Today YOURLS 1.4 was released, but the database upgrade script created some errors for some people, dead links, and the stats are not working. We can fix all that. Be sure to logout of the old version you will be upgrading from before starting the upgrade, or you might see the Install YOURLS page and link, rather than the Upgrade YOURLS page and link. First lets go over the changes in the config.php file.

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Most people use URL shortening services like Bit.ly, TinyURL, Awe.sm, Su.pr, and the list goes on. There has been a lot of concern over the long term stability of these services, since they aren’t profitable business models, so they can’t be relied on over the long haul. One popular service, Cli.gs announced it will shutdown on October 25. Tr.im sudently shutdown, and then reopened just as suddenly, so it’s hard to trust short URL services. One effort will be to provide an independent directory service for URL mappings through 301works.org, but that isn’t going to solve the problem of reliability.

Sometimes the only way to solve a problem is to do it yourself. I’m talking about setting up your own URL shortening service using YOURLS: Your Own URL Shortener, which is a set of PHP scripts written by Lester Chan and Ozh Richard. Let’s go through what YOURLS offers and how to set it up.

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