Requirements

JReviews is available for Joomla and WordPress. In addition to meeting the server requirements for your chosen CMS, make sure your server meets the requirements to install and run JReviews.

CMS Compatibility

  • Joomla 5.x - JReviews v4.4.0+ / v5
  • Joomla 4.x - JReviews v4 / v5
  • WordPress 6.x - JReviews v4 / v5

Server Requirements

To run JReviews you'll need a server that meets the following requirements

  • JReviews v5: PHP 8.1 / 8.2 / 8.3
  • JReviews v4: PHP 7.4 / 8.0 / 8.1 / 8.2
  • JReviews v3: PHP 7.4 / 8.0 - JReviews v3 End of Life is September 30, 2022
  • PDO Driver for MySQL
  • JSON PHP Extension
  • Mbstring PHP Extension
  • CURL PHP Extension
  • BCMath PHP Extension
  • Exif PHP Extension
  • Fileinfo PHP Extension
  • Zip PHP Extension
  • Intl PHP Extension
  • GD Library or ImageMagick

These PHP functions must not be disabled to allow running background processes like video encoding and listings import/export via the Import Add-on:

  • proc_open
  • proc_close
  • proc_terminate
  • proc_get_status

The following PHP directives need to be enabled to allow running background processes like video encoding and listings import/export via the Import Add-on:

  • register_argc_argv

Installing Packages

To be able to install the packages:

  • php.ini upload_max_filesize must be higher than 8M.

  • At least in Joomla 4.x the server's ulimit value for nofile - max number of open file descriptors must be higher than 7000.

    You can check this number in the server's shell using the command:

    ulimit -Hn

    The output should be something higher than 7000. Otherwise this needs to be updated in the server configuration files. Typically under /etc/security/limits.conf. Please consult with your host or server manager.

If you see the following error when installing s2framework in Joomla, then you've ran into the above limitation.

Install path does not exist.
Package Install: There was an error installing an extension: com_s2framework.zip

We've opened an issue with Joomla that includes the code to easily get around this issue. You can patch your Joomla installation with the code that works, but unless Joomla updates this function, you will need to do this on every Joomla update to ensure the patch is not lost. Please voice your support for this change in the above Github issue.

Video and Audio Encoding

While JReviews allows and makes it easy to embed videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Daylomotion and Twitch; you can also build your own video and audio streaming platform by letting users upload these directly to your site.

JReviews has integrations with several cloud encoding services, which is the recommended solution to offload the resource requirements from your server. However, it also supports local encoding using FFMPEG. You need to consult with your hosting company for help with getting these installed on your server. Video encoding requires the libx264 and fdk-aac encoders. While audio encoding requires libmp3lame.

For audio, it's possible to completely bypass encoding for MP3 files.

At least one of these functions must be enabled on the server to initiate the encoding job:

  • exec
  • shell_exec
  • passthru
  • system

Recommended Hosts

We use and recommend Digital Ocean - affiliate link - to host JReviews sites.

Development Environments

If you are looking for options to develop locally on your own machine, we recommend using MAMP for both Windows and Mac.