FUDforum
 | |
 Screenshot of a typical FUDforum message board. | |
| Developer(s) | Advanced Internet Designs Inc. |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 2001 |
| Stable release | 3.0.2
/ November 20, 2010 |
| Repository | |
| Written in | PHP with MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL or SQLite |
| Operating system | Any |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Available in | Multilingual (English and 30+ other languages) |
| Type | Forum software Mailing list archiver |
| License | GPL v2 |
| Website | fudforum.org |
FUDforum is a free and open source Internet forum software, originally produced by Advanced Internet Designs Inc., that is now maintained by the user community. The name "FUDforum" is an abbreviation of Fast Uncompromising Discussion forum[1]. It is comparable to other forum software. FUDforum is highly customizable and has a large feature set relative to other forum packages [2].
FUDforum runs on a number of operating systems that are able to support the PHP programming language, including Unix, Linux and Windows systems. To store its data, FUDforum relies on either MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL or SQLite. The interface is based on XHTML with CSS, jQuery and AJAX to provide a more flexible user interface[3].
The code is released under the GNU General Public License and Internet sites can use the software royalty-free.
History
FUDforum was originally developed by Ilia Alshanetsky. The first versions of FUDforum was released in 2001.
Requirements
FUDforum requires the following components to function:
- A web server that will run PHP like the Apache Web Server or Microsoft's Internet Information Services;
- PHP versions 5 (5.1 or higher);
- A database like MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL or SQLite. SQLite is supported via PHP's PDO driver.
Preconfigured versions
Two special pre-configured versions of FUDforum are available (doesn't require manual installation):
- FUDforum2Go, a small-footprint version of FUDforum for Microsoft Windows that can run from a USB stick, CD-Rom or from any folder on a PC's hard disk. FUDforum2Go is based on Server2Go.[4]
- Turnkey FUDforum is a virtual appliance based on the TurnKey Linux Virtual Appliance Library, that can be deployed in the cloud or on a virtual_machine infrastructure like VMWare, Xen or VirtualBox.[5]
Features
Some of FUDforum's more important features include:
- The software supports an unlimited number of members, forums, posts, threads and attachments.
- Ability to load USENET and E-mail list messages and sync forum replies back to these groups and lists.
- Customizable theme system based on templates.
- Translated into several languages (including German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and several other languages).
- Search engine friendly URL's
- Flood control and Captcha spam protection.
- Blacklisting of users and IP blocking.
- Messages can be stored within the database or on filesystem for extra performance.
- Topics can be listed in flat or threaded mode.
- User Avatars.
- Private messaging system.
- Poll creation.
- Built-in search engine.
- RSS-feed syndication.
- Message and Quick Reply editors that support BBCode, HTML, plain text and Smilies.
- User, Moderator and Admin Control Panels.
- A permission based user/group management system.
- A plugin system that can be used to extend the forum's functionality.
- A forum calendar.
- Custom profile fields.
Integration
A Mediawiki extension and Drupal CMS module is available to provide FUDforum integration. FUDforum can also be integrated with systems like DokuWiki and eGroupWare (not with eGroupware version 1.6).
Custom integration of third party tools can be achieved via FUDforum's provided API, called FUDAPI.
Conversion scripts
Several conversion scripts are provided to convert other bulletin board and forum software to FUDforum. They include:
- IkonBoard;
- Invision Board 1.1.X/1.3.X;
- OpenBB;
- Phorum;
- phpBB2;
- punBB;
- Sporum;
- UBB.threads 6.1;
- VBulletin 2;
- WoltLab Bulletin Board;
- WWWBoard;
- XMB 1.8+;
- Yabb and Yabb DC[6].
See also
- Comparison of Internet forum software (PHP)
- Comparison of forums written in other languages
- Integrated Content Management Systems: Drupal, MediaWiki and eGroupWare.
References
- ^ Support Forum
- ^ Forum-software.org's review
- ^ AJAX Magazine, 8 May 2006
- ^ FUDforum's wiki, visited on 20 July 2010.
- ^ TKLPatch for FUDforum on the Turnkey Linux wiki, visited on 20 July 2010.
- ^ FUDforum Wiki
Further reading
- Nicholas Petreley (Apr. 22, 2002) No FUD about FUDForum, SYS-CON Belgium
- Nicholas Petreley (Oct. 23, 2002) Stop your BBS shopping & try FUDforum, SYS-CON Belgium
- Peter B. Macintyre, "Discussion Forums Made Easy: FUDforum 2.7.1", September 2005 (PDF) issue of php|architect, pages 59–62.