phpBB 1.4.4 docker build

This current commit has Phpbb 1.4.4 working with Debian Squeeze and MySQL 4 containers.

I patched the db seed script to work in that mysql version. Then I made a slight change to ensure cookies can be set in functions.php, as php5 was stricter with types. The final change was correct date-time parsing with index.php, which complained when there were empty strings when trying to calculate the most recent post time.

Some necessities with the php.ini: We enable register_globals for your delight (moreso phpbb 1.x's).

Don't use this in a public-facing server, you're asking for trouble. But it works if you want to time travel back to 2001.

Howto Do phpBB 1.4.4 in Docker

This setup deliberately uses legacy software to slightly modernise phpBB 1.4.4's original environment:

• Apache + PHP 5 (debian/eol:squeeze)
• MySQL 4.1.11 (oblakstudio/mysql41:4.1.11)

Start

docker compose up --build

Then open:

http://localhost:8080/phpBB/install.php

Installer database settings

Use:

• Database server: db
• Database name: phpbb
• Database username: phpbb
• Database password: phpbb

The hostname is db, not localhost, because MySQL is running in the other Compose service.

After installation

phpBB 1.4.4 requires config.php to be writable during installation. The Dockerfile sets it to mode 666 for this reason.

After the installer has completed, lock it back down:

docker compose exec phpbb chmod 444 /www/phpBB/config.php

The original phpBB documentation also recommends removing or renaming the installer and upgrade scripts. For this local retro setup you can do:

docker compose exec phpbb rm -f \
  /www/phpBB/install.php \
  /www/phpBB/upgrade_12.php \
  /www/phpBB/upgrade_14.php

Reset everything

To throw away the database and start again:

docker compose down -v
docker compose up --build

Important

This is obsolete, vulnerable software running obsolete PHP and MySQL. The Compose file intentionally publishes Apache only on 127.0.0.1. Again, do not expose this stack directly to the public Internet. Unless, ofc, you're feeling particularly courageous.