Frequently Asked Questions

This page contains some Frequently Asked Questions, as well as some troubleshooting hints. If you come up against any problem not covered here, please let me know, so I can include it in the next version.


Why can't I add images?

The failure to add images usually indicates a permission problem. The Pics directory, specified in the gpolladmin script, must be writeable by the process running the web server. Usually, this is a non-privileged user such as "nobody", "www", or "apache." Make sure that this user, or a group they are in, has read and write access to that directory.


Why does the Server Side Includes fail?

Server Side Includes can fail for a variety of reasons, but here are some basic things to check. First, make sure that you have server side includes enabled in your browser configuration file, for the directory in which the SSI files are placed. If you are using the XBitHack, make sure that the execute bit is set on for the file. Otherwise, make sure the file ends in .shtml, and not just .html so that the server knows to parse it. Check that you have restarted your server since making these changes. Make sure that you have the right syntax for the SSI inside of the file. Make sure that you have the correct path to the gpoll script, and that the script is executable and running without any errors. Finally, don't forget to check your error logs.


Why the name "gpoll"?

Originally, the name was "gregpoll" but that sounded a bit egotistical. It was not: that was merely a name that was not likely to be used by a commercial piece of software and cause future problems. If I made up a word, there was always a chance that someone else would invent something (or has already done so) with the same, or a very similar name. Thus, using a personal name seemed like a safe choice. Despite all that, I now like the name "gpoll" much better: it's short, and the only other use of that word I could find on the web was "groundwater pollution." You are free to rename it whatever you wish of course, just make sure you change the hard-coded values within the gpoll script (i.e. the "package" declaration) and the gpolladmin script (i.e. the "require" statement).


How can I help?

This program is under the GNU General Public License, so you are fairly free to modify the program however you want. However, if you find a bug, make an improvement, or have any suggestions whatsoever, I would really appreciate you dropping me a note at greg@turnstep.com telling me about it (send a patch if you want). If I find myself doing many revisions in the future, I will probably move the project to sourceforge.


What is the best way to contact the maintainer?

The best way to contact me is to send encrypted email to greg@turnstep.com, using the key 0x14964AC8. The next best way is to send me a digitally signed email. If neither of those re available to you, please send me a plain old email. Emails with HTML, images, or extraneous attachments may be discarded before being read, so don't do that. :)


Main gpoll help page