Where has safe mode on/off gone?

[#1]

Should have put [PAYH] in the title! I little while ago I turned 'safe mode' off using the the box in the domain > setup window. That box has gone and safe mode has reverted to on, when I need off. Thinking I was going mad, I looked pack through various posts and yes, it did seem possible to set the required value.
So what has happened? Is it just me? Anyone else with this problem?

[#2]

Sorry, that's probably my fault. There was a serious problem with server security (see posts below), the quickest solution to which is to turn safe mode back on. I guess that's the reason. There are less draconian solutions, but they may take a little longer to implement. I hope this is only temporary.
Gabe

[#3]

Yes - I see that the client permissions have reverted to:
PHP safe mode management:  No
I hope that this problem can be resolved as it renders both my joomla and CMS Made Simple sites unable to be updated which renders them pretty much useless at the moment. Safe mode management is fairly critical for most CMS systems as far as i can see. I do appreciate that this is a Preview site and therefore liable to some hiccups along the way.

[#4]

Yep, it's a pain.
I've just had a new domain repointed at my preview account and somehow the process has lost all the files in my original domain.
I have up-to-date backups so it's not much of an issue but with Safe Mode on I can't install Joomla and start the restore process rolling - so now I'm stalemated just at the point when I thought everything was working smoothly.

[#5]

Hi,
Unfortunately having safe_mode off presents a security issue for the moment, which is why it's had to be switched back on.
Joomla doesn't actually require that safe_mode be off... it works fine with it on, using FTP to manipulate files. Annoyingly, the Plesk Application Vault one-click install version complains about safe_mode and won't continue with the install. A manual install of Joomla (getting the download version from joomla.org) works fine.
Hope that helps

[#6]

Not sure about joomla but it has caused real problems for Wordpress and CMS Made Simple. It is no longer possible to edit existing content via the admin tools in both cases. I now have directories and files owned by www-data:www-data which were created by the CMS system but which can no longer be seen via the admin back ends. I can not delete them or change ownership via ftp either. For me the only solution appears to be safe mode off, or, starting all over again.

[#7]

Can anyone please help.
I have some PHP counter/tracker scripts which all reside in a folder on the ccgi server .
Underneath that folder are separate folders, each of which contain daily files of tracker information in text format for a particular webpage visited.
[tt]PHP folder containing scripts
      |
      |------  folder1
                |-------- Dec01Main.txt
                |-------- Dec02Main.txt
                etc.
      |------  folder2
                |-------- Dec01Buy.txt
                |-------- Dec02Buy.txt
                etc.
[/tt]
At the moment (on ccgi) the PHP code automatically generates the new files every day using the fopen($myfile,"a") open for append command. The same function also writes to the end of the files if they already exist.
If I move them to PAYH , can anyone please tell me:
1. Am I like likely to fall foul of the Safe Mode ON problem when the scripts either try to generate a new file or when they try to add to it?
2. If so, would it help to move the script files to the appropriate sub-folder?
3. What if I ditched the folders and had the whole lot in the same folder - just different file names?
4. If not, is there any way around this where I can keep the same format of files and filenames?
PS - I want to do it this way - not with a MySQL database because I have have developed real-time displays to access the data in this format, Also, I have statistical analysis programs programs written on my local computer to analyse the files once downloaded.
Any help/comments most appreciated.
Tony

[#8]

Hi Tony,
Edit: I just wrote a reply that was complete and utter nonsense. Please ignore it if you read it!
You should be fine if you set your folder permissions 777.
Gabe

[#9]

Thanks Gabe.
I missed your original reply as I was not online at the time.
So to recap (with reference to the diagram), doing a CHMOD 777 on 'Folder1' and 'Folder2'  should allow the scripts in the 'PHP folder'  to create and append to files in 'Folder1' and 'Folder2'.
Is that correct?
Tony

[#10]

Yes. That's exactly equivalent to what I'm currently doing in my test site on PAYH.
I'm not a big fan of 777 permissions, but needs must.
Gabe

[#11]

Thanks again Gabe,
I have not signed up yet as I wanted to see the problems generated before trying. I will have a try in the New Year - things get hectic over Christmas.
One problem is that my domain (mydomain.co.uk) can only point to one place (ccgi or PAYH) and I will have to be sure that it works before I change, otherwise both mydomain.co.uk and my Homepages site - which depends upon it - will go belly-up.
Tony