First let me state that I know almost nothing about databases -- I write programs.

I was trying to install zenphoto on mt Debian server (which has no databases inside aoache)

I followed the instructions until I got

zenphoto.cfg file [does not exist]

Error!

Setup was not able to create this file. You will need to copy the zp-core/zenphoto_cfg.txt file to zp-data/zenphoto.cfg then edit it as indicated in the file's comments.

I did the edit and moved the edted file to zp-data

Now what? I cannot get beyond a page with this error

You do not need to know anything about databases unless you intend to be the database administrator of your system. Should you intend that you have no choice but to learn.

The issue you cite above is nothing to do with the database, though. It is a file permissions issue. Again, if you are going to self-host you will need to become knowledgeable on those sorts of things.

I know about file permissions, but I do not know in this case which files need whose ownership/permission.

I expect i will be the database administrator as I am the sole administrator of the network; just hoping not to get bogged down in databases.

Guessing, permisions on zp-data?

Also take a look here: http://www.zenphoto.org/news/permissions-for-zenphoto-files-and-folders

Sorry for your confusion. I would have thought that the error message would be a good hint on which file is not accessible, and by implication which folders might be involved.

Thank you very much -- the suggestions and clues have allowed me to install. Now to learn to use it.

Very pleased with your installation software/documentation

Oh dear -- I seem to have killed it!

After a PHP upgrade on Debian squeeze I totally failed to get it running so tried upgrading to 1.4.5

Sort of OK untill...

Graphics support [configuration error]
Error!

No Zenphoto image handling library was loaded. Be sure that your PHP has a graphics support. The GD extension is not available.

It worked in 1.4.4 and I cannot find any PHP graphics packages and not heard of GD

What am I missing?

Your PHP upgrade apparently did not include the php_gd2 module or any support for Imagick.

Some progress -- found a php package that seemed to work, only now I have no images in my albums and a flashed message suggested that it did nit acceot .jpg files (as it did earlier).

in zp-data/debug.log I see
{29965:Mon, 22 Jul 2013 18:36:48 GMT}
USER NOTICE: Bad filename suffix in newImage(yugo001.jpg) in /var/www/photographs/zp-c
ore/class-image.php on line 58
trigger_error called from newImage (class-image.php [58])
from Album->getAlbumThumbImage (class-album.php [1046])
from AlbumBase->getAlbumThumb (class-album.php [301])
from getAlbumThumb (template-functions.php [1572])
from printAlbumThumbImage (template-functions.php [1620])
from include (index.php [32])
from index.php [108]

and many similar messages

That would indicate that the graphics package did not report that it supported jpg files. Look at your admin overview page. There you will see the details about your graphics library including what formats it supports.

Have you tried running a phpinfo(); to check for JPEG support?

Also, look here for PHP GD installation support with helpful directives on enabling jpg and png support.

http://php.net/manual/en/image.installation.php

The admin overview says "Installation information" and an horizonal line.

Again I apolgise for my ignorance but where do I run phpinfo(); ? This is not an entity I know. If I run it what actions are needed to fix? I did look at the http://php.net/manual/en/image.installation.php page but that seemed to relate to building from source. I am just installing the php5-gd package on Debian

And as I said, it worked with 1.4.4

phpinfo() is a standard php function you call as you call all php function.
http://php.net/manual/de/function.phpinfo.php

We really assume you know about how to use php if you are setting up your own server (something I would not even try myself, btw.).

If the admin overview does not show anything on your installation there is something really wrong. A look into the server logs would be a good idea. The requirements since 1.4.4 did not change actually.

Yes it seemstotally broken. error.log from apache says

[Wed Jul 24 18:27:38 2013] [error] [client 172.16.4.19] PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function zp_graphicsLibInfo() in /var/www/photographs/zp-core/admin.php on line 239, referer: http://snout/photographs/zp-core/admin-edit.php
[Wed Jul 24 18:27:44 2013] [error] [client 172.16.4.19] PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function zp_imageCanRotate() in /var/www/photographs/zp-core/functions-image.php on line 176, referer: http://snout/photographs/zp-core/admin-edit.php

and these lines or similar repeated many times

Strange as zp_graphicsLibInfo is defined in lib-Imagick.php as is zp_imageCanRotate, so presumable this file is not being loaded

[never had a need to learn PHP before and it was not necessary until the upgrades]

Probably none of the two graphics libaries supported by Zenphoto is installed (Note Imagick via PHP not ImageMagick directly - small difference!) or something else is wrong like permissions. Then there should be error regarding that though.

I assumed you worked on open source webstuff before. While PHP is of course not the only language it is a very widely used one.

php5-imagick package is installed
All files seem to be owned by www-data like other web files

Previously I have used perl on web pages and other cgi languages, but not php or javascript (except from students' code)

Maybe time to give up

Hm, don't give in too fast. Zenphoto runs on standard shared webhosts so for sure not that special. As said I sadly cannot help with setting up a server properly. I just rely on hosts.

Hopefully someone else has some ideas.

Perhaps the version if Imagick is not correct. At any rate, best you just install and properly configure the GD graphics support.

install and properly configure the GD graphics suppor

do you mean from source?

I mean get your act together and either learn how to configure your server or use one of the pre-configured setups like WAMP.