3.9.6. Sorry, such file doesn't exist...

Whenever you try to access a module (or simply your site), you ge the error (see, for example: Humpa Chess Install and http://www.karakas-online.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=348):

Sorry, such file doesn't exist...

Of course, following a classic attitude to error handling, it doesn't tell you which file does not exist... We thus have to search the code to see what is happening:

The error

Sorry, such file doesn't exist...

comes from mainfile.php. There are exactly three occurences of it in the code. In all three the pattern is the same (see Sorry, such file doesn't exist...):

1. First it is tested if you are a normal user, an administrator, if the module is active etc., depending on the circumstances.

2. Then, a test is made on the existence of $modpath. Upon its failure, you get the error above:

$modpath .= "modules/$name/$file.php";
if (file_exists($modpath)) {
    include($modpath);
} else {
    die ("Sorry, such file doesn't exist...");
}

$modpath, in turn, is the path to the module in question. As you can see in the code snippet yourself, it depends on the value of $name, which is the name of the module, and $file, which is...well, for this you have to scroll up to the start of mainfile.php. There, we read

if (!isset($file)) { $file="index"; }

which in plain english says "if the variable $file is NOT set, set it to 'index'".

Putting all the puzzle pieces together, we arrive to the conclusion that the file

modules/YourModule/index.php

is not there.

There are various things you should check and all have to do with trying to find out why your web server cannot find the index file of the module you are trying to access:

• Is the index.php file really there in the modules/YourModule folder?

• Did you set up the permissions (Section 3.2.3, Section 23.4.4) correctly? Does your web server have read access to that folder and file?

• Is there a (hidden) .htaccess file (Section 25.4) somewhere in your document tree that prevents the web browser from accessing that file?

• Did you install all files? You have to dive in the docs of that module to see if you are missing anything.

• Check if

  http://www.yoursite.com/modules/YourModule/index.php

  returns an error. Substitute YourModule with the name of the module that is giving you the headaches.

• If this is a module you downloaded and installed yourself (as opposed to a preinstalled one, see Section 6.1): Did you really follow the instructions? Did you download the right file? Did you extract it in the modules folder?

• Did you see the module in the list of modules and did you activate it (Section 7.1 and Figure 3-27)?