Thumbnails with 1and1 servers

Hi all,

For those that have their Gallery2 hosted with 1and1.com, you've probably run into a problem with your thumbnails not generating properly. It took some time but i found a solution that works. You most only use ImageMagick to process images on the server. However, 1and1 does not provide the binaries so you must install them yourself. Below are the instructions provided by 1and1 support to get ImageMagick installed on your server.

To install ImageMagik, first log in to your server with SSH. From the command line
first download and unzip the source:
wget ftp://ftp.imagemagick.org/pub/ImageMagick/ImageMagick.tar.gz
tar -xzvf ImageMagick.tar.gz

Change into the ImageMagik source directory (this represents the version number as
of this writing):

cd ImageMagick-6.2.5

The following commands will install ImageMagik into your home directory.
--without-perl and --without-ttf will disable perl and TrueType support; without
these switches the install will fail. /path/to/your/htdocs/im should be replaced
with the actual path to your home directory, and the last part, im, can be changed
to anything. The command "pwd" will tell you the present working directory.

./configure --prefix=/path/to/your/htdocs/im --without-perl --without-ttf
make
make install

When these steps are completed ImageMagik will be installed in your home directory.
Please note that since this is a non-standard location, you may have to modify the
configuration of other programs that use it so that they can find it. Any
executables will also not be on the default executable search path.

Hope this helps all that have had similar problems.

Do you have the a package that supports SSH?
http://faq.1and1.com/scripting_languages_supported/ssh_secure_shell/2.html

At the time I posted the above information, 1and1 didn't provide the support for installing ImageMagick. I would suggest contacting 1and1's support and see if they can help you (it's free).

Post your results if you get it working.

I have the developer account as well. I was never able to get the GD Image Toolkit working. I only got it working using ImageMagick. You can check out my site at www.darylgodkin.com/gallery/

Let me know what part of the configuration you're looking for.

I finally found another thread on this issue that seems to fix the problem:
http://gallery.menalto.com/node/56143

It looks like recent versions of ImageMagick don't work on 1and1 servers. Try an older version 6.2.3 through 6.2.7 seem to work for the guys in the other thread.

SP

Misc Findings:
We host with 1&1 and have their Business package.

ImageMagick-6.3.3.tar.gz gave the bad return code. Is the bad return code problem specific to 1&1? I saw that 6.2.7 had known exploits, per Gallery2 2.2.1, thus my interest. Let me know if you want me to phone 1&1 support with specific questions, or...

It was commented that up to version 6.2.7 was found to be working, so I adjusted the URL above to fetch...
wget http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/imagemagick/ImageMagick-6.2.7-1.tar.gz
-2 was not a valid file on that mirror, so maybe there was just one release.

I had only NetPBM enabled, so up'ed the priority on ImageMagick. I uploaded a test pic, it correctly generated the resize pic and thumbnail pic... I would assume from the steps I performed that ImageMagick actually did the manipulations.

All this I did after upgrading Gallery from 2.1.2 to 2.2.1

I still am choosing not to re-enabled the Gd package! ;-)

6.2.7-1 compiled from the tar.gz at the URL in my previous post.

Thanks,
Michael

Yes, I can confirm it.
ImageMagick 6.3.4 works fine on Linux with G2.
I've just compiled it on my dreamhost account.
I've disabled all other toolkits, uploaded a new photo, rotated it etc. All is fine. And I wouldn't expect anything else.

The problem has always been only reported by 1&1 users.

Some system information:

PHP version = 5.2.1 cgi-fcgi
Webserver = Apache/2.0.54 (Unix) PHP/4.4.4 mod_ssl/2.0.54 OpenSSL/0.9.7e mod_fastcgi/2.4.2 DAV/2 SVN/1.3.2
Database = mysqli 5.0.24a-standard-log, lock.system=flock
Toolkits = Dcraw, ArchiveUpload, Exif, Ffmpeg, ImageMagick
Acceleration = none, none
Operating system = Linux crystallight 2.4.29-grsec+w+fhs6b+gr0501+nfs+a32+++p4+sata+c4+gr2b-v6.189 #1 SMP Mon Feb 7 13:23:30 PST 2005 i686

and imagemagicm 6.3.4 compiled from source with these options:
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/KB_/_Web_Programming_/_Do_you_support....%3F_/_ImageMagick

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Documentation: Support / Troubleshooting | Installation, Upgrade, Configuration and Usage

I just spent several days installing Gallery2 (I am not guru) on 1and1 server to now find it is causing about 1 out of ever 8 photos to have broken thumbnails. Can I take a copy of ImageMagic and FTP it to my 1and1.com family account? I can't justify spending the money for a business SSH account just to fix my photo album. THANKS!

I just spent several days installing Gallery2 (I am no guru) on my 1and1 server to now find it is causing about 1 out of every 8 photos to have broken thumbnails. My version is 2.3 What can I do?

I tried both the methods for upping the php memory outlined in this forum and both of them failed, giving me a 404 error. I then thought it over and wondered what the memory was actually set for. Sure enough this information can be extracted from a test file so I copied a file from the php site "phpinfo.php" and ran it in my webspace. I am glad my changes didn't work because I now see the 1and1 websites have the memory_limit set by default to 40M. So that's not the problem according to the speculation that memory was the issue.

It appears the only graphics tools are that installed by default on 1and1 are Gd and NetPBM. Does everyone believe that Imagemagik will fix the problem? Can I just take someone's copy of ImageMagic and FTP it to my 1and1.com family account, since I don't have SSH? I can't justify spending the money for a business SSH account but these thumbnails could be a show stopper for me. THANKS!

P.S. Update: I just found the Site Admin, Maintenance, Rebuild thumbnails option that takes care of around 97% of the broken thumbnails, but a few still exist. Any ideas?

P.P.S. This is just the most fabulous method of displaying photos that I have ever seen and I am so excited to get it working so well on my first try!!!!!!!!

Note to 1and1 users, yes it is pretty easy to install, well let me clarify that, the 8th time you install it, it is very easy . I later found I had a problem where my browser cache was causing a screen to display showing a lot of plug-ins were not installed when in reality they were installed. Not knowing this up front, I kept deleting and re-installing Gallery2 only to find out that my browser's "temporary storage" needed clearing. After that, everything went without a hitch, and is on the low budget 1and1 server without SSH. A miracle! (Having tried to install software before on Linux hosted servers and failing many times, I can't say enough about the effort the developers have made to create an install process that is easier than windows!)

As a side note on installation, I will offer this piece of advice to 1and1 users, when it comes time for the database, go to the MySQL Database icon on the control panel and click the request for the 5.x.x version of MySQL. You will only be asked for the name of the database when you start the procedure on the control panel. This is used for reference only and you can use anything, i.e. Gallery2

You will see a screen with everything you need to input into the Gallery2 install sequence:

1and1 name       (value)        Gallery2 Name * (read below)

Database name    xxxxxx         DB Name
    Host name    xxxxxx         DB Hostname
         Port    xxxxxx         (not used)
    User name    xxxxxx         DB Username
     Password    xxxxxx         DB Password
  Description    Gallery2       (not used on the Gallery2 side)
      Version    MySQL5.0       (not used on the Gallery2 side)
       Status    setup started

* don't be fooled when the Gallery install panel comes up with the name "Gallery2"
in one of the fields (I can't remember which one) but you have to remove the word
Gallery2 from the MySQL data that Gallery2 install shows you and you need to enter
what the 1and1 panel shows.

(Sorry for the partial double post but I think this was a click in your sleep incident working on this at 3AM!)

Turns out I have been talking offline with a member here. Found him via a round-about way, but it ends up he is also one of the ones posting here, so small world or not, I suppose, as far as the web goes. Me: I am retired and just want a place to put my photos where I have some control over them, the sizes that display, etc. Again, KodakGallery is now "out of the picture" for me and my family.

I got Gallery2 all installed on my 1and1 account but now I have a problem. My problem is that I don't know Linux that well; however I can FTP and base commands. In fact I just bought a little box called a LinkSys NSLU2 that I am using to learn elementary Linux on so I am not here just freeloading, I am trying to learn. I am also retired and don't have a great deal of money to spend; that is why I have been searching now for 2 days trying to find a way to economically install and use ImageMagick with Gallery2, as after 2 days of research I also belive this is what I need to resolve my broken thumbnail problem. But I would like to stay in the low cost 1and1.com web package area that is economical if possible (but those lower price packages have no SSH).

I read so many posts these past couple of days. I'll assume for the moment that SSH is absolutely required to install ImageMagick. Does anyone know if I can upgrade to the level at 1and1.com that has SSH, install ImageMagick, then downgrade back to my Beginner package and if ImageMagick will continue to work after I do that?

The SSH account doesn't fit into this retired gueezer's budget.

I disabled the square thumbnails feature and haven't seen a broken thumbnail since (1and1 cheapest account).