Moving your /includes outside of the __DOCROOT__

There is a school of security thought that suggests that files that aren't meant to be web-accessible aren't even supposed to be in a web-accessible directory. An approach like this may seem to be over-zealous for some, but for others - especially those who had their sites hacked in the past - will immediately understand the benefits.

All QCubed non-web-accessible files - including those of the plugins - are under the /includes folder. QCubed has been architected with security in mind; you can easily move the ENTIRE /includes directory anywhere else on your server, and the system will keep working - you'll need to update just a couple of files:
  • Update the $configPath variable in qcubed.inc.php in the root of your web application. That variable can contain an absolute or a relative path (relative to the root of your web application)
  • Update the __INCLUDES__ variable in your includes/configuration/prepend.inc.php file.
There's another reason why you may want to move your /includes folder outside of the web application: if you want to share a QCubed installation between two web applications. If that's the case, just follow the instructions above; you'll need to carefully juggle the database configuration settings and such, but if you're sharing the install for a few apps, you probably know what you're doing :-). If you have any questions along the way, QCubed Forums are there to help.