Very quick start...
-------------------

For full details, refer to the online manual.
Available at http://www.eirma.org/wikis/index.php/Links_and_Downloads_Manager

BACKUP YOUR DATABASE BEFORE INSTALLING OR UPGRADING. There are no guarantees!!
If you mess up your database, please don't expect us to fix it for you.

LDM is distributed as a VBulletin 'product installer' with supporting code, image and language files.
Installation requires no changes to a standard VBulletin board, so the good folks
at VBulletin.com will continue to help you. The installer handles upgrades from all previous versions.

Compatibility...
----------------

Normally, you should not need to change any of the code, unless you are using Microsoft's IIS web server
running in CGI mode, in which case you need to make one patch.

See http://www.eirma.org/wikis/index.php/Site_Configuration

By default, LDM's database tables and php files are prefixed 'local_'. You can change these names
if you wish. (Remember you did this if you upgrade later.)

Installing...
-------------

Upload all the contents of /release/forum and its subdirectories into the corresponding forum directories
(i.e. clientscript/ into clientscript/, includes/ into includes/, etc.

Run the Product Management System (VB admincp: Plugin System/Manage Products) and
upload /release/product_eirma_ldm.xml (or one of the translations - Dutch,
French, Spanish, German, Chinese).

Upgrading...
------------

Exactly the same as installing, except - if you had installed any LDM 'extras', you need to
re-install them, because the VB product installer deletes a product's existing plugins during
the installation

** Important when first upgrading to 2.2.9RC or higher **

LDM's oxygen-theme icons are used by default for new installations.  To use them on
an existing installation, change the value of LDM setting *file_icons_dir* to images/ldm-ox-icons

Post-installation checks...
---------------------------

Log on to your board as administrator and point your browser at http://yoursite/local_links_admin.php.

LDM's main admin settings page appears, with the admin menu down the side of the screen.

Review the settings

Go to the admin permissions page and repeat the process.

Consider these settings in particular:

*link_imagesize* - Size of thumbnail images. Required if you want to display thumbnails
*thumbs_dir* - Directory in which to store thumbnails (you don't need to store them, but page loads will be quicker if you do)
*upload_...* - Settings that enable and control user uploads

Consider the balance you want to strike between keeping files secure and having a responsive installation.
Controlled by settings *force_redirect*, *local_file_root* and *local_file_root_prefix*. The default settings
are normally ok, except if you are planning to stream large videos, etc., especially from another server.
Be careful in changing these if you don't understand what you are doing.

See http://www.eirma.org/wikis/index.php/Speed,_Security_and_Server_Load

Provide an entry point from your board to LDM...
------------------------------------------------

You can do this in several ways:

a) The quick way

Point browser at http://yoursite/yourforums/local_links_admin.php

Select link (left side menu) to LDM Plugins

Enable the 'Add LDM to VB navbar' and/or 'Add LDM Quick Search to VB navbar' plugins

b) The sophisticated way

Edit a VBulletin template of your choice
See
http://www.eirma.org/wikis/index.php/Installing_LDM#Integrating_LDM_into_your_board

c) The forum-link way

Create a forum and set it up as a forum link pointing to /yourforums/local_links.php
(to go to the base directory).

Populate your LDM database...

Using vbAdvanced
----------------

The vbAdvanced interface is provided through a set of modules in the directory
release/vba_modules. These are installed via the vb/admincp/vba CMPS section,
using the Download / Upload Module page.

Note that the modules will work correctly as they stand, but you can eliminate
four database accesses per page by making the following change to your
cmps_index.php file:

Locate the line

$specialtemplates = array();

and change to

$specialtemplates = array(
	'ldm_admin',
	'ldm_cats',
);



Good luck...

