I've noticed a difference in how some Dreamhost web servers are handling manual zenphoto installations (both v1.1.7 and recent nightlies).

The variance sprouts up on initial setup of zenphoto. I've run the same simple test on both domains (hosted on different web servers):

1) setup the db
2) upload the zenphoto files to a "photos" subdirectory of the domain
3) load http://mydomain.com/photos

At this point domain #1 (ike web server) shows the zenphoto setup screen without issue. However, domain #2 (capone web server) shows a "No input file specified" error message. If I delete domain #2's zenphoto htaccess file the setup screen displays (but mentions htaccess is missing).

Since the files used & setup routines are identical the culprit must be in the way the servers are configured. Running phpinfo( ); on both servers shows subtle variations in the environments, for instance: /home/account1/domain1.com vs. /mnt/local/home/account2/domain2.com for the same values. Perhaps the outcomes are path related, or due to zenphoto's implementation of mod_rewrite and/or htaccess, or Dreamhost's php as cgi implementation on different servers? I'm stumped, and Dreamhost was unable clear up the confusion so far.

I'm posting this to point out the behavior and after reading these forums it seems other zenphoto installs on Dreamhost have been smooth (as with domain #1, smooth as could be) while others have been more troublesome (as with domain #2, have had to manually configure code, etc).

If anyone has ideas on identifying the root cause or workarounds to make zenphoto more environmentally flexible, that would be great. I'm happy to help test or troubleshoot.

Thanks for any insight!

I use Dreamhost as my server. Created mySQL databases into the subdomain (photos.mydomain.com). Installed Zenphoto into subdirectory (photos.mydomain.com/zen/) and had no problems. I use FTP to upload photos.

Thanks macalter,

Is your Dreamhost account recent or old? Do you know what web server you are on?

My older account (domain #1 above, on ike, began three years ago) works great with zenphoto. A recent account (domain #2 above, on capone, began two months ago) has the issue described.

My account is from 2000. My SQL databases are, I believe, on beethoven. Will check and reply back

beethoven:ybarbo" MySQL Server. I CREATED the db using the Dreamhost web panel "manage databases", after creating the subdomain it was to reside in (allowed time to access the subdomain from the browser.)

Thanks macalter for the additional info. As your account is older and working fine it may be that the newer accounts are prone to this issue... would need more feedback from others to verify this however.

The server names I'm curious about are the web server (not the MySQL server) as the issue isn't database related. It's a problem with htaccess, mod_rewrite, and how the web server environments differ amongst Dreamhost web servers.

Think I turned off, mod_rewrite set in ZP. Non-related issue way back and never bothered resetting it on.