans -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

The easiest way to upload a theme in Moodle is to do it from the Admin user interface, by going to Site Administration > Plugins > Install plugin

Here you have the option to go directly to the Moodle site and install the theme of your choice.

Cheers

Mary

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In reply to Mary Evans

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Scott Tolan -

Hi Mary

I was aware of this, although I'm sure it was giving me a error message last time I tried it, that's why I usually go through FTP. Although just retested it and it's worked. This is going to be very useful when installing plugins (not themes), just need the server administrator to give me writeable permissions on the block folder. smile

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In reply to Mary Evans

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Maree Crighton -

Hi I'm a noob.  I'm trying to install the theme roshnilite via Moodle plugins but it comes up with the following error and as yet I have not found where the debugging mode is.  All assistance gratefully accepted.



Oops... An error occurred while trying to obtain information about the plugin Roshnilite (theme_roshnilite) version 2015092104. The plugin cannot be installed. Turn debugging mode on to see details of the error.

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In reply to Maree Crighton

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Richard Oelmann -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Administration > Site Administration > Development > Debugging

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In reply to Maree Crighton

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Mary Evans -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

The setting you need to enable is the top one on the debugging page. Set it to DEVELOPER mode that will then give you some useful information, like a Stack Trace, which you can copy and paste here if you want more help?

cheers

Mary

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In reply to Mary Evans

Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Maree Crighton -

When I login to Moodle I am redirected to the Plugins check page and am stuck here.

Before this I installed Moodle successfully.  I then went to Moodle plugins and installed the roshnilite theme successfully (received emails advising success) BUT when I went to Appearance> Theme selector and clicked on the button to change theme all I can see is this Plugins check page and I can't go anywhere else.

Any help on what I can do to fix this would be helpful.  I am a Noob so please keep things simple.


I have chatted online with company who hosts the site (host monster) but they say help needs to come from Moodle.


The Plugins check page reads as follows:

This page displays plugins that may require your attention during the upgrade . . . 

Button: Check for available updates.


Number of plugins requiring your attention: 2


Plugin name                              Directory                  New version    Requires                 Status

Themes

[pluginname,theme_roshnilite11]   /theme/roshnilite11        2015092104        Moodle 2013051401   To be installed

                                                                                                                                         theme_bootstrap (2014051200)


roshnilite                current version 2015092104 Missing from disk!




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In reply to Maree Crighton

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Usman Asar -
Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Maree, what HostMonster's staff said is correct. anyway, there are few themes that are dependent on their parent theme, and some themes are based on bootstrap so you have to install bootstrap theme prior to install roshnilite, as this screen as well shows you manually deleted the roshnilite from your folders.

so what you'd be doing is, installing bootstrap first (https://moodle.org/plugins/view/theme_bootstrap) and then you can install roshnilite theme without any issues.

as a matter of fact, you can place both themes at the same time in themes folder to be installed.

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In reply to Usman Asar

Re: Installing a theme on Moodle 2.9.1

by Richard Oelmann -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

On top of what Usman has said about needing the bootstrap theme, it looks as though you have done something to start renaming roshnilite as roshnilite11 - maybe renamed the folder, but nothing else?

So your plugins check is finding a theme roshnilite11, without all its correct language strings etc (hence the strange naming and the location given for the theme) but not finding the roshnilite theme itself that it is expecting (hence the missing from disk message)

1. Install theme_bootstrap as Usman has said

2. undo any name changes you have made to roshnilite - or complete them so the entire theme becomes a clone called roshnilite11


Richard

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