Paying for Software installation

[Cedric]

The option to pay for installation services is often offered by paid forum scripts. Nowadays, many paid forum scripts offer clients the chance to have the script installed for them for a certain fee, in case the client isn't tech-savvy enough to do it themselves.

So, I'm curious - what would you do in this situation? Would you pay for the installation fee, attempt to install the script yourself, or enlist the help of a friend or colleague?

If you're confident in your technical abilities and feel comfortable doing it yourself, then it might make sense to save the money and go the DIY route. However, if you're not confident or don't have the necessary skills, it might be worth considering paying for installation services or enlisting the help of someone you trust.

What are your thoughts? Have you ever paid for installation services, or do you prefer to do it yourself?

 

[Matt C.]

Generally speaking, I would never pay to have something installed. If I didn't know how to do it, I would figure it out. That's the fun part.

Unless, it's at the server level for a VPS and I wanted it done right. I may pay for that.

 

[Cedric]

Generally speaking, I would never to pay to have something installed. If I didn't know how to do it, I would figure it out. That's the fun part.

Unless, it's at the server level for a VPS and I wanted it done right. I may pay for that.

Yeah VPS stuff is something I'm not familiar with either and would definitely need help with. Anything else that is doable in cPanel, is something I could do or figure out how to do.

 

[Arantor]

I've never paid, nor asked for install support even when I've been off doing experimental things. But I've also been using an unmanaged VPS for nearly 20 years so I figure I'll figure it out.

That said I have mused about trying to install Discourse sometime, I think doing it on my existing home Docker setup would be a bear to set up.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I've always installed my own forum scripts. Once I got the courage to branch out to self hosting, that was one of the first things I learned to do. It can be helpful for those who don't have the time or ability to learn to install their own scripts.

 

[Reverie]

On free hosted software I always did the installations and loved messing around with the codes. As I'm lacking experience in the technical side of paid software I would probably first discuss with friends if they are comfortable with it and see if one of them would want to do it. I would be very nervous to do it the first time on my own.

 

[Jason]

I prefer to do it by myself. It's very easy to do with cPanel and stuff on a Windows PC. Anyway, I can understand the need of the service, though, because not everyone has the experience.

 

[Arantor]

It's very easy to do with cPanel and stuff on a Windows PC.

Depends on the software. You're not going to be installing Discourse on a server with that setup, for example. Almost certainly that will also hold true for NodeBB, Flarum, Waterhole and others.

 

[Jason]

Depends on the software. You're not going to be installing Discourse on a server with that setup, for example. Almost certainly that will also hold true for NodeBB, Flarum, Waterhole and others.

Yeah, I'm just looking at installing stuff like XenForo or phpBB. I haven't really messed around with other stuff. What exactly is so difficult about installing this other stuff?

 

[Tracy]

What exactly is so difficult about installing this other stuff?

Generally a control panel is not your friend.
It's actually (once you learn the tricks of the trade) easier to do it at the CLI usually.

 

[Arantor]

What exactly is so difficult about installing this other stuff?

Well, Discourse isn't written in PHP, it's written in Ruby - and (almost?) no shared hosting provider provides Ruby as an option. Ditto NodeBB and it being built in Node. Shared hosting companies don't like supporting these languages because it's harder to write shut-offs for them the way it is PHP if a script consumes too many resources.

As for Flarum and Waterhole, they're built using a style of PHP that doesn't structurally work with how a lot of hosts set up cPanel, where you don't just drop all the files in public_html, but you drop only a handful of files in public_html and everything else in the folder above it... (and they *explicitly* state you need to use the command line to install these two)