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PHP-Nuke
Web Design & Development Guide
PHP-Nuke
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PHP-Nuke is a web based automated news publishing and
content management system (a "nuke") based on PHP and MySQL. The system is
fully controlled using a web-based user interface. PHP-Nuke was originally a
fork of the Thatware news portal system.
The system is released as
free
software under the
GNU General Public License. Until version 7.5, the latest version of the
software was freely downloadable from the PHP-Nuke website; version 7.5 is the
first version for which a US$10 download charge is made. This is permitted under
the GNU GPL (providing the source code is included), but the purchaser of the
software has the right to freely distribute the source code of the product. This
charge only applies to the latest version of PHP-Nuke; previous versions are
available free of charge. Version 8.1 is being distributed for US$12.
Starting with version 5.6, the display of a copyright message on webpages is
required according with the GPL license section 2(c) and approved by the Free
Software Foundation as explained on the official web site
[1].
It requires a
web server
which supports the PHP extension (such as the Apache HTTP Server), as well as an
SQL database (such as MySQL, mSQL, PostgreSQL, ODBC, Adabas, Sybase or InterBase).
Features of PHP-Nuke
The main aim of PHP-Nuke is to allow a webmaster to create a community-based
portal (similar to that used by Slashdot),
with an automated web site allowing users and editors to post news items
(user-submitted news items are selected by editors). Users can comment on these
articles using the comments system.
Modules may be added to the PHP-Nuke system, allowing the webmaster to add
more features (such as an Internet forum or calendar) to their PHP-Nuke
installation in addition to the core modules such as News, FAQ and Private
Messaging. The whole system is maintained by administrators using the web-based
administration section.
PHP-Nuke is able to support a number of different languages. Its look and
feel can also be customized (to an extent), using the Themes system,
although some people have found it difficult to make the site look any different
from the standard ⅔ column layout (as used by the program's official website
[2]).
Lack of security and criticism
PHP-Nuke has in the past been criticized for containing many security holes. SQL
injection is one of the most widely-known flaws in PHP-Nuke's security
[3], although other methods of gaining access to the admin panel of a site
running PHP-Nuke have been found
[4][5].
In February 2005, the
Webmail
module of PHP-Nuke was removed from all versions due to security problems at the
request of EV1Servers.net, phpnuke.org's
web hosting service
[6]. Since it contains a port of
phpBB2, it also
inherits phpBB's security flaws.
Forks
The PHP-Nuke project has been
forked many times by different people, for different reasons. Notable forks
include:
-
Dragonfly CMS — based on PHP-Nuke 6.5 with
Coppermine Photo Gallery included
-
Nuke-Evolution — Based on PHP-Nuke with many security fixes, custom
modifications, and PHP-Nuke modifications pre-installed
-
openPHPNuke — based on myPHPNuke
- phpWebSite — project managed by the Web Technology Group at Appalachian
State University
-
Postnuke — based on PHP-Nuke 5.0
- XOOPS —
based on PHP-Nuke and myPHPNuke
- Xaraya
— based on Postnuke
These forks, and others, have all had their own ideas regarding several
aspects of the system, and thus do many things in different ways in an attempt
to produce a better product. Nevertheless, most, if not all of these systems can
be used to produce a community portal similar to that which can be built using
PHP-Nuke, although it is possible that these systems are better at doing some
things than PHP-Nuke (and vice-versa).
External links
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b2evolution
Drupal
e107
eZ Publish
Joomla!
LifeType
Mambo
PHP-Nuke
PostNuke
TYPO3
WordPress
XOOPS
Xaraya
Zope
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