Destination directory albums/userpics/10001/ is not writable by the script !

[Craig Walsh]

We recently moved our internet host, and that also meant moving Coppermine.  Everything seemed to be working fine:  tested by uploading a new image, etc. and no problems.  This afternoon I tried to create a new album.  At first, nothing seemed to happen.  Then the album was created, but it looked different from other albums.  It appeared in the album list with its icon, etc. -- and I couldn't find out how to change its settings so it was like the other albums.

But when I tried to upload a photograph into the new album, I received this error message in Coppermine:

     Destination directory albums/userpics/10001/ is not writable by the script !

I tried to upload into one of the other (older) albums, with the same result.  I checked the forum, and changed the permissions on the folders.  I have changed (I believe) everything to 755, but the problem persists.  Either I didn't change the permissions correctly, didn't change to the right level of permissions, or this is a different problem with a different cure.

Our Coppermine gallery is at http://www.bull-terrier.org.uk/copper

Thank you for your assistance.  I appreciate it.

Craig

[Joachim Müller]

Craig,

if CHMODing your albums folder to 755 used to work on your old host, there's no guarantee this will be the same on your new one. You might have to CHMOD to 777 on the new server. When you CHMOD, make sure the operation will not only be for that particular folder, but will be for all subfolders as well.

I recommend asking your webhost for support if you can't CHMOD appropriately yourself.

Joachim

[Craig Walsh]

Hi, and thank you for the quick reply.  I changed the permissions on the album folder to 777 and I can now upload photographs.  But the photographs look strange:  they're in one colour.  And the album I've created also doesn't look like any other album:  it has a thumbnail on the main index page, while the others do not.

Please visit http://www.bull-terrier.org.uk/copper/index.php --- it's the "World Travels" article.  And it has the yellow/gold picyture of Cathy.  I have checked the photograph in Photoshop, and it's fine:  a normal .jpg file, with normal colours.

How do I get the format of this new album to be the same as the other albums (i.e. no thumbnail on the index page), and how do I get my photographs to again upload in color, not sepia?

I have a call into our hosting company about the permissions.  I know how to change permissions, and have a vague idea of what they mean (and do).  In the perfect world, what permissions should I have set up for Coppermine, please?

Thanks again for all of your help.

Craig

[Joachim Müller]

Re strange colors: you probably have set up coppermine to use GD1, although GD2 exists on your server. Go to coppermine config and change "Method for resizing images". Remember that this will only change the method for pics you add from this point. To convert your existing thumbnails that look "weird", go to "admin tools" and use "Update thumbs and/or resized photos (1)" for the albums that have strange colors to rebuild the thumbnails and intermediate files with your new settings.

Re permissions: Coppermine needs to be set up in a manner that PHP has read/execute permissions for all files and folders withing the coppermine folder, read/write/execute permissions for the albums folder. Only when installing coppermine from scratch, read/write/execute permissions are needed for the include folder. It depends on your server setup what CHMOD settings this actually is.

Joachim

[Craig Walsh]

Thanks again for the quick reply.  I have changed from GD1 to GD2 in Config.  As far as I can tell, only one thumbnail had the weird sepia look --- the one photo I uploaded last night.  I deleted the photo and the new album.  I then re-created the album ("World Travels" under "Walsh Family Album") and tried to upload a photograph.  I now get this error message: 

No picture was uploaded !

If you have really selected a picture to upload, check that the server allows file uploads...  

I haven't changed any of the other settings, so seem to be chasing my tail on this one.  Any suggestions on what I should try next?  I've attached a printout of our Config panel as a PDF file in case that's helpful.

Another thought.  Our new host uses "Fantastico" (I think that's what it's called) and I believe "Fantastico" can automatically install a copy of Coppermine.  If we, say, had Fantastico do a new installation of Coppermine in a new folder (say coppermine1), would it be possible to move our images, comments, etc. across from the current coppermine folder?  If so, how would I move the images?  And how would I move the "design" of our Coppermine site?  I paid someone to do the design, and they just did it for me a few months ago, so I confess I don't know how to re-create it.

Thank you for your continued help.  I appreciate it very much.

Craig

[Joachim Müller]

Do not use the Fantastico package - it is buggy, you won't have any additional benefits!
Check your phpinfo file to find out what version of GD you actually have on your server - go to "admin tools" - "phpinfo", then search the page for "GD module" and post the module's settings here.

Joachim

[Craig Walsh]

I stumbled about a bit in the control panel for our hosting account, and finally discovered what is (I hope) the information you've requested.  We apparently have PHP Version 4.3.8.  The GD version is identified as "bundled" and it then says 2.0.23 compatible.

If this isn't the information you've requested please let me know how to find the necessary information.  Our host uses something called CPanel (v9.4.1) and it sometimes has too much information for mere mortals like me.

Thanks again for your continued assistance.

Craig

[Joachim Müller]

please post a test user account (non-admin) with upload pivileges for your coppermine gallery.

Joachim

[Craig Walsh]

Hi,

Done.  The user name is test, password is test.

Thanks,

Craig

[Joachim Müller]

urm, you're using cpg1.2.1. Any special reason for posting your support request on the support board that is dedicated to cpg1.3.x? Ugrade strongly recommended.

Joachim

[Craig Walsh]

Apologies!  I didn't know how to find out the version I was using, and as it was recently installed, I guess I assumed....  I know, I know. 

I will download the latest version this afternoon and have a go at upgrading.  I haven't looked yet, but assume that there are instructions that I can follow.  I'm pretty good when there are step-by-step instructions, but hopeless when left to my own devices.

Do you think the upgrade will fix the problem I'm having?  Again, apologies for posting on the wrong forum.

Thanks,

Craig

[Joachim Müller]

not sure if it will fix the issues (probably not), but it might result in better error messages. There's an upgrade guide that comes with cpg1.3.2 as well: http://coppermine.sourceforge.net/manual.php#13
Why did you install cpg1.2.1 in the first place, instead of going for the most recent version anyway?

Joachim

[Craig Walsh]

Hi ---

I personally installed Coppermine about (I think) eight or nine months ago on our "old" host.  It was gnarly, but the folks on the forum were extremely helpful and I got it running in the end and was delighted with it.  We have recently been consolidating our hosting.  I was reluctant to move the Coppermine site because it was working, and I remembered the difficulties I'd had installing it.  (Entirely my problems, through my own ignorance.)

Eric, who does our hosting, promised he'd take care of the details, so it was Eric who moved it over.  I don't know if Eric simply moved everything over from the old host (if he did, presumably that was the older version), if he used Fantastico, or what he did.  In any event, Eric uploaded a picture to show that it worked, and it did.  But it didn't work today when I tried to create a new album, and when I tried to upload a photograph.

I was out most of the afternoon and am now back at my desk.  Eric is also at his desk, and couldn't find my new album (because I'd deleted it).  So I recreated the album to show Eric the problem.  And, of course, now I can upload without difficulty, and the uploaded pictures look fine.  But nothing has changed in the meantime . . . ?

Curiously, however, the new album (a sub-album under Walsh Family Album) is still shown differently in the album display.  The album doesn't appear on the first page at all.  And when you click Walsh Family Album, the new album appears in a space of its own, below the other sub-albums.  And the new album has an unwanted thumbnail, whereas the others do not.  I've looked everywhere for a setting to change to fix this, but without any joy.

Any suggestions on this?

Anyway, I'm waiting for Eric (who's in Hong Kong) to let me know if he wants to handle the upgarde to the latest version, or if he wants me to have a stab at it.  Goal is to get this resolved today, if at all possible.

In the meantime, however, can you please advise if you know why the new album is appearing differently than the others?

Thanks again for all of your help.

Craig

[Joachim Müller]

"World Travels" is an album (that contains pics), "Chase & Brett's Wedding", "Hawaii" and "England" are categories that contain albums (but no pics). Make sure you understand the concept of categories and albums, this is by design.

Joachim

P.S. You will need to update your custom theme as well when upgrading to cpg1.3.2, see http://coppermine.sourceforge.net/demo/docs/theme.htm

[Anubis]

never mind i seem to have fixed it