I've been on dreamhost for some time now as well (had to take advantage of just [i]having[/i] that space around) and I actually had NO problems setting up Zenphoto. I don't know what all the fuss is about, frankly.

The only thing you have to get right is the MySQL configuration, since they use a server that's not localhost. That's ALL I had to do differently.

I just tried switching to PHP4, and my root album worked fine, but the one at /zenphoto had to have its WEBPATH set to /zenphoto in zp-config.php.

So, to recap:

[b]PHP5 is recommended, and requires only that you use the mysql server url they give you.

PHP4 Also works (using the same mysql server), but you have to set the WEBPATH constant to the relative path. The SERVERPATH is fine.[/b]

I have had mixed results on two different Dreamhost accounts with Zenphoto installation. Here's a summary...

Let's call site 1 "www.something.com" Zenphoto installation worked perfectly. Not a single problem. This site was used as a proof of concept test platform for WordPress/Zenphoto/Zenpress integration.

Let's call site 2 "www.something.dreamhosters.com" This is where I really want to set things up, however Zenphoto will not install here. WordPress and even Gallery2 (bloatware!) installed without difficulty and could communicate with the database on the server residing at mysql.something.dreamhosters.com.

The primary problem on Site 2 is that Zenphoto setup keeps showing the "MySQL Error: Could not connect to the database server."

As far as I can tell, I've tried every possible trick in these forums. The database location, login, and password are clearly listed in the MySQL admin section and entered into the zp-config.php file.

I'm praying for another fix, because I spent many hours modifying code to make things integrate between these different apps.

Have I missed something totally obvious or is there a problem with Dreamhost?

@DStens

I'm on Dreamhost, have installed many different test and production Zenphoto environments and have had no problems with any of them. Early on I found I had to apply the path stuff above to get things working, but after 1.0.5, I've had no trouble.

I have PHP 5 and FastCGI running on mine.

And when you show the example for "dreamhosters", is this for a subdomain arrangement? I don't think I've ever played with a dreamhost subdomain arrangement before, and I'm not sure how that would be configured. Anybody else have a guess? It may be the database connection in the subdomain is being referenced incorrectly.

I don't think it's Zenphoto the code. It's probably something in the .htaccess, database setup, or zp-config. Can we see your zp-config maybe - edited for passwords of course?

OK... I've got PHP5. Just enabled fastcgi. I'll know in a few minutes if that helped.In the meantime, here's the edited mysql part of the zp-config.php file...

$conf['mysql_user'] = "as_listed_in_DH_manage_mysql_section";
$conf['mysql_pass'] = "as_listed_in_DH_manage_mysql_section";
$conf['mysql_host'] = "mysql.something.dreamhosters.com"; // Won't need to change this 90% of the time.
$conf['mysql_database'] = "zenphoto";

// If you're sharing the database with other tables, use a prefix to be safe.
$conf['mysql_prefix'] = "";

.... and yes I've tried various combinations of the following...

define('WEBPATH', '/zenphoto');
define('SERVERPATH', '/home/.nipper/someone/something.dreamhosters.com/zenphoto');

....

Here's a snip from the .htaccess file

htaccess file for zenphoto

NOTE: Change the RewriteBase below to the absolute path to your zenphoto directory.

RewriteEngine On

Solved!

Earlier I enabled fastcgi, but that didn't seem to help.

In the Dreamhost Manage mySQL section I created a new user for the zenphoto database and modified the zp-config.php file... a step which was not necessary on Site1 which was mentioned earlier.

I also recommented the...
define('WEBPATH', '/zenphoto');
define('SERVERPATH', ... section and maintained connectivity.

So that's my observation. Hope this helps someone.

After doing all the steps here and having no luck, I found something interesting: My initial MySQL password was one that was case sensitive (had uppercase and lower case) and had special characters (!@#$%^&*(), and ZenPhoto would not connect to my database... after changing my mysql password to one that did not include either, I was able to login. Not sure if it was case sensitivity or the $ that was in my password, but it works like a champ now that I changed it.

Just as a note, these instructions really don't apply to Dreamhost installs of Zenphoto any more. I haven't been using them for months.

As for the password thing, that may be something Tristan can answer.

Probably the $ sign in the password -- if in a "double-quoted string" PHP looks for variables starting with the dollar sign. Using the password in 'single quotes' would make it work just fine.

I'll update the default config file to use single quotes.

And I agree with Craig, Zenphoto seems to install and run normally on dreamhost without any special requirements.

Though I've only tested on PHP5 recently - their PHP4 install may still have problems.

Hmmmm...I am back again. Now with a different problem. When I attempt to upload a set of photos utilizing a ZIP archive I get this error:

[b]Fatal error: Call to undefined function zip_open() in /home/.catilda/dan_imal/ohdanny.net/photo/zen/functions.php on line 166[/b]

And this is on Dreamhost? Seems they don't have the zip library for PHP. You can search for 'zip' on the forums, others have been able to replace it with a PHP version.

Tis true. No ZIP library on Dreamhost.

Their reply to weather or not they have it:

[i]This is correct. We do not have the zip library installed for php as we
run a very streamlined php installation on shared hosting servers such as
the one you are on. If you like you can install your own custom php build
and include libraries/modules/extensions not available in the DreamHost
provided build. This page explains how:

http://wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/Installing_PHP5

[/i]
I will have to have a look at the forums and at the page indicated in their email and give it a go myself.

Dreamhost actually now has a one-click install of ZenPhoto, which even updates automatically when new releases come out.

Miguel

NOTE: If you use Dreamhost one-click, you cannot do nightly build updates because no files reside in your install. I created my own MySQL databases, quite easy on DH, then installed the ZP files myself. They also have GUI interface to manage your databases using MyPHPAdmin. (My plan is their cheapie, and been very happy over last 8 years with them.)

You probably shouldn't be doing nightly build updates unless you are building plugins and/or writing a translation, it can be buggy at times.

Or if you are suffering a bug that we told you is fixed in the nightlies. Anyway, we plan to release 1.1.6 sometime next week to get everyone back on an "official" release.

I don't see Zenphoto on the dreamhost one-click list today.

(I installed it terribly easily by hand, though, before I found this thread. Just unpacked the .tar.gz file, changed the top directory name to what I wanted, created a database in the dreamhost control panel, hit the new directory with my browser, filled in my database information, and off we go!)

I have many domains hosted with Dreamhost, and I tried installing Zenphoto in 5 of them, they all have the same problem. Even after ensuring .htaccess had "RewriteBase /zenphoto" and uncommenting both the definition for WEBPATH and SERVERPATH (and setting appropriately), I still can't get this to work. When I load http://domain.com/zenphoto, it redirects me to http://domain.com/zenphoto/zp-core/setup.php and the browser displays "No input file specified.".

This is quite frustrating as I installed it on my private webhost by just unzipping the archive to the appropriate folder and visiting the /zenphoto dir in a browser.

Oh, it's especially frustrating because another guy I know who hosts at Dreamhost installed the exact same way as me and it worked fine....I think there's some minor differences in either the httpd.conf or php.ini files between some of the webservers.

I deleted my .htaccess file, and it's working now...weird, now how to get mod_rewrite to work?

Alright, so I took the original .htaccess, commented out every line. Removed the hash mark, saved the file, reloaded the browser in order to determine that these lines are the ones that are screwing with my installation:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d

RewriteRule index.php$ index.php [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^page/([A-Za-z0-9-_]+)/?$ index.php?p=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^(.*)/page/([0-9]+)/?$ index.php?album=$1&page=$2 [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^(.*)/?$ index.php?album=$1 [L,QSA]

That last one is the one that made it so I wouldn't even see the zenPHOTO Setup page.