This patch is based on this work:
http://wiki.erazor-zone.de/wiki:projects:php:dokuwiki:counter

New in this version against the erazor-zone.de version:

• support for file_put_contents in php4
• infinite loop check
• code clean up
• tested in dokuwiki 2006-11-06 on CentOS 4.4

I modified the erazor-zone.de version to be used in php4 and added a few file checks.
You can contact me here: http://tinymailto.com/oliver

Steps for installing the hit counter patch:

• create the directory /dokuwiki/data/pages/_views
• make sure /dokuwiki/data/pages/_views is owned by the webserver user
  chown apache.apache -R /dokuwiki/data/pages/_views
• create the file /dokuwiki/inc/counter.php and put this code in there:

  <?php
   
  /*
   *  Simulating PHP5's file_put_contents() function in PHP 4.3.9 (Centos 4.4)
   *  Contact e-mail in: http://tinymailto.com/oliver
   */
  function file_put_contents_counter($file, $views) {
    $written = false;
    if( $fp_counter = fopen($file, 'w') ) {
      // lock before writting
      if (flock($fp_counter, LOCK_EX)) {
        $written = fwrite($fp_counter, $views);
        flock($fp_counter, LOCK_UN);
      }
      fclose($fp_counter);
    }
    if($written === FALSE) {
      return 0;
    }
    else {
      return $written;
    }
  }
   
  global $ID,$ACT;
   
  // local variables
  $file = "";
  $views = false;
  $read_tries = 3;
  $read_count = 0;
  $written=0;
  $write_tries = 3;
  $write_count = 0;
   
  $file=realpath($conf['datadir']).'/_views/'.$ID;
   
  if (file_exists($file)) {
    while ($views===FALSE) {
      $views=file_get_contents($file);
      if ($views===FALSE) {
        usleep(50000);
      }
      $read_count++;
      if($read_count > $read_tries) {
        $views = 0;
        break;
      }
    }
    $views = intval($views) + 1;
  } else {
    $views=1;
  }
   
  if (($ACT == 'show') && ($INFO['exists'])) {
    while(!$written) {
      $written=file_put_contents_counter($file,$views);
      // for php5 use this line
      //$written=file_put_contents($file,$views);
      if (!$written) {
        usleep(50000);
      }
      $write_count++;
      if($write_count > $write_tries) {
        break;
      }
    }
  }
   
  $fn.=" ($views views) ";

• edit /dokuwiki/inc/template.php around line 741, and add these 2 lines:

 740   // print it
 741   if($INFO['exists']){
 +742     // counter
 +743     include('counter.php');
 744     print $fn;