Configuring php to include GD on XP home computer

[roha1234]

Here is the setup:

Apache, MySQL, php, and phpBB all installed and running on my home XP computer.  Following is the version for each:

Apache 2.0.50-win32-x86-no_ssl.msi
MySQL 4.0.18-win-noinstall
php 4.3.8-Win32
phpBB 2.0.10

The web server and forum packages are running fine, etc.  Eventually want to 'bridge' CPG 1.3.2 with the phpBB forum, BUT, as your documentation states, am trying to get CPG running as a standalone first.

CPG is running fine as installed a few hours ago.  (We did this on a friends computer and his file structure and all is identical to mine as described above).  We configured CPG to get it online for testing. We can logon to CPG, register, etc, then login as a reg user.... testing things out, I uploaded some gif files to test after I created a 'gallery', etc.  After the upload completed, CPG informed me that it couldn't process the images.   The 'problem' is that the GD table is not shown when you execute the info.php file from the browser.  It appears exactly as the user shows in this:
http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=9437.0;id=552

Now comes the problem:  I know (I think) that the php.ini file needs editing to uncomment the line activating gd, right?

If so, this is my question:  Eveything is installed on the C: drive, but cannot find the php.ini file 

php.ini is not in C:/WINDOWS or anywhere on C: drive per a search done through Windows XP AND manually browsing through the WINDOWS folders.

It has to be somewhere as Apache has been running on both our machines for a couple of months now with php, MySQL, and phpBB being added a couple of weeks ago - and all is running great!

I hope my 'rambling' has made sense, and someone can offer some help and/or advice, etc.

THANKS! 

[kegobeer]

First, Coppermine doesn't support GIF images with GD.  GD just recently added GIF creation support back into its code.  The next version of Coppermine should have GIF support for GD.  If you need GIF support consider installing ImageMagick.  It's very tricky getting ImageMagick installed correctly on Windows however, and I personally don't recommend doing it unless you are very experienced with Windows and setting up a server.

Second, this isn't a forum for how to set up a server - we assume you already have a fully functional server.  The best advice I can give you is to find a good server installation guide and follow it.  Setting up a server correctly and getting it running takes a lot of effort.  There are a few good ones out there, just do a search on google and you should find everything you need.

I know there's a good one over at www.simplemachines.org written by [Unknown].

[roha1234]

First, Coppermine doesn't support GIF images with GD.  GD just recently added GIF creation support back into its code.  The next version of Coppermine should have GIF support for GD.  If you need GIF support consider installing ImageMagick.  It's very tricky getting ImageMagick installed correctly on Windows however, and I personally don't recommend doing it unless you are very experienced with Windows and setting up a server.

THANKS for your reply.  I made an error in stating that we tested using GIF files.  Was late (early this AM   ) when I posted my original message in this topic.  It was JPG files we were attempting to upload to the standalone CPG 1.3 which is running on the Apache server on the home XP computer.  The files uploaded fine into CPG, but when 'Continue' was clicked, CPG displayed the error dialog box about GD not being running on php.

Second, this isn't a forum for how to set up a server - we assume you already have a fully functional server.  The best advice I can give you is to find a good server installation guide and follow it.  Setting up a server correctly and getting it running takes a lot of effort.  There are a few good ones out there, just do a search on google and you should find everything you need.

I understand this is not a forum on how to set up a server.  The server has been fully functional and operating for over three weeks now. As I stated in my original message, the server is already established running Apache2 and phpBB.  If we can get CPG 1.3 to operate as a standalone with an image manipulator working, then we'll attempt to 'bridging' to phpBB.

In my original post, I guess what I was asking in a round-about way was that php4.3.8 is and has been running as a load module under Apache2 the last three weeks successfully,  does not include the GD Library when examining the php setup using info.php (phpinfo.php).  The GD Library is missing.

My question should have been , "How can we get the GD Library - necessary for CPG to manipulate uploaded images - in php 4.3.8-win32?
-OR-
Would you suggest we re-install php as a CGI binary - although I understand from researching all this that php loaded as a CGI binary may not be as efficient as loading the php module under Apache2?
-OR-
Should we leave php loading as a module under Apache, without GD2, and consider installing ImageMagick instead?

THANK you so much for your reply and assistance in all this! CPG seems to be an outstanding piece of software!

I will await your reply!

[kegobeer]

In my original post, I guess what I was asking in a round-about way was that php4.3.8 is and has been running as a load module under Apache2 the last three weeks successfully,  does not include the GD Library when examining the php setup using info.php (phpinfo.php).  The GD Library is missing.

The GD library isn't missing, you just haven't configured php.ini correctly.  You need to uncomment the gd2 extension in php.ini and restart Apache.

I understand this is not a forum on how to set up a server.  The server has been fully functional and operating for over three weeks now.

If you can't find php.ini, my guess is you used the PHP installer, which isn't recommended by PHP.

Note:  While the Windows installer is an easy way to make PHP work, it is restricted in many aspects as, for example, the automatic setup of extensions is not supported. Use of the installer isn't the preferred method for installing PHP.

Since I've never used the installer I can't tell you where to look.  You should uninstall PHP and download the zip package and follow the manual installation steps outlined at php.net.  You will then know exactly where php.ini is and you can make the appropriate changes.

[off topic]I am, by no means, an expert when it comes to setting up a server.  I have been running my own test server for two years and I'm still learning better ways to configure it and keeping it running smoothly.  I would never consider making it available to the public because of the inherent security hole it would open up.  If you plan on making yours available to people outside of a local network I highly recommend taking a few classes on how to set up a server or getting someone with a lot of experience to look at your setup, and I would definitely switch to a better OS (like Linux) and run it from that.  Just my 2 cents.[/off topic]

[roha1234]

kegobeer....

THANKS for your help and especially for clarifying the GD2 issue I had with php.  I did manually install php, and had uncommented the appropriate line(s) in php.ini.  However, after reading your info again, I went thru my whole setup and had an error in one of my path statements.  All is fine now.  Coppermine is running great.  It's a GREAT program.

Thanks again for all your help/advice!  I really do appreciate your taking the time to help a novice such as myself.

Cheers!


PS - I guess however you do it, you can mark this 'problem' SOLVED