yappa-ng Regular Documentation

INSTALL Manual

Howto Install yappa-ng

  1. REQUIREMENTS
  2. INSTALLATION
    1. Quick
    2. More detailed :-)
      1. Standard Installation
      2. Installation on "PHP Safe Mode Restricted" Servers
  3. PASSWORDS
  4. TROUBLESHOOTING
    1. Standard Checks (check_setup.php)
    2. Checklist for "broken images"
      1. Some basic checks
      2. The "check_image.php" utility
      3. ImageMagick: Test if the "convert utility" is working
      4. GD: "old" GD ?
    3. Safe Mode
    4. Open Basedir
    5. PHP 4.0.6
    6. "unable to fork"
    7. *.php4 extension needed
    8. EVERYTHING has failed - please help me!!!!
  5. SECURITY Some of these Security-Topics are in the FAQ.html too. I do want you to read them here or there! :-)
    1. .htaccess
    2. check_setup.php and check_setup.txt
    3. Album-Admin password


1. REQUIREMENTS

yappa-ng requires:

You can find:

yappa-ng does NOT need or use a Database!!

yappa-ng is tested on Linux and Windows, Apache and IIS.

yappa-ng is compatible to PHP-settings:

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2. INSTALLATION

2.1 Quick

The installation of yappa-ng is REALLY EASY !!!

In short:

It is really that easy!

NOW would be a good time to check if there are any BUGS reported and/or Patches availlable (External Link) which you should apply! :-)

To get an overview of the available documentation I would strongly recommend at least one glance at this document: _README.FIRST.html !!!

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2.2 More detailed :-)

There is a difference in the installation procedure if you are installing yappa-ng on a server that has the "PHP Safe Mode Restrictions" activated or on a server without these restrictions.

If you are not sure if the server onto which you want to install yappa-ng runs with "Safe Mode enabled" or not just upload the little script "check_safe_mode.php" onto the server and point your browser to it (=run it). The output of this script will tell you:

(This script is not able to tell you if the server has the "ImageMagick convert Utility" installed. You will have to ask your ISP!)

If "PHP Safe Mode Restrictions" are activated AND the "GD library" is installed please go on reading the section: 2.2.2 Installation on "PHP Safe Mode Restricted" Servers

If "PHP Safe Mode Restrictions" are activated and the "GD library" is not installed I'm Sorry! You will not be able to run yappa-ng on this server. In "PHP Safe Mode" you cannot use the "ImageMagick convert Utility" - you are restricted to the "GD library"!

If the "PHP Safe Mode Restrictions" are not activated please go on reading below!

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2.2.1 Standard Installation


--> THAT'S IT! Congratulation, you completely setup yappa-ng!
As I promised: It is really that easy! :-))

Hint:


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2.2.2 Installation on "PHP Safe Mode Restricted" Servers

For an explanation why the installation on "PHP Safe Mode Restricted" Servers is more complicated than the standard installation process on servers without this restriction or if you just want an explanation on what this "PHP Safe Mode Restriction" means take a look at the TROUBLSHOOTING section of this manual: "Safe Mode".

And here is the Installation procedure for Safe Mode enabled systems:


--> THAT'S IT! Congratulation, you completely setup yappa-ng!
As I promised: Safe Mode Setup takes a little bit longer, but its running in Safe Mode!!! :-))

Hint:

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3. PASSWORDS

Upon first installation of yappa-ng the album administration-password is set to the same one that you selected in the Setup Tool (setup.php) for the yappa-ng System Admin.

Please remember that you can (have to!!) change the Album Admin Password for each Album separately in the Album-Admin-Login of the album (Upper right corner).
If you import albums (directories which you FTPd or Copied into your Main Photo directory) you can select the source config for the imported albums and there the album admin password will be the same!

You can change the yappa-ng System Admin Password (the password for the Setup Tool and the ToolBox) in the ToolBox. This changes only the yappa-ng System Admin Password!!


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4. TROUBLESHOOTING

4.1 Standard Checks (check_setup.php)


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4.2 Checklist for "broken images"

4.2.1 Some Basic Checks

In almost all cases this is a problem of file and/or directory permissions!
Here is a short checklist - please check EVERY point! ;-)

If nothing from the above worked take a look at your WEBSERVER-LOGFILE. (This will only be possible if you have full access to the webserver logfiles. Step to next point if your ISP gives you no access to the serverlogfiles!) (Almost no ISP will permit you free access to his logfiles :-)

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4.2.2 The "check_image.php" utility

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4.2.3 ImageMagick: Test if the "convert utility" is working

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4.2.4 GD: "old" GD

yappa-ng uses an autodetect-method to guess what version of GD you use. But - alas! This does not work on every system! :-(

If you are using GD and have broken images set the config-parameter "gd_truecolor" to "no" (ONLY THAN!)

(Background: If possible I use the 'ImageCreateTruecolor' function of GD. I try to check for this function - but on some systems this method does not work - so if you say "no" in the config I override the test.)

If you use ImageMagick this parameter has absolute no meaning!

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4.3 Safe Mode

yappa-ng is fully "safe_mode" compatible - but you have to know some facts:

What is the "safe_mode" PHP directive?

What things to watch when installing yappa-ng with "safe_mode" in effect?

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4.4 Open Basedir

yappa-ng is fully "open_basedir" compatible - but you have to know some facts:

What is the "open_basedir" PHP directive?

What things to watch when installing yappa-ng with "open_basedir" in effect?

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4.5 PHP 4.0.6

There are some keywords which are not working in PHP 4.0.6
If you are using PHP 4.0.6 set the following parameter in the file "config_private.inc.php":    $config['php_4_0_6'] = "yes".

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4.6 "unable to fork"

If you get an error like:

   Warning: exec(): Unable to fork [C:\ImageMagick\convert.exe -size 50x50.....

This is a windows-related issue and has nothing to do with yappa-ng but with the permission settings on your webserver!

There may be an easy way out for you (thanks to Jesper Rudbeck, who sent me this hint):
"We had lotso fun with "unable to fork" errors. It turned out to be a permissions problem. Y ou must give RX permission on "\winnt\system32\cmd.exe" to the user account that your web server runs as (e.g. IUSR_xxx on IIS, LocalSystem on Apache).
Turning on a Win2000 user right called "Bypass traverse checking" also solved a related problem but I forget what or why."

Another solution has been submitted by swbadn (Thanks):
"I copied cmd.exe into the c:\php folder and that seems to work as well. I set the permissions to read and execute only. This keeps from having to give anonymous access to C:\winnt\system32\cmd.exe where all of those nasty IIS scripts always seem to attack and I think is a little more secure than having to give access to the cmd.exe in the C:\winnt\system32 directory."

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4.7 *.php4 extension needed

Some servers still need the "*.php4 extension" instead of the standard "*.php extension".

If you are running yappa-ng on such a server there are a view things you have to do:

Do no other changes!!!

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4.8 EVERYTHING has failed - please help me!!!!

If you have a problem which is not covered in this document please take a look into the FAQ and the MANUAL! There are many useful hints!

If you need help because nothing in this document or the FAQ helps then it is time to read the file:

    SUPPORT_REQUESTS in the yappa-ng /docs directory!

There is a detailed description how to get support!

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5. SECURITY

5.1 .htaccess

If your web server supports .htaccess directory-protection (Apache Webserver) you should protect your complete yappa-ng "photo_root" (Photos Main Directory)!

You need no direct web-access to this directory - everything is done with PHP-scripts from your yappa-ng main directory!
It is important for you if you have userprotected albums.
If the directoryname AND the image name is known someone can access these images without the yappa-ng password-query if no .htaccess-protection is in place!

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5.2 check_setup.php and check_setup.txt

DELETE (!!) or rename the check_setup.php script after you have the installation complete. If created DELETE the check_setup.txt file too!

Anybody can point his browser to the check_setup.php script and create the check_setup.txt file. There is no danger that this in itself is dangerous, but within the created check_setup.txt file there is some information about the setup of your webserver. This information is kept only to the yappa-ng related topics (some server configuration options, some PHP configuration options and of course your yappa-ng configuration options) and is necessary to get some yappa-ng installations up and running! ;-)

It's a good strategy that nobody should know very much about your setup. Some people don't even let their web server display his signature. On the other hand: if this is a standard installation of a linux distribution or windows installation there will be no information which is not already known.
Deleting /renaming these files will just keep you on the safe side! :-)

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5.3 Album-Admin password

Log into your home-photo album (this is where the "Welcome to yappa-ng..." text shows after installation) as Album-Admin as soon as possible after installation and change the default password to your own (Even if there are no images in it and even if you never will have images directly in this central folder).

There is no real security issue if you do forget / ommit it, but it could happen that someone changes the password to one you do not know, upload/delete images,...
And I do not believe you will think this is funny! ;-)

Hint:

Before you start creating many albums after installation configure your home album as you want to have it.
Everything but the admin-password will be inherited to the next "child album"!

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Part of yappa-ng Documentation by Fritz 'wizard' Berger: >> yappa-ng Homepage <<