GIJOE
Please, read this inside release_notes in pack xoops 232b:
Installing XOOPS 2.3.2
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1. Copy the content of the htdocs/ folder where it can be accessed by your server
2. Ensure mainfile.php and uploads/ are writable by the web server
3. For security considerations, you are encouraged to move directories "/xoops_lib" (for XOOPS libraries) and "/xoops_data" (for XOOPS data) out of document root, or even change the folder names.
4. Make the directory of xoops_data/ writable; Create and make the directories of xoops_data/caches/, xoops_data/caches/xoops_cache/, xoops_data/caches/smarty_cache/ and xoops_data/caches/smarty_compile/ writable.
5. Access the folder where you installed the htdocs/ files using your web browser to launch the installation wizard
Installing Protector in XOOPS 2.3.2
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We also highly recommend the installation of the PROTECTOR module which will bring additional security protection and logging capabilities to your site:
To install Protector module for the first time with a new installation of XOOPS 2.3.2, copy /extras/mainfile.dist.php.protector to /htdocs/mainfile.dist.php BEFORE installing XOOPS.
If you are upgrading an existing XOOPS Website (see below how to do it), and Protector is already installed there, copy /extras/mainfile.dist.php.protector to /upgrade/upd-2.0.18-to-2.3.0/mainfile.dist.php BEFORE upgrading XOOPS.
Furthermore, they published a tutorial that explains how to remove the folders on htdocs.
Although the modules made by xoopers are very weak, the latest 2.3.x series evolved significantly and facilitated use of its modules.
Obviously there are good modules as news, smartsections, article and xgal.