I just updated build to mar 16/1310. Went to admin where you fill in the details. Am being told my .htaccess needs to be updated to the one included with zenphoto. Mine is from Dreamhost. Can I safely ignore this? Or is it a "bug" that causes me to get this error?

You should update to the one that came with the build. That message indicates that the version you have may not have all the needed code to support the current version of zenphoto.

As mentioned in another post, I'm using Dreamhost's .htaccess not for the password but to block linking to any files. I have zenphoto .htpasswd to set password for the entire gallery. Does this make a difference? I not sure how to read content of the invisible file.

Just got to read the .htaccess file:

### Generated by Dreamhost. DO NOT modify!!! ###

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^https?://(www\.)?mytravels.mydomain.com/?.*$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^https?://(www\.)?mydomain.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule \.*$ - [F,NC]

################################################

So, what do I do?

You need to talk to Dreamhost about this. I do not know why this is different from the zenphoto .htaccess file. In the mean time, turn off mod_rewrite.

You can run upgrade.php to bypass the system check so that you can get zenphoto running.

Great, will ask before I install next build, will do this one. Just downloading some files from a trip that I had lost local copy of (not zenphoto). Now, if only I could find the other....

I just emailed Dreamhost and they state the two .htaccess files can indeed be combined. The portion listed first is executed first so will put your code on top, theirs next. Will obviously need backup kept for each update or will see what happens I'm losing track which files are being modified <YIKES>

Well, if they are to be combined, they need to be COMPLETELY combined, including the comment line that identifies the version of the .htaccess file. That is what setup.php is checking.

I just added, to the top, the .htaccess from Zenphoto build 1322 starting with
# htaccess file version 1.1.4.0

(that's the build I just went back to while the current one is "under repair")

That is correct. Just for your information, that comment changes only if we have to update the .htaccess. We have not done that since 1.1.4.0. You will need to monitor that file whenever you upgrade just incase it gets changed. If it becomes different from 1.1.4.0 you will need to look in the file for what got changed and make the appropriate updates to your .htaccess file.

Thanks. I kept a "use this file" copy as a way of reminding me that I've adapted the file. And, I've a backup as I know may forget about it. Normally, I've not copied it over as I know to now it wasn't Zenphoto copy. Perhaps that's why the complaint that I got about versions, your comment line was missing. Yours does the password so at least that will not disappear if I forget.