Hi,

I tried upgrading to 1.2.8 but gave up after numerous permission problems, so I decided to fresh install.

Again, lots of permission errors, most of which I fixed after some digging - gotta say it's not easy working out how to install Zenphoto any more. An included README or clear instructions on which folders need permission changes would be good.

Anyway, I'm stuck with the following:

Zenphoto core file permissions [not correct]
Setup could not set the one or more components to the selected permissions level. You will have to set the permissions manually. See the Troubleshooting guide for details on Zenphoto permissions requirements.

The troubleshooting guide gives no clues about which core files are not set correctly. Any suggestions, please?

Also, the 'uploaded' directory created as part of the install process does not allow me to change permissions due to this being shared hosting. Anything I can do about that?

Does not matter, core files are all files included in the release, especially those in /zp-core and the by standard installed folders. As the troubleshooting tells not all setting will work on all servers. You might need to use 777 for all.

You should be able to change the uploaded folder permissions via a FTP program. Otherwise try to delete the folder and create it manually. If you don't intend to use the Zenpage plugin and its file manager you can just ignore that.

OK, but my wider point is that the installation process is unintuitive and difficult to find answers to problems. Here's what I see on clean install having followed the very brief included README - http://i.imgur.com/3IcnK.png

I know what I'm doing - installed hundreds of scripts - and it's daunting.

I then follow the README to http://www.zenphoto.org/2008/08/installation-and-upgrading/ and there is no mention of permissions or how to address any of the issues I've encountered. My hosting is 'standard' shared hosting. I've installed many scripts without problems there, so I guess I'm not alone in seeing this.

Back to specifics: do I set *every* file and folder 777? Is that not a security risk?

I've set everything 777 - now I see 'File/Folder Permissions [are loose (0777)]' and 'Zenphoto core file permissions [not correct]'. Again, I'm stuck with no clues in the documentation that I can find.

I get a warning about 'PHP magic_quotes_gpc [is enabled]' and 'You should consider disabling magic_quotes_gpc. For more information See #25 of the Zenphoto troubleshooting guide.'. Can't find "#25" on the website. Stuck again (although I found the fix by Googling).

I get 'PHP gettext() support [is not present]'. No clues given on if this important or how to fix it.

I get 'Zenphoto core file permissions [not correct]' and 'Setup could not set the one or more components to the selected permissions level. You will have to set the permissions manually. See the Troubleshooting guide...'. The linked guide gives no clues on which "components" are the problem or what to change them to. I'll ignore it and hope!

Also, the 'uploaded' directory that is created by the install process cannot be deleted or CHMODed by me on shared hosting. I need to contact my host admin. Same for robots.txt and .htaccess. That's a real nuisance.

My install seems to be working OK now - but it was painful getting there with all the uncertainties! 

HTH.

1. Permissions:
   http://www.zenphoto.org/2009/03/troubleshooting-zenphoto/#29

2. magic_quotes: #25 is clearly a typo but obviously the correct entry is #26 right below:
   http://www.zenphoto.org/2009/03/troubleshooting-zenphoto/#26

3. gettext

Quote:gettext extension (if you plan to use Zenphoto’s translation/multilingual capabilites)
http://www.zenphoto.org/2008/08/installation-and-upgrading/#3

Btw, I am on standard shared hosting also and had never these problems. You are not using SimpleScripts or such?

These issues you are having problems with are centered with your hosting service. We would have no idea why, for instance, you would not have the "rights" to delete or CHMOD files that are YOURS even on a shared host. (Those folders would have been created when you FTPed the Zenphoto files to do the install. Any file created by YOU ought to belong to you. If not, there is a problem with your provider.) As acrylian suspects, I also suspect you have used a third-party script to setup Zenphoto. If so, you should address these concerns with them.

magic_quotes: #25 is clearly a typo but obviously the correct entry is #26 right below:

The point is that there was no link provided and if I go directly to the support website I have no way of finding (that I could see) "#25", "#26" or any other number.

No, I have not used a third-party script.

(Those folders would have been created when you FTPed the Zenphoto files to do the install. Any file created by YOU ought to belong to you.

No, please read my comment again. 'uploaded' directory, robots.txt and .htaccess are created by the install process. As a result I cannot change permissions myself.

Again: I have installed many scripts on this host - WordPress, Mediawiki, etc. and not seen this level of permission failure.

I realise you can't predict every problem that everyone has. I was mainly trying to make the point that the documentation is lacking and poorly organised for those who hit problems like this. That's all. I thought the feedback would be useful in trying to improve it.

We of course appreciate any feedback (and contribution, too). But we also expect that a user installing scripts on a server knows a little about servers or is able to search the site.. Looking for a troubleshooting entry is quite common for all free scripts I know..;-)

I agree that we actually should have a link to the magic_quotes entry. We could also just place a link on top of the setup script pointing to the requirements.

About the permissions: That is different on my shared server, I can do that. Sadly not all servers are setup the same.

I also guess you did not look very carefully at the site. Nor did you do a search on it. These things we expect people to do for themselves, not have us do for them.

My provider writes (in the control panel of my websites): "The right permissions for your PHP-files are: 640 (rw-r-----), the right permissions for your folders are: 2750 (rwxr-s---)". And I cannot (am not allowed to) change them at all. I've installed recently zenphoto for a friend on another server, and I like it, and I would like to install it on two sites on my servers. Is there any solution for zenphot0-installation with my 640/2750 permissions? (I of course mailed to my provider an hour ago, and surely I'll have an answer tomorrow.)

Change the define in your zp-config.php file for CHMOD_VALUE to 0750. These are rather sever restrictions, but if you say zenphoto works once installed, this value will preserve them. I can make no guarentee that it will work, though.

Does not work. Thank you anyway. My provider wrote, that it should work with 750-permissions, they will look at the setup script. I will tell, what they say then.

Now I changed 0755 to 0750 in setup.php too. I get a warning: "Zenphoto core files [Some files are missing or seem out of variance] Warning! Perhaps there was a problem with the upload. You should check the following files: zp-core/setup.php". But I can continue, and zenphoto is istalled. Maybe everything is alright. Hoping ...

Next question: shouldn't I delete setup.php after installation?

The warning is, of course, because the setup you are now running is different from the one that came with the distribution. No real issue there since you know why it is not the saem (you changed it.)

You can do what you want with setup. If you are concerned, remove it. But remember that you may need to put it back sometime if, for instance, you need to reset your admin user by dropping the database table.

O.k. Thank you very much.