Zenphoto

NOTE: We do not support and do not recommend installations or upgrading done with helper scripts like SimpleScripts or similar some providers make available. If you have any problems after using these please contact the maker of the script.

Content of the Zenphoto package

The Zenphoto package consists of these root items after extracting. This is what you need to upload. Note: Your FTP program should be set to merge files within the package folders with folders in an existing insallation. Setup will prompt you if any old files should be removed.

• albums*– Here the full images etc. are stored within subfolder after uploading
• cache* – Here the cached processed images like thumbnails or sized images are stored
• cache_html*– Here cached static files from RSS feeds, the static HTML cache plugin or the sitemap-extended plugin are stored - if the given option or plugin is enabled naturally
• doc_files** – This contains some PDF documents like function quick references (not updated, view the functions documentation on the user guide for complete info) and a database relation quick reference.
• index.php – This is the "front-end" script for Zenphoto. All references to the gallery go through it. Often referenced as the "root index file".
• plugins – This is the place to store 3rd party or custom plugins, custom watermarks etc.
• themes –  As you may guess this contains the themes. Five standard themes are included.
• uploaded* –  This is the folder the (non gallery) file manager stores uploaded files.
• zp-core –This is the Zenphoto core that runs everything.
• zp-data* – This stores your zenphoto.cfg file, the Zenphoto setup, security and debug log files.

After running setup a .htaccess file and a robot.txt file will be created in the root if you select the related options. You may need to adjust the robots.txt file to your liking as it is set very strict by default.

*These folders are empty in the package.

**These folders are not used by a running installation and need not be uploaded.

Installation

1. Download the latest version of Zenphoto.
2. Extract the files to your computer then upload all files and folders as listed above to your web directory via FTP. You can upload them either in the root of your webspace or within a subfolder.
3. Create a MySQL database if you haven't already one.
4. Navigate to your gallery. Example: if you uploaded in a subfolder named "zenphoto" navigate to www.yoursite.org/zenphoto/. Setup will run automatically. Enter the MySQL credentials (you get them from your provider) and make sure everything checks out. Then click GO!
5. ENJOY!

Moving existing installations

Please read:

• How to move my installation to a new server?
• How to move my installation on the same server?

Upgrading

With anything after ZenPhoto 1.1.3, upgrading is super easy! These instructions apply of course also if you want to install a nightly build.

Important note:

Each new version of Zenphoto provides new capabilities. We try to provide forward migration, but we do not test arbitrary upgrades steps. The only sequence we can guarantee to work is upgrading from the previous release. You should check the support forum for upgrade issues if you are skipping any significant number of releases. 

1. Backup your MySQL database (use the database backup tool on the Zenphoto overview page for example).
2. Log into your existing site to be sure you know your Zenphoto user/password. Password recovery is not available during an upgrade!
3. Be sure to backup customized themes or plugins or any other customized file before replacing anything! (see above!)
4. Download the latest version and upload the following files:
1. index.php
2. /themes (or actually the five themes within)
3. /zp-core
5. Make sure the .htaccess file is writeable. (If you do not have a .htaccess file, you will be given the opportunity to create one during setup.)
6. Once the files are uploaded, navigate to www.yoursite.org/zenphoto/ (if you have installed Zenphoto within the folder zenphoto). Setup.php will run. (If it somehow does not, please navigate directly to www.yoursite.org/zenphoto/zp-core/setup.php.)
7. Make sure everything checks out, and click go!
8. Follow the instructions.
9. You're done! Enjoy.

NOTE: If you are upgrading to a nightly build or svn version to help testing, always upload the complete package, never just indiviual files unless you have been told otherwise by the developers.

Re-running and re-uploading setup files

The setup scripts are automatically deleted for security reasons after a successful install or upgrade. 

Sometimes Zenphoto will request you to re-run the scripts. This is a security measure if Zenphoto detects a change on your install. This might also be triggered if server software (e.g. MySQL or PHP) on your server has been updated.

You find them in the release package:

/zp-core/setup.php/zp-core/setup (folder with several files)

Requirements

Server requirements

To operate Zenphoto efficiently, you need (our setup script will also tell you about possible problems):

• A web server with at least 25Mb of free space (plus free space for images and cache files)
• Apache* (it may work without problems on other server systems like IIS or lighttpd but we have not tested these.)
• PHP 5.2+* — It may work with older versions of PHP 5 but we have not tested with them. It will not work with PHP 4.
• It is recommend that you have the following PHP extensions and settings:
  • One of these graphics libaries for image resizing:
    • GD graphics library (usually built in on servers)
    • Imagick graphics libary 6.3.8/Imagick 2.1.0
  • safe mode off (recommended)
  • magic_quotes off (recommended)
  • register globals off (required)
  • gettext extension (required if you plan to use Zenphoto's translation/multilingual capabilites)
  • mbstring extension (recommended if you are using a none English language with lots of special characters)
• MySQL 5.5+* — It may work with older MySQL 5 versions but we have not tested with them. MySQL 4 is not supported
  • Appropriate user account rights. (Setup will note if you do not have sufficient rights.)
  • UTF-8 table and field collations

*Zenphoto is developed and tested on this environment.

Browser requirements

To use certain JavaScript driven features in the admin backend like album and image sorting we recommend to use one of the following browsers:

• Firefox 2 or newer
• Internet Explorer 7 or newer
• Safari 3 or newer
• Google Chrome
• Opera 9 or newer

It might work with older or other browsers as well but has not been tested. We recommend to use the latest browser version possible.

Please also visit the Troubleshooting Zenphoto guide