This looks like an extreeeeemly great addition to vB. I just wished i had a reliable memberbase, as i already have much to bid to my members. But they just still won?t show up :(

how do I "CHMOD" my files?

Files and directories on webservers may have three types of permissions:

1) read (`r')
2) write (`w')
3) execute (`x')

Each permission may be `on' or `off' for each of three categories of users:

1) the first digit refers to the file or directory owner
2) the second digit refers to other people in the same group as the owner
3) the third digit refers to all others (the world)

'chmod' or "change mode" is the UNIX way of changing file permissions. Basically CHMOD refers to setting the access privileges for a file, and you use an FTP client. Highlight the file that you want to change permissions for, and right click and select "Properties" or "Permissions" or "CHMOD" or "File Attributes" (depending on which FTP client you are using). Within each set of permissions (you, group, world) there are three permissions you can set: Read - Write - Execute. Therefore when you set the permissions on a file you must take into account 'who' needs access. The chmod command allows you to change the file permissions to allow only specific people to view your files and directories.

This is what CHMOD 755 looks like:

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/8904/chmod7555uy.jpg

Most Perl Scripts should be set to 755. Most HTML files should be set to 644. And most data files that must be written to by a web server should be 666. The standard directory permission should be 755. Directories that must be written to by a web server should be 777. Your home directory should be 700. If you are operating a ~username type server, the public_html directory should be 777. (You may also need to open up the home directory to 755.) (It's typically a bad idea to chmod 777 any file, as it allows the world to replace the program with whatever they'd like).

Setting execute for a directory allows that directory to be read. That is, you can see what's in it. That is, if a user does not have execute permissions for a directory, when they attempt to view the contents of that directory it will return an error and not list the files in that directory.

side note: Any file name that starts with a '.' is invisible to the webserver when a directory list is generated (This is a quick and easy way to hide a file).

here is a quick CHMOD reference:

Number | Permissions
=================================================
0 | None - cannot read or write or execute
1 | Can execute, but cannot read or write
2 | Write-only, cannot read or execute (??)
3 | Writeable/executable
4 | Read-only, cannot write to or execute
5 | Read-only executable, cannot write to
6 | Readable Writeable file, but not executable (ie: text file)
7 | Readable Writeable Executable file - most programs are this

thank you yoyoyoyo you have been extremely helpful and I now have it uploaded and its working. Now im trying to figure out how to change the colors and the names and add catigories

In my vb cp i dont see add new template. This is all I see,

Style Manager
Search in Templates
Replacement Variable Manager
Download / Upload Styles
Find Updated Templates

click on the style manager link, and then in the drop down box on the right hand side where it says "all style options" you will see an option to "Add New Template" under "TEMPLATE OPTIONS"

or you can always just go to:

http://yoursite.com/forum/admincp/template.php?s=&group=&do=add&dostyleid=1

(assuming you are editing style ID #1)

click on the "<< >>" button

When i try to open auction.php i get an error message that says "Warning: main(./includes/init.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in "my directory" on line 21. And I get a fatal error message. but the auction.pl works and the auctions page comes up and everything

You need to change the filepath in the template iframe section to match the filepath to your auction.pl file. Try this.. change the code in the template to look like this:
change the URL to match the URL to your auction.pl file

Ok I just did that but the auction.php file still gives me that same error