Including global.php is the most common answer because most people want to use vB as a back-end to new pages. It is also the easiest way for newbies to get it working.
If you want to do this the best way is to open global.php in a text editor and work your way down to the barebones. There are two files included in global.php, /includes/init.php and /includes/sessions.php. I am sure with a quick scan of both you can find the code you are looking for.
|