Request: sharable link to private albums

rorrison

Joined: 2008-09-26
Posts: 8

Posted: Sat, 2013-08-03 08:03

I have many albums which I would like to keep private, but share with family and friends. I set up logins for them, but logging in seems to be a huge stumbling block - they don't look at my photos. Many other services have a feature where you can have an otherwise private album with a secret URL that allows access without logging in (Picasa Web albums, Dropbox).

Is there a module that will allow creation of a public URL that grants access to an otherwise private album? (I have browsed through the modules list in the wiki, and the forums, but not found one.)

floridave

Joined: 2003-12-22
Posts: 27300

Posted: Sun, 2013-08-04 03:38

So http://codex.galleryproject.org/Gallery3:Modules:hide and http://codex.galleryproject.org/Gallery3:Modules:albumpassword
Don't fit the requirement? Security through obscurity is not security.

Dave
____________________________________________
Blog & G2 || floridave - Gallery Team

rorrison

Joined: 2008-09-26
Posts: 8

Posted: Sun, 2013-08-04 07:38

Thank you for the suggestions, though I have looked at both of those.

Hide isn't what I want, as the people I want to see the album won't log in.

After posting my original message, I found and set up albumpassword doing sort-of what I want, but it's not really what I was looking for because:

You have to set the permissions for the folder to visible to everyone. If anything goes wrong with albumpassword (say it breaks, or I forget to reinstall it on a gallery upgrade) the album becomes visible.
When an album has visible to everyone permission, the items in it appear in site-wide search. Albumpassword doesn't block this. Once someone's happened across one item in such an album, they have access to the whole album.
The URL that allows access is the normal album URL, which is likely guessable if there's any pattern to your album names. The other services I mentioned generate new unique random unguessable URLs for access.
You can't delete or re-create the secret URL to reinstate or change security, you'd have to rename the album.

The difference between a secret URL and using normal gallery security to share an album with a new person isn't that great -- in both cases you set up something and send it to a person, and you have to trust them to keep it secret. The only difference I can see is that if a third party is sniffing URLs they could see the secret URL. Albumpassword is significantly worse because the URL is more likely to be guessable, and there isn't built-in gallery security on the album or its contents.

GeekDrop

Joined: 2008-05-12
Posts: 21

Posted: Wed, 2013-08-07 08:44

I'm looking for the same thing basically; I want to be able to mark an album(s) as private so only certain users are allowed into the entire album(s) (while hiding their contents from searches), but still be able to direct link to images inside the private album(s) if I want (via email, or whatever). I haven't tried either of the mentioned options myself yet, but after reading both of their codex pages, and rorrison's post it doesn't sound like it's possible? Kind of sounds like if the "Hide" module was slightly modified to allow direct link access it would do the trick?

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wowotiel

Joined: 2013-11-16
Posts: 1

Posted: Mon, 2013-11-18 23:21

+1
I am also looking for such an option.
I want my albums make visable only to people who have resived an secret url send with an email.
I would also have the possebillity to delete authorized people or set an stop date.

Gallery 3 is great but without this option it cannot replace picasa webalbums for me.

mikeymike555

Joined: 2013-11-25
Posts: 1

Posted: Mon, 2013-11-25 07:25

+1

I would love to have this feature included. I have done a few websites for photographers, and use Gallery for most of the websites. This functionality would have been useful on a couple of sites already.

tempg

Joined: 2005-12-17
Posts: 1857

Posted: Fri, 2013-12-06 22:38

This would take a lot of coding to make happen (and new db tables). Some of the issues are resolved using what's already available. (I'm thinking @rorrison hadn't fully explored the albumpassword module as of his post above.)

Also: http://codex.galleryproject.org/Gallery3:FAQ#Where.27s_feature_X.3F_It.27s_really_important_to_me.21

rorrison Joined: 2008-09-26 Posts: 8	Posted: Sat, 2013-08-03 08:03
	I have many albums which I would like to keep private, but share with family and friends. I set up logins for them, but logging in seems to be a huge stumbling block - they don't look at my photos. Many other services have a feature where you can have an otherwise private album with a secret URL that allows access without logging in (Picasa Web albums, Dropbox). Is there a module that will allow creation of a public URL that grants access to an otherwise private album? (I have browsed through the modules list in the wiki, and the forums, but not found one.)
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floridave Joined: 2003-12-22 Posts: 27300	Posted: Sun, 2013-08-04 03:38
	So http://codex.galleryproject.org/Gallery3:Modules:hide and http://codex.galleryproject.org/Gallery3:Modules:albumpassword Don't fit the requirement? Security through obscurity is not security. Dave ____________________________________________ Blog & G2 \|\| floridave - Gallery Team

rorrison Joined: 2008-09-26 Posts: 8	Posted: Sun, 2013-08-04 07:38
	Thank you for the suggestions, though I have looked at both of those. Hide isn't what I want, as the people I want to see the album won't log in. After posting my original message, I found and set up albumpassword doing sort-of what I want, but it's not really what I was looking for because: You have to set the permissions for the folder to visible to everyone. If anything goes wrong with albumpassword (say it breaks, or I forget to reinstall it on a gallery upgrade) the album becomes visible. When an album has visible to everyone permission, the items in it appear in site-wide search. Albumpassword doesn't block this. Once someone's happened across one item in such an album, they have access to the whole album. The URL that allows access is the normal album URL, which is likely guessable if there's any pattern to your album names. The other services I mentioned generate new unique random unguessable URLs for access. You can't delete or re-create the secret URL to reinstate or change security, you'd have to rename the album. The difference between a secret URL and using normal gallery security to share an album with a new person isn't that great -- in both cases you set up something and send it to a person, and you have to trust them to keep it secret. The only difference I can see is that if a third party is sniffing URLs they could see the secret URL. Albumpassword is significantly worse because the URL is more likely to be guessable, and there isn't built-in gallery security on the album or its contents.

GeekDrop Joined: 2008-05-12 Posts: 21	Posted: Wed, 2013-08-07 08:44
	I'm looking for the same thing basically; I want to be able to mark an album(s) as private so only certain users are allowed into the entire album(s) (while hiding their contents from searches), but still be able to direct link to images inside the private album(s) if I want (via email, or whatever). I haven't tried either of the mentioned options myself yet, but after reading both of their codex pages, and rorrison's post it doesn't sound like it's possible? Kind of sounds like if the "Hide" module was slightly modified to allow direct link access it would do the trick? GeekDrop.com \| GeekDrop Facebook Fan Page \| GeekDrop Twitter

wowotiel Joined: 2013-11-16 Posts: 1	Posted: Mon, 2013-11-18 23:21
	+1 I am also looking for such an option. I want my albums make visable only to people who have resived an secret url send with an email. I would also have the possebillity to delete authorized people or set an stop date. Gallery 3 is great but without this option it cannot replace picasa webalbums for me.

mikeymike555 Joined: 2013-11-25 Posts: 1	Posted: Mon, 2013-11-25 07:25
	+1 I would love to have this feature included. I have done a few websites for photographers, and use Gallery for most of the websites. This functionality would have been useful on a couple of sites already.

tempg Joined: 2005-12-17 Posts: 1857	Posted: Fri, 2013-12-06 22:38
	This would take a lot of coding to make happen (and new db tables). Some of the issues are resolved using what's already available. (I'm thinking @rorrison hadn't fully explored the albumpassword module as of his post above.) Also: http://codex.galleryproject.org/Gallery3:FAQ#Where.27s_feature_X.3F_It.27s_really_important_to_me.21

Request: sharable link to private albums

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