Specification: installer logs and seed data #

This page is the reference for the data a new Exponential installation starts with (seed files, the content tree, ids and URL aliases) and for the files the installers write (setup.log, kickstart.log and others). Read it when you build your own installer or site package, check a fresh installation, or script around the kickstarter. For the how-to, see Installing in one command.

In short #

• Four seed sources carry the same rows; change all of them together.
• A new installation has two new top-level folders: Configuration (node 3) and Archives (node 4).
• Every installer run writes var/log/setup.log, ending in a RESULT and a NEXT line.

Check a fresh installation #

Read the end of the setup log in the installation root:

tail -n 20 var/log/setup.log

Expected: a framed RESULT line that reports success and a NEXT line that says what to do next. If var/log/initial-admin-password exists, sign in with it and then delete the file.

Where the seed data lives #

All of them carry the same rows. When you change seed data, change every file, then load each into a throwaway database and check the tree. (Review a .dba change by comparing rows, not by its diff: rows are a numerically keyed array and removing one renumbers everything after it.)

Changes of September 2026 #

• SQLite loads the kernel's own schema and clean data again, and the SQL clean data matches the base data installations get. The unused SQLite demo data files were removed.
• SQL dumps made from the schema and data files escape quotes correctly for MySQL, SQLite and PostgreSQL. A PostgreSQL dump made on a site running another database no longer queries PostgreSQL catalogues.
• The ISBN group names carry their apostrophe again.
• Sixteen links of the former product's own website (forum, documentation, sales, training, videos, tutorials and two conference slides) were removed from the ezurl table (Setup > Link management) of the base data; no content used them. XML namespace addresses in stored rich text are identifiers, not links, and stay.
• The built-in users' e-mail address and the host name in the search index use the project's own exponential.earth domain.

The content tree of a new installation #

Node 1 is the virtual top node. Directly below it:

(Sort values read from the node rows of kernel/sql/common/cleandata.sql: Configuration sort_field 9, sort_order 1; Archives sort_field 2, sort_order 0.)

Configuration and Archives are published, visible and always available in the base data's language, with a name, version, node assignment, object state (not locked), search index entry and URL alias of their own. Their ids are the lowest free in every seed and in the running installation, so an installation made from the seeds and an existing one carry the same ids. The node paths (path_identification_string) use underscores, x_setup, x_archives and x_configuration; the URL aliases use dashes:

Other seed changes:

• A content class group Configuration (group 5, after Setup) exists and is empty.
• Version 1 of the Users object was dated 1970; it carries the date the object was published (1033917596). The top node's modified_subnode moves to the time the two folders were published below it.
• The root folder is named "Websites" and titled "Welcome to Exponential" in both clean data files, matching share/db_data.dba.
• Order statuses. Fourteen lifecycle statuses are seeded in addition to Pending, Processing and Delivered; see Store dashboard and order statuses.

Logs written by the installers #

setup.log structure: introduction, environment, one section per step with duration and errors and warnings (read from error.log, warning.log and from PHP; repeats grouped with count, first and last time; a hint beside known problems), health checks (database, declared tables, content classes, objects, the content root, name lists, settings, siteaccesses, file ownership) and a framed RESULT and NEXT line. Passwords are masked. Entries from the run carry its context line; others are listed as "(not this run)" and summed up in a NOTE. The log records the site languages and the package language map the wizard settled on. A post-install that stops reports the step, its number and the number of steps (eZSiteInstaller::abortedStep()).

Request context in every log line (since 30 September): eZLog::requestContext() gives the siteaccess and the full address (scheme, host, port, path) of the request for every web request, also under Velocity, where workers run under the command-line SAPI and were logged as the server's own command line. isWebRequest() tells a web request from a shell script under any SAPI.

Installer parameters a site package receives #

all_language_codes (every site language, the primary first) stays as it was. New: primary_language, extra_language_codes and language_map (what the package language step answered), so a package no longer relies on the position of the primary in a list. eZStepInstaller::CLEAN_DATA_LANGUAGE names the clean data's language (eng-US) in one place.

Database drivers and the installers #

• Oracle (ezoracle): eZSetupDatabaseMap() has an oci8 entry (driver ezoracle, 19c or later); eZSetupActivateDatabaseExtension() loads that extension's settings for the run. DatabaseInit takes the connect string as the named database, as for MySQL and PostgreSQL. Table aliases are written without AS, which Oracle does not accept.
• PostgreSQL: the installer creates the pgcrypto extension it needs instead of refusing; the schema handler creates the small integer columns and index names extension schemas use; the setup wizard installs into the database named on the database page (not the server's first database) and prefills port 5432 and user postgres; its messages name pgcrypto and today's causes.
• SQLite: removeDatabase() is implemented (drops every non-SQLite object in the order trigger, view, index, table and vacuums), session SET statements are accepted and ignored, BIT_OR and BIT_AND are registered and the language-mask UPDATE ... JOIN is rewritten to UPDATE ... FROM. The driver sets its connection for a web site and waits for a lock instead of failing, and escapes null as an empty string as the MySQL driver does.
• MySQL under PHP 8.1 and later reports a refused login as a failed connection.
• MongoDB: see MongoDB kernel support and database drivers and installers.

Related pages #

• Specifications: Database drivers and installers, September 2026, SQLite3 database driver
• Features: Installing in one command, Kickstarter: install a whole site from one file, A package installer that survives big packages, Look inside a package, compare it with your site, import single items, Maintenance mode, Store dashboard and order statuses
• Upgrade notes: Kickstarter on the command line, Behaviour changes, 16 to 30 September 2026
• Changelog 6.0.15, chronicles 16 to 30 September 2026 and June 2026, second half