Help me understand this php error (from vBlogetin)?

[kira]

Hi guys. Like an idiot I'm using vBlogetin. This in itself is not idiocy -- or at least, it wouldn't have been a couple of years ago, when SirAdrian was in charge and the script was active. I've found it to be an excellent system, at least for my community's needs, and unlike vBlog and other products, it offers the ability for users to pick their own styles from pre-set options. I (and they) loved this.

But it's since been sold and the creators/maintainers/purchasers have gone AWOL.

Anyway, suddenly, although I've done nothing to my forum recently, my bloggers are having issues with changing styles. When they try, they receive this error:

Warning: fopen(/home/episodic/public_html/forums/blogs/datastore/972/styleid.php) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /blogs/backend/functions_blog.php on line 522

Fatal error: Could not open /home/episodic/public_html/forums/blogs/datastore/972/styleid.php for reading in /blogs/backend/functions_blog.php on line 525
#0 vb_error_handler(256, Could not open /home/episodic/public_html/forums/blogs/datastore/972/styleid.php for reading, /home/episodic/public_html/forums/blogs/backend/functions_blog.php, 525, Array ([userid] => 972,[file] => styleid,[data] => 100,[path] => /home/episodic/public_html/forums/blogs/datastore/972/,[filename] => /home/episodic/public_html/forums/blogs/datastore/972/styleid.php,[fileHandle] => )) called at [(null):0] #1 trigger_error(Could not open /home/episodic/public_html/forums/blogs/datastore/972/styleid.php for reading, 256) called at [/home/episodic/public_html/forums/blogs/backend/functions_blog.php:525] #2 saveUserFileDatastore(972, styleid, 100) called at [/home/episodic/public_html/forums/blogs/manage.php:396]

I have no flippin' idea what all this means. (I have a rudimentary capability at best in php, I'm ashamed to admit.) Can someone point me in the right direction, maybe? Just in case it helps, here are lines 505 - 530 in functions_blog.php:

PHP Code:

function saveUserFileDatastore($userid, $file, $data)
{
    $path = BLOG_DATASTORE . "/$userid/";
    if (!is_dir($path))
    {
        $dirHandle = mkdir($path, 0777);
        
        // umask fix
        chmod($path, 0777);
        
        if (!$dirHandle)
        {
            trigger_error("Could not create directory $path", E_USER_ERROR);
        }
    }
    $filename = BLOG_DATASTORE . "/$userid/$file.php";
    
    $fileHandle = fopen($filename, 'w');
    if (!$fileHandle)
    {
        trigger_error("Could not open $filename for reading", E_USER_ERROR);
    }
    
    $newFile = '<?php if (!defined("BLOG_PATH")) { exit; } ';
    $newFile .= '$data = ' . arrayToString($data) . '; ?>';

The weird thing is:

- Unlike the others, I can change my style. This makes sense, since I'm admin. But I cannot change others' styles, as I get the above message.

- Even weirder, I created a test user account and gave it the same permissions as others who are having problems, and this test user can change his/her style!

- New Data Point: I just went into the test user's blog from my regular admin account, and tried to manage the settings, and was able to change the style. So since I couldn't change the blog styles of the other users, something is clearly different from this blog and those of the folks having issues. But they all have the same usergroups. I don't get it. I wish I were smarter. I really do love this blogging system and will hate to give it up for vb4. I should've given it up once the original creators weren't able to maintain it, but it's just so much more bloggy than vBlog that I decided to stick with it. Serves me right, I guess.

It doesn't appear to be browser-specific. Both IE7 and FF are represented amongst the people having issues, as are both Vista and XP.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be the problem? Very frustrating. Again, I haven't made any changes to the forum.