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    • Image Gallery software overview

    1. Overview
      1. Find an image gallery application for the Sao Tome group to use, allowing the locals on the island to document their photonarratives.
    2. Initial research
      1. Found seven possible options:
        1. Zenphoto (www.zenphoto.org)
          1. installed on OpenSUSE and Ubuntu (needed to install flash player for multiupload function), managed to get fully operational
          2. requires LAMP server & GUI MySQL administration tool
          3. rich feature set, including tagging, commenting, dynamic galleries
          4. had to edit css files to turn commenting features on
          5. issues with size and legibility of CAPTCHA on commenting form
        2. Camera Life (http://fdcl.sourceforge.net/index.php)
          1. installed successfully on Ubuntu but not OpenSUSE, with a bit of difficulty
          2. requires LAMP server & GUI MySQL administration tool
          3. not very feature-rich; meant more for personal than community use
        3. Gallery (http://gallery.menalto.com/features)
          1. did not try out
        4. Plogger (http://www.plogger.org/)
          1. did not try out
        5. phpGraphy (http://www.phpgraphy.org/)
          1. did not recommend, had lingered in v0.9 for well over a year with no updates
        6. phTagr (http://www.phtagr.org/)
          1. did not recommend, minimal documentation on website
        7. SPGM (http://spgm.sourceforge.net/)
          1. did not recommend, would have required downloading additional code plugins for full functionality
    3. Security considerations
      1. All packages were filled with security holes of varying severity.
      2. Most weren’t secured against malicious php code
      3. possible countermeasures:
        1. secure apache htaccess file against malicious .gif files:
          • <Files images>
            deny from all
            </Files>
        2. possibly filter code through perl script, using perl’s “taint” mode (see http://gunther.web66.com/FAQS/taintmode.html for further info on taint mode)
          • much more complex solution than likely possible for an intro-level class
          • requires someone with high competency in both php and perl
      4. General thoughts
        1. Most software found was optimized for single-user or few-user environments, not the multi-user conditions of Flickr or other commercial image servers.
        2. Might be better served developing a Drupal-based gallery environment instead, using Drupal’s greater code security and flexibility.
          • Higher learning curve with Drupal, lacks gallery software’s plug-n-play ease of use