Template cacheing

Authors: Crimsonbane, psoTFX and nathan

File Caching Updated

During development of phpBB2 a recurring issue of server load has cropped up. phpBB 2.0.0 differs from many of its contemporaries by doing many more tasks at runtime. While this allows for simpler upgrade and modification paths it also leads to a greater strain being placed on the server. To help reduce this issue a cacheing template system was created based on work by Crimsonbane. This stores a compiled version of each template resulting in a generally significant reduction in server load and perhaps page generation time.

Two versions of the cacheing system are contained in this directory, one uses flat files the other a MySQL database. Testing has shown that, in general, the average virtual host seems to show better performance with the flat file solution. However this may not be the case for your system, so please feel free to try both.

In both cases you need to rename your existing template.php script (in includes/) and replace it with whichever template_*.php you want to try.
template_file_cache.php

To use the flat file system you need to create a directory called 'cache' in your phpBB root directory (it may already exist and contain some default files, do not delete these). This directory must be writeable by the web server, e.g. global write access. Under UNIX systems this is typically achieved by using chmod a+w cache or chmod 777 cache. Many FTP applications also allow you to change permission properties. See your applications manual for details on how to do this.

Please note that creating a world writeable directory is of course a potential security issue. Most of the time this is not a great issue, however on virtual hosting accounts there may be users who have nothing better to do than cause problems. Therefore you should monitor the status of this directory regularly and report any problems to your hosting provider (who will be in a position to take action against any offending user).

NB: The directory required for this version of the file caching template system differs from previous releases. You can safely delete the old caching directories.
template_db_cache.php

To use the database system (note that this is only compatible with MySQL at present) you need to create the following table (replacing the phpbb_ prefix with your own if you used something different):

CREATE TABLE phpbb_template_cache (
  template_name char(255) NOT NULL default '',
  template_handle char(50) NOT NULL default '',
  template_cached int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
  template_echo tinyint(1) NOT NULL default '1',
  template_compile text NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (template_name)
)

These files should not be incorporated into any mod or other plug-in, etc. They have been tested quite thoroughly but we cannot guarantee their stability in all cases. The system is based on work by Crimsonbane and of course Nathan's original templating system.