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1. will_pigeon
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   Hi All,

   I've had a little search and can't find a direct answer, so I'm posting on the forum. W3 Total Cache sounds like a wonderful plugin and I would like to install it on my site.

   Following the installation instructions I got stuck at step 1 - I do not know how to change permissions to 777. So I contacted DreamHost, where I host my domain, and they told me:

   "on our systems, there is *never* a need to set *anything* to 777 permissions, and to do so is a serious security risk."

   and

   "We use suExec, so your own user (and therefore the WordPress program) can write to all directories with them set to 755."

   They advised me to proceed with the permissions left to 755. I asked what effect they thought this might have:

   "It should have none at all. The 777 permissions are the programmer's way of avoiding problem with user unfamiliar with programming having to set *proper* permissions to allow the script to write to the directory. We have you covered on that, as we have the default permissions set to 755 which allows this, and is much safer."

   Will I be ok to install W3 Total Cache leaving permissions at 755?

   thank you

   (I am using WordPress version 2.8.5)

2. Frederick Townes
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   It depends on other information that hasn't been provided. Show them the installation instructions page and tell them to help you. I've seen dreamhost users use W3TC without issue. BTW, you should really update your WordPress.

3. will_pigeon
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   Hi,

   thank you for replying.

   I have installed it, I notice a small improvement in my page speed score 65 to 67.

   Here's the contents of the window when I click on compatibility check via General Tab. Does all look ok?

   Thank you

   Server Modules & Resources:

   PHP Version: 5.2.14
   PHP Timezone: Not set
   Web Server: Apache
   FTP functions: OK (required for Self-hosted (FTP) CDN support)
   Multibyte String support: OK (required for Rackspace Cloud Files support)
   cURL extension: OK (required for Amazon S3 support)
   zlib extension: OK (required for compression support)
   Opcode cache: Not installed
   Memcache extension: Not installed
   Mime type detection: Not installed
   Hash function: hash (required for NetDNA purge support)
   Safe mode: Off
   Open basedir: Off
   zlib output compression: Off
   mod_mime: Not detected
   mod_expires: Not detected
   mod_deflate / mod_gzip: Not detected
   mod_headers: Not detected
   mod_env: Not detected
   mod_setenvif: Not detected
   mod_rewrite: Not detected
   WordPress Resources

   /home/purplepenguin/cranihum.com/wp-content: Write-able
   /home/purplepenguin/cranihum.com/.htaccess Write-able

   Uploads directory: Write-able
   WP_CACHE define: OK
   Fancy permalinks: OK
   Network mode: Off

4. Frederick Townes
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   Yes.

5. Jackie
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   I know this is a bit late but if anyone comes across this error the simple fix is to uninstall any other caching plugins including W3 Total Cache. Then reinstall w3 Total cache.

   No need to chmod any files at all.

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