"Unable to process this photo" error message

cooltouch

Joined: 2010-10-24
Posts: 28
Posted: Sat, 2013-09-21 10:09

I'm running Gallery 3.0.2 at my site. I tried to upgrade to the latest version but the upgrade failed for some reason. But that's a topic for a separate thread.

It's been a while since I've uploaded new photos to my site's Gallery installation. So, I've been going through a process of having to relearn what I did over two years ago. I tried to figure out how to upload photos using the Server Add function, but the menu shown in the Gallery documentation does not match any menus I could find on the Admin side. Specifically the documentation shows a drop down menu with the commands "Home," "Add," "Album Options" and "Admin." The ONLY menu I can find on the Admin side has the commands "Dashboard," "Settings," "Modules," "Content," "Appearance," "Users/Groups," and "Maintenance." The menu shown in the docs is showing how to upload files using the Server Add function. I was able to add a path from my server where I have image files stored. That wasn't a problem. But without that menu to complete the process, I can't get anywhere.

So I turned to trying to upload files one at a time through the software's front end, you know, by placing my mouse cursor over the dot on the top right of an folder's image, and then a group of options appears, one of which is to upload a photo. Okay fine, I go through the process of selecting a photo, in this case the photos I was trying to upload were .jpgs, each of which were about 170k to 200k, so not so big. The file is processed, it shows 100%, but then it errors out, displaying the file name in red and the error message "Unable to process this photo" in blue. I tried this with several different files in several different folders. Always the same response.

It's been over two years since the last time I attempted to upload anything to my Gallery installation, but I don't recall running into either of these issues back then. As I dimly recall, I was uploading files in bulk, so I must have figured out how to use Server Add -- must have found that menu somewhere.

If you do a search of the gallery3 documentation, entering "server add gallery3" into the search box, you'll find the page that shows how to specify a directory on the server using Server Add, and that menu that shows how to upload the files. But nowhere inside the Admin side have I been able to find that menu with that set of commands. And now I can't even get the software to accept an upload via the other method. So I'm stuck.

Any ideas how I can unstick myself? Please keep in mind in your reply my level of expertise. I've been using PCs for over thirty years, used to be conversant in DOS and OS/2, and I can still find my way around directory tree structures -- especially if they're displayed in a WYSIWYG format. But my knowledge of Linux is elementary and I don't much understand server configuration speak at all. It'll be real easy to lose me if you use jargon that will be opaque to your average Internet user. I do find the Gallery documentation easy to follow, though -- as long as it's pointing to areas in the software that actually exist. When it gets off track, the way it's doing with Server Add, I'm quickly lost.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide.

Best,
Michael

 
floridave
floridave's picture

Joined: 2003-12-22
Posts: 27300
Posted: Sat, 2013-09-21 19:21

First check that your host has not changed anything.
Try a different graphics toolkit: admin -> graphics.

If it still fails there should be a clue in the gallery3/var/logs directory from the time you tried.

Server add: Once you make the admin settings then you will see a new server add option in the 'add' dropdown when you are on a album.
"Home," "Add," "Album Options" and "Admin." will be on the album Server add will be under "add".
"Dashboard," "Settings," "Modules," "Content," "Appearance," "Users/Groups," and "Maintenance." are admin options when in the admin section.

Dave

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Blog & G2 || floridave - Gallery Team

 
cooltouch

Joined: 2010-10-24
Posts: 28
Posted: Sat, 2013-09-21 19:34

Thanks, Dave. I'll give your suggestions a try. I was figuring right, I guess, when I was assuming that, if server add activated properly the menus selections would change.

Hmmm . . . I don't think my host has changed anything. Everything runs on my site the same as it's always run. But if I can't upload, I'll send them a note.

One thing I do remember from when I first set up Gallery3, however, is when I tried switching graphics toolkits before, I was unable to do so. I'll give it another try -- maybe it'll update now.

Best,
Michael

 
cooltouch

Joined: 2010-10-24
Posts: 28
Posted: Sun, 2013-09-22 19:00

Okay, I have a bit more to report now. I took a look in the gallery3/var/logs directory and, first thing I noticed was it has error logs whose dates ended on August 29, 2013. There are error log files from every day since I installed the software until the last week of last month. But there have been none since. Plus every error log file references a "file not found" condition for a favicon.ico or a "file not found" condition for an "apple-touch-icon.png" file in various directories. Thing of it is, I haven't looked for any of these files, so this must mean these are external searches coming in from somewhere on the 'net. Bots or spammers, I suppose? So I'm wondering why they suddenly stopped on August 29? This three and a half week gap is the only time there haven't been any error files generated. I checked -- going back to the date I installed Gallery3 -- July 15, 2011. So, why only these two files? Why every day from the day I installed the software until 3-1/2 weeks ago? Why the 3-1/2 week gap? Besides the obvious question, which is why wasn't a log file generated for yesterday, when I was getting the error messages from trying to upload files?

I'm still having the same old problem when it comes to loading a different graphics toolkit. My Gallery3 has GD loaded. Under "Available Toolkits" it shows ImageMagic and GraphicsMagic, but both are "grayed out" and there are warning notices (the little yellow triangle is being displayed) under each, which state that the subject files can't be found. Your User Guide says that the files are probably there but that a path has to be specified, and then gives directions on the path that should be specified. I've copied and pasted the text from the online User Guide:

=====================================================
They are probably installed in a path that Gallery 3 doesn't know about (for example, fink on OS X installs things in /sw/bin). To fix this, either add the path to the folder containing your toolkit to your system PATH variable or modify files where PATH is coded into Gallery 3. Currently:

modules/gallery/helpers/graphics.php: putenv("PATH=" . getenv("PATH") . ":/usr/local/bin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/bin:/sw/bin");
modules/gallery/helpers/movie.php: putenv("PATH=" . getenv("PATH") . ":/usr/local/bin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/bin:/sw/bin");

Please report back in the Gallery 3 forums with the path you had to enter, and we'll add it to the list.
======================================================

Well, I'm reporting back because I've looked all over for somewhere I can actually input the above text. I haven't found anywhere within the Admin side that I can. And my FTP client only copies files back and forth. I don't get to type commands in from a command line. I even went into my hosting service's secure C panel frontend, but I haven't found anywhere in Secure C Panel that I can enter this information either. So maybe someone can point out the obvious to you but not to me place where I can input this information?

You know, it really puzzles me why I was able to upload about a thousand photos a couple years ago, but I can't get to step one now. Very frustrating.

Best,
Michael

 
cooltouch

Joined: 2010-10-24
Posts: 28
Posted: Sun, 2013-09-22 20:47

Update:

I found the directory that contains faveicon.ico and apple.touch.icon.png. They are in a directory that contains only three files, the other one being logo.png. The directory is here: gallery3/lib/images . I also found the apple.touch.icon.png file in gallery3/themes/greydragon/images

I did find a file that looks to be a possibility under gallery3/modules/gallery/controllers

called admin_graphics.php. It contains:

page_title = t("Graphics settings"); $view->content = new View("admin_graphics.html"); $view->content->tk = graphics::detect_toolkits(); $view->content->active = module::get_var("gallery", "graphics_toolkit", "none"); print $view; } public function choose($toolkit_id) { access::verify_csrf(); if ($toolkit_id != module::get_var("gallery", "graphics_toolkit")) { $tk = graphics::detect_toolkits(); module::set_var("gallery", "graphics_toolkit", $toolkit_id); module::set_var("gallery", "graphics_toolkit_path", $tk->$toolkit_id->dir); site_status::clear("missing_graphics_toolkit"); $msg = t("Changed graphics toolkit to: %toolkit", array("toolkit" => $tk->$toolkit_id->name)); message::success($msg); log::success("graphics", $msg); } url::redirect("admin/graphics"); } }

I also found an "uploads" directory at gallery3/var/uploads that appears to contain copies of all the files I uploaded. This means that I have at least two copies of almost 1,000 files, or almost 2,000 image files altogether at my site. Is there any chance that the software could be balking because I have all these copies of my images in an uploads directory? Is it normal for gallery3 to keep a separate copy of an uploaded image in the /uploads directory? If so, why?

I was looking for that file listed above, "admin_graphics.html, hoping it might provide path clues, but couldn't find it in any of the directories or subdirectories. Of course, mostly I was just looking for the .html file extension so if gallery3 renamed it to a .php or something else I might not have seen it. An unproductive search, and I remain

Frustratedly yours,
Michael

 
floridave
floridave's picture

Joined: 2003-12-22
Posts: 27300
Posted: Sun, 2013-09-22 22:19

If you don't have any logs in the gallery3/var/logs directory for any day that the site was used I would suspect that the webserver can't write to the directory.
chmod +777 gallery3/var/ should do the trick if you have command line access. If you don't then your FTP cllient should have a setting for changing permissions of the directory 'recurcivly'. That means all files and all directories in the /var/ directory.

Dave

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cooltouch

Joined: 2010-10-24
Posts: 28
Posted: Mon, 2013-09-23 00:10

Thanks, floridadave, at least I know how to do chmod!

Well, I just got finished doing a chmod to gallery3/var and that seems to have unstuck things, so thanks, Dave! I notice also that "Add" appears now on the home page of my Gallery3, right next to Album Options and Admin. It didn't use to be there until just now. And I see now that it has the commands for adding photos or doint a server add. Which reminds me . . .

Hey, I got a quick question for you and I figure you're probably one of the best people to ask. I have one directory that has several subdirectories that is 100% images, almost all of which are .jpgs. I upload files to this directory or one of its subs so I'll have the file on the 'net so that I can use its url to post the image in various forums I subscribe to. Do you know of a simple utility I can use that will read all these files into it, so I can browse through them quickly? Right now, I'm having to load them into my browser, one at a time for viewing. I suppose I could just create a directory in Gallery3 and copy them into it, eh? I'd rather just have something that reads them where they sit, so I don't have to copy them all into a new directory. I have easily several hundred image files in this directory. probably more.

Thanks!

Best,
Michael

 
floridave
floridave's picture

Joined: 2003-12-22
Posts: 27300
Posted: Mon, 2013-09-23 02:03
Quote:
one directory that has several subdirectories that is 100% images,

I would create a special album in G3, browse to that album and use the server add method to add those items to G3. You can configure the server add method to have more than one location to look at.

If you want to automate it there is the http://codex.galleryproject.org/Gallery3:Modules:folder_sync but i have never used it.

As for posting stuff from G3 into forums: http://codex.galleryproject.org/Gallery3:Modules:embedlinks

Dave
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