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Contents |
To install Gallery 3 you need the following:
The installer checks all requirements and will warn you if any of them aren't met. The PHP extensions and configuration comes with the standard PHP package so should be present on most systems by default.
Installing Gallery 3 is made easy through the included installer. Follow these instructions and you should have a working Gallery 3 installation within a few minutes.
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| Database name | The name of the database you have created in step 5 |
| User | The username for accessing the database you have created in step 5. This is not the user name you will be using to log on to you Gallery 3 installation |
| Password | The password for accessing the database you have created in step 5. This is not the password you will be using to log on to you Gallery 3 installation |
| Host | The IP address of the database server. In most cases this is localhost (meaning it is the same server you are installing your Gallery 3 on) so you don't need to change this. If this fails please check the documentation provided by your webhoster. |
| Table prefix | Gallery creates several tables in the database you select to use. This optional field allows you to add a prefix to all these tables.This can be useful if you want to use one database for more than one Gallery 3 installation or for Gallery 3 and any other software that requires a database. You should however only do this if you don't have the possibility to create an own database for Gallery 3.
Example: Gallery 3 creates a table called "items" which contains all information on the photos and videos you upload. If you specify "g3" as prefix this table will be called "g3_items" instead of only "items".
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If you have a bit more experience with web server etc. this section will give you some more information on configuration etc.
Included in the gallery3 folder is an .htaccess file which allows you overwrite some server settings to make Gallery 3 a bit faster and to have nicer looking URLs. To activate these features edit the file and modify it according to the instructions included in the file. Please be aware that this file will get overwritten when upgrading your installation so you will need to modify the new file included in the new Gallery 3 version you are installing. Please do not use the old file since there might have been changes made to it.
If you are wondering where Gallery 3 stores your database information (username, password, server etc.) have a look at "/var/database.php". If you need to move to a different database or want to change the database password you can simply edit this file and enter the correct new values here.
The "var" folder is used by Gallery 3 to store photos, videos, thumbnails and other user data. Permissions on this directory must be maintained for the webserver (Apache/PHP) must be able to write to it.
Multisite users: Gallery 3 does not currently support multisite installations--as Gallery 2 did. And Gallery 3 may never do so. If you wish to transfer individual galleries from a Gallery 2 multisite installation into individual, single, Gallery 3 installations, use the Gallery2 Import module.
To upgrade your installation to the latest Gallery 3 version (e.g. Gallery 3 version 3.0 to 3.1) follow these steps:
This was last tested on Ubuntu 10.04.1 (64-bit). If you used the typical/recommended installation method, the MySQL database will be called gallery3 and your content will be in /var/www/gallery3/var/. If you're moving to a new server, and it's set up just like the old one, this should be pretty easy. The following assumes the default install process was used.
mysqldump --opt -u root -p'YourPasswordHere' gallery3 > ~/gallery3.sql
mysql -u root -p'YourPasswordHere'
show databases;
quit
scp gallery.sql user-name@new.server.here.com:~/
You'll need to follow the basic setup of Gallery 3 to a point and then stop to proceed with the restoration. Essentially, you'll need to stop once you've extracted the zip file. Assuming you've downloaded Gallery and have extracted to its home, you can proceed with the restoration.
sudo tar -xvpzf var.tar.gz -C /var/www/gallery3
mysql -u root -p'YourPasswordHere'
create database gallery3;
show databases;
quit
mysql -u root -p'YourPasswordHere' gallery3 < ~/gallery3.sql
sudo nano -B /var/www/gallery3/var/database.php
That's pretty much it! You may have to edit the .htaccess file but in most cases, that's rare and is generally only needed if you've tweaked it for something in the previous installation. If you had other modules/plugins installed, you may have to dump those back in there too.
Important: If you uninstall Gallery 3 you will lose all your photos and other content if you haven't made a backup copy of them.
All data (such as photos, videos, thumbnails, resizes, settings etc.) are stored at two locations:
You need to backup both your database and the var folder if you want to prevent data loss.
Remember to move your backup to another location! Don't leave it on the same server you got the backup from. If the server chucks a drive, burns up with the house around it, gets carried away by a tornado, or otherwise just stops working, your backup is no good if the only copy of the backup was on the server that stopped working. Copy it to an external drive or optical disk and, if possible, move it off site.
Gallery 3 installations hosted by 3rd party outfits can be tricky. It's best to consult your hosting provider for details. In some cases, they've been known to set up a [cron] job for their customers so that they may grab it via [FTP]. This is not the norm, however.
If you host your own and/or have direct access to the server, you can use the process below. If you used the typical/recommended installation method, the MySQL database will be called gallery3 and your content will be in /var/www/gallery3/var/.
The content your Gallery 3 installation serves to the world is stored in the var directory. Meaning, your photos and videos are in that folder!
cd /var/www/gallery3
sudo tar -cvpzf var.tar.gz var/
The database has all the text from your comments, descriptions & titles. It also contains the settings, users and passwords.
mysqldump --opt -u root -p'YourPasswordHere' gallery3 > ~/gallery3.sql
mysql -u root -p'YourPasswordHere'
show databases;
quit
If you think you've found a bug in Gallery 3, first search to make sure it's not already been reported. If it hasn't, then please post under "Troubleshooting and Problems" to see if someone can help fix the problem and verify that it's a bug. If it is, then please create a new ticket here by logging into SourceForge and clicking on New Ticket.
If you have a feature request, again, please search to make sure it's not been submitted already. If not, create a new ticket here by logging into SourceForge and clicking on New Ticket. You can also create a thread in the forums to create some discussion for your idea.
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