Install problem – Directory structure

[DouglasParticipant]

Pardon me if I have missed something in the documentation about the directory structure which should be created but I couldn’t find anything.

WooCommerce (downgraded to 2.4.12 as specified) and Symbiostock 2.1.14 installed direct from WP repository. Symbiostock directory structure from wp-content/plugins/ and GD lib active.

If I try to upload an image via web browser, nothing is uploaded and there is nothing for the processor to process.

The …/ss_media/new/ directory specified for FTP upload has not been created in the installation. I created it manually and uploaded test (JPEG) images and ran the processor. It extracted the EXIF data fine but did not create thumbnails so the catalogue page displays without the image (kinda important). It ran through to populate Memory at End so I presume it didn’t fall over processing the images.

Can I set up the directories manually or is there some obvious setting I need to change before running the installation again?

Thanks
Douglas

[DouglasParticipant]

Hi George

Thanks for the response.

That’s exactly the problem. There SHOULD be an ss-media directory there but there was not one created by the install procedure. I created one myself and FTP’d images to it but clearly, as the processor parsed those images, and got the EXIF tags, but did not create the thumbnails, there is a sub-directory structure needed also.

That’s why I was wondering if I could create the directory structure manually or, alternatively, if there are some obvious changes I need to make before running the installation again.

Douglas

[DouglasParticipant]

Thanks, George.

Either there are more directories which have not been created by the install (I manually set up ss_media with /new and /tmp below) or there is something more fundamental with my server setup.

The cron job parses the images but does not create a thumbnail so the catalogue page shows only the EXIF data (and the JPEG images stay in /new). Even trying to upload a thumbnail directly does not change this. There is plenty memory but I tried with a small JPEG to be certain and the result was the same.

BTW, loved your Hershey Rollercoaster pics!

[RobinKeymaster]

Hi Douglas,

Symbiostock checks to make sure all the associated directories exist nearly every time you access the admin page – if the directories are not being created, it is most likely a permissions issue with your hosting that is preventing PHP from creating directories. This is highly atypical but I cannot think of any other possibility.

Add this to one of your plugins:

wp_mkdir_p(trailingslashit(ABSPATH).’tester/’);

If you then check and do not see a ‘tester’ dir in your root directory, then your PHP install is not creating directories properly. You may have a permission issue on that base root directory.

[RobinKeymaster]

Also remember to fix those single quotes so they look normal when you cut and paste it.

[DouglasParticipant]

Thanks Robin.

The mkdir confirmed that the install was being prevented from creating directories. It was more than just write permissions though. So here’s the scoop for anyone else encountering the problem. PHP scripts run by default with user ‘nobody’. As the files are owned by my username, PHP is unable to write to them or modify them. The solution is a script wrapper allowing the files to run under a real username. I used SuEXEC so that instead of using the Apache default, PHP files are executed using CGI.

So installation works, files are uploadable through the browser, files are parsed and thumbnails are generated. All good news. The permalink to the image generated works but, for now, the image is not displayed on the public view of the site 🙁 The only limitation of using CGI for PHP I am aware of is the inability to send custom headers to the browser but can’t imagine why custom headers would be used here.

[DouglasParticipant]

Woops! Yes, image is there – a question of patience (and clearing the cache)

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