Red: Hmmm... I DO have Noscript installed, but I'm pretty sure I long ago allowed all scripts to run from the "localhost" domain. Nonetheless, it's worth looking into - thanks!

(Edit: I remember the same thing happening when I used Opera instead of Firefox, and there's no such thing as Noscript for Opera (I'd have it installed if it existed). So I really doubt the problem is in any way browser-related, unless both browsers are exhibiting the exact same problem.)

Xoob: I'm not really clear on mod-rewrite so that will take some research. I still want to know the security ramifications of cgi.force-redirect=0, but I guess I can research that elsewhere as well.

Xoobaru, thanks for the response.

In /etc/php5/cgi/php.ini (which I believe is the copy that PHP is actually looking at), there is no value explicitly set for cgi.force_redirect - the line that would set such a value is commented out. The text just before it reads "Left undefined, PHP turns this on by default. You can turn it off here AT YOUR OWN RISK."

So I am guessing the answer to your question would be "1". What would be the security ramifications of explicitly setting it to "0"? And would it likely solve my problem?

Hi, and thanks for the response. Below is the info you requested:

The server is a local installation on a Linux (Kubuntu 12.0.4/Precise) computer. IIS is not a factor (can it even be installed under Linux? I wouldn't want to run a webserver under Wine...)

me@Here:~$ php --version
PHP 5.3.10-1ubuntu3.5 with Suhosin-Patch (cli) (built: Jan 18 2013 23:45:59)
Copyright (c) 1997-2012 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2012 Zend Technologies

Browser is Firefox, version 18.0.2, but I have also tried Opera version 12.14 with identical results so I think we can eliminate the browser from consideration.

I was able to kludge my way through the installation by manually editing the path to remove the duplicated portion on every single page, and a quick run seems to work properly, but that's a pain and I do not really trust the installation. I would prefer to redo it properly and see it complete cleanly, the way it's supposed to.

What does "cgi.force_redirect" refer to, anyway? Could it be a factor even if I am not using IIS?

I'm running into a strange problem trying to install XOOPS 2.5.5 on a local server.

Here's what I've done:
The htdocs folder from the original archive I downloaded has been copied to the root of the server and renamed 'xoops'. Database and user have been created but this is irrelevant because I never get to the stage where I can tell XOOPS about them.

To start the installation, I go to localhost/xoops. This page redirects immediately to
localhost/xoops/install/index.php
and prompts me to select language. The only choice available is English, so I select it and click Next. This brings me to what at first appears to be the same page, except completely devoid of images or formatting.

Upon closer inspection, the URL for the new page is:
localhost/xoops/install/index.php/xoops/install/page_start.php
and a quick glance shows that the path has been duplicated. The installation will not proceed any farther - I cannot get to step 2.

I'm guessing the correct URL should be:
localhost/xoops/install/page_start.php
but I am not convinced it's safe to simply type that into the address bar because I don't want to screw up the installation process.

I do not know what I might be doing wrong to cause the path to be duplicated in this manner. Any suggestions would be welcome.