Blank pages: index.php and /admin

[TechGuy]

vb 2.3.0

Help!

I'm trying to start a ddev copy of my site to hack up rather than playing live. So, I copied over my /forums files and database and now I get blank pages! HTML pages come up fine, of course, as do other PHP pages. But, when I go to the index.php or to /admin, it's just a blank page. I read thru your "Blank Page FAQ" and didn't get anywhere, and also searched, but most people said they changed their templates. This would naturally be the templates working currently on the live site, but how would I switch them back without using /admin anyway? What else could possibly cause this?

Thanks!!

[Steve Machol]

Make sure there is no whitespace or extras lines in config.php either before the <?php or after the ?>.

[TechGuy]

Thanks for the reply, Steve... I checked, and it's fine. Also, I copied it again from the live directory and it gives the same results... If it's the same DB and files as the live one, what could be different?! I had this working earlier, so I know I'm just missing something stupid... *sigh*

[Steve Machol]

Yikes, you're not trying to use the same db are you? Not a good idea.

Nonetheless the only reason I have ever seen for all vB pages to be white is a bad config.php file.

[TechGuy]

Nah, it's different. Although I did a try with it the same just for fun... same results.

Well, when I figure it out, I'll reply back and you can know another reason. If you have any other thoughts, let me know!!

[TechGuy]

Just trying to narrow this thing down...

If I go to /repair.php it shows up the help screen fine, but /repair.php?check=1 shows blank...

[Steve Machol]

Are you sure you even have a config.php file in the admin direcotry (not config.php.new) and that it's world-readable?

[TechGuy]

Steve, you get a star for the day. You hit the nail on the head. Perfect.

For security reasons (clear password), the config.php file on the live site is 640, with 'apache' group... not world readable. When I copied it over, it became part of my group, and I didn't think anything of it.

Thanks for sticking with me, and more importantly, thinking beyond the obvious answer. I really appreciate the effort you and the rest of the team put into vBulletin.

[Steve Machol]

No problem!