Gallery needs a PHP bug workaround.

foodini

Joined: 2005-03-21
Posts: 8
Posted: Mon, 2005-03-21 23:09

I've spent most of the day trying to get around an issue with installing gallery which shows the web client a 403 message and drops this into the apache log:

/gallery/setup/.htaccess pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable

I found that there is a PHP error for which there is a partial workaround, but it involves changing the configuration of your web server and recompiling. Needless to say, this is not an option for many of us.

The documentation on the error in question is at http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=1884.

I have contacted my administrator to see when it might be possible to get things changed and the reply came back referencing icicles on bealzebub's private bits.

The number of people posting questions on this issue would seem to indicate that it would be worth having gallery sidestep the issue. Is this pipedream territory and I'm going to have to try Exhibit Engine (which is going to involve installing a user-lever MySQL daemon?)

 
signe
signe's picture

Joined: 2003-07-27
Posts: 2322
Posted: Tue, 2005-03-22 00:21

FAQ Gallery:c.1

There are many reasons one might need to delete the .htaccess file, so it's unlikely (I might use the same icicles references) that we'll ever work around an obscure PHP bug. (I've never heard of anyone referencing said bug in the forums.)

 
foodini

Joined: 2005-03-21
Posts: 8
Posted: Tue, 2005-03-22 22:58

Maybe I mistook this to be the related to the pcfg_openfile issue that so many people have trying to install gallery. (A keyword search for pcfg_openfile brings up about 8-10 people with the same issue - I've also posted the same question in the last couple days.) For the moment, I've given up getting gallery to run - I'm afraid to run software with such a major issue that has remained unfixed for more than two years.

 
signe
signe's picture

Joined: 2003-07-27
Posts: 2322
Posted: Tue, 2005-03-22 23:11
foodini wrote:
I'm afraid to run software with such a major issue that has remained unfixed for more than two years.

So you're giving up on PHP entirely, then? It's not a Gallery issue... it's a PHP issue.

From the PHP bug you referenced:

Quote:
Submitted: 26 Jul 1999 3:30pm CEST

That's almost six years, now.

 
foodini

Joined: 2005-03-21
Posts: 8
Posted: Wed, 2005-03-23 18:39

I've had other php pages working fine for quite some time. From your feedback, it seems unlikely that the bug referenced is related in any way other than the symptom. So my original issues stand; 1) a solution to this issue needs to be found and 2) it needs to be documented prominantly in the install guide.

It doesn't seem to be a php/htaccess issue per se, as I now have another content--providing php/htaccess package up and running on my site that is doing everything I was expecting from gallery.