leftypol/README.md

leftypol - vichan/lainchan based imageboard software
========================================================

About
------------
The leftypol imageboard is a fork of [lainchan](http://github.com/lainchan/lainchan), a fork of [vichan](http://github.com/vichan-devel/vichan), actively building on it and adding features, bug-fixes and other
improvements.

We highly recommend you read the [vichan GitHub wiki](http://github.com/vichan-devel/vichan/wiki) for a basic guide to features.

Requirements
------------
1.	PHP >= 5.4 (we do not actively check if this is still supported)
		PHP 8.0 is explicitly supported. PHP 7.x should be compatable.
2.	MySQL/MariaDB server >= 5.5.3
3.	[Composer](https://getcomposer.org/) (To install various packages)
4.	[mbstring](http://www.php.net/manual/en/mbstring.installation.php) 
5.	[PHP GD](http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro.image.php)
6.	[PHP PDO](http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro.pdo.php)

This should be compatible with all major web servers and
operating systems. This code does not include an Apache ```.htaccess``` file nor does
it need one.

### Recommended
1.	ImageMagick (command-line ImageMagick or GraphicsMagick preferred).
2.	[APC (Alternative PHP Cache)](http://php.net/manual/en/book.apc.php),
    Redis,
	[XCache](http://xcache.lighttpd.net/) or
	[Memcached](http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro.memcached.php)

Contributing
------------
You can contribute to leftypol, and upstream imageboard softwares, by:
*	Developing patches/improvements/translations and using this repo to submit pull requests
*	Providing feedback and suggestions
*	Writing/editing documentation

If you need help developing a patch, please reply to the sticky on our [/tech/](https://leftypol.org/tech/) board.

Installation
-------------
1.	Download and extract leftypol to your web directory or get the latest
	development version with:

        git clone git://git.leftypol.org/leftypol/leftypol.git
	
2.	run ```composer install``` inside the directory
3.	Navigate to ```install.php``` in your web browser and follow the
	prompts.
4.	leftypol should now be installed. Log in to ```mod.php``` with the
	default username and password combination: **admin / password**.

Please remember to change the administrator account password.

See also: [Configuration Basics](https://web.archive.org/web/20121003095922/http://tinyboard.org/docs/?p=Config).

Upgrade
-------
This probably will break if you try and upgrade from vichan or the older (<= August 2021) leftypol versions. Ask us for migration advice if you intend to do so.

To upgrade from this repo:

Either run ```git pull``` to update your files, if you used git, or
backup your ```inc/instance-config.php```, replace all your files in place
(don't remove boards etc.), then put ```inc/instance-config.php``` back and
finally run ```install.php```.

To migrate from a Kusaba X board, use http://github.com/vichan-devel/Tinyboard-Migration (untested)

Support
--------
If you find a bug, please report it.

If you need assistance with installing, configuring, or using leftypol, you may
find support from a variety of sources:

*	If you're unsure about how to enable or configure certain features, make
	sure you have read the comments in ```inc/config.php```.
*	For support, reply to the sticky on our [/tech/](https://leftypol.org/tech/) board.

### Tinyboard support
vichan, and by extension lainchan and leftypol, is based on a Tinyboard, so both engines have very much in common. These links may be helpful for you as well: 

*	Tinyboard documentation can be found [here](https://web.archive.org/web/20121016074303/http://tinyboard.org/docs/?p=Main_Page).

CLI tools
-----------------
There are a few command line interface tools, based on Tinyboard-Tools. These need
to be launched from a Unix shell account (SSH, or something). They are located in a ```tools/```
directory.

You actually don't need these tools for your imageboard functioning, they are aimed
at the power users. You won't be able to run these from shared hosting accounts
(i.e. all free web servers).

Localisation
------------
Wanting to have leftypol in your language? You can contribute your translations to vichan at this URL:

https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/tinyboard-vichan-devel/

Oekaki
------
leftypol makes use of [wPaint](https://github.com/websanova/wPaint) for oekaki. After you pull the repository, however, you will need to download wPaint separately using git's `submodule` feature. Use the following commands:

```
git submodule init
git submodule update
```

To enable oekaki, add all the scripts listed in `js/wpaint.js` to your `instance-config.php`.

WebM support
------------
Read `inc/lib/webm/README.md` for information about enabling webm.

leftypol API
----------
leftypol provides by default a 4chan-compatible JSON API, just like vichan. For documentation on this, see:
https://github.com/vichan-devel/vichan-API/ .

License
--------
See LICENSE.md.