500 error on start (gone through FAQ)

Alright, trying to install Gallery 3 - technically, re-install, I had it working previously but redid everything on my server.

After uploading everything, preparing my SQL database and users, chmodding the upload dir, going to the root gallery folder brings up a 500 Internal Server Error. I was able to go directly to the /installer/ folder and complete the install to the point where it gives the startup admin password, but going to the root gallery folder always returns the 500 error.

I've looked through the stuff, my PHP is configured, short_open_tag is on, php_mbstring.dll is uncommented.

Server specs are using PHP 5.3, MySQL 5.5.32, Debian platform. Never had a problem with other things (including earlier Gallery3 installs)...

Thanks

What I got was:

<p>This PHP CGI binary was compiled with force-cgi-redirect enabled. This
means that a page will only be served up if the REDIRECT_STATUS CGI variable is
set, e.g. via an Apache Action directive.</p>
<p>For more information as to <i>why</i> this behaviour exists, see the <a href="http://php.net/security.cgi-bin">manual page for CGI security</a>.</p>
<p>For more information about changing this behaviour or re-enabling this webserver,
consult t
20140822T172743: REDACTED
<b>Security Alert!</b> The PHP CGI cannot be accessed directly.

Soo, what is the security risk of making this change? I see that it is commented out in the PHP 5.3 php.ini file...

For posterity, Gallery3 seems to be incompatible with PHP 5.3, which does not accept cgi.force_redirect at all. Reverting back to PHP 5.2 makes everything work well.

Unless you have some legacy apps you're protecting, you should ditch php5.3. Especially since you're already redoing the server config anyway. The rest of the (tech savvy) world is on 5.5 and prepping for 5.6. You should at least be using 5.4 (which is probably still the most used on the net right now) and definitely NOT 5.2. FWIW: 5.3 just reached end of life and 5.2 hasn't been supported for a long while now.

Being where you are now, I'd update G3 to the latest version (if you hadn't done so already), back it all up, and give php 5.4 or 5.5 a go.

That said, that error is normally the result of a config setting/mishap (eg shared host limitations where security disallows direct access). Since you seem to have direct access to the server, maybe you misconfigured something in PHP or Apache?

I'd love to give 5.5 a go, but I do not have direct access to my server and only 5.3 is supported by the host, so I'll just roll back to 5.2 and wait.