By ur2mybud on

I have searched the forums for the past two days and I just want to post a situation to be sure that I'm doing things correctly to make user pictures show up in profiles and blog posts. First off, I've installed Drupal 4.6.4 using Fantastico scripts. Now, I want to list the following situation to make sure I'm on the right path.

If-

authenticated users can access files,
file system path in set to: files (in the admin-->settings),
picture support is enabled in the admin-->users-->configure (as pictures or pictures/),

and if-

I've right-click on the text box where the picture is supposed to be to check the properties, and it appears that its pointing to the right location. http://mandrakesociety.com/digitalBlack/files/pictures,

then,

Do I need to create a specific taxonomy to make the pictures appear on the site? NOTE: I do not see the word "image" anywhere in my access control or settings menu.

Thank you for assistance.

⋅ Categories: Drupal 4.6.x

Comments

thinkinkless’s picture

thinkinkless commented

I looked at the source code of your user page here:
http://mandrakesociety.com/digitalBlack/?q=user/2
The code to display the image looks right but when i try to view the file directly via:
http://mandrakesociety.com/digitalBlack/files/pictures/picture-2.jpg

the following error prints:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /digitalBlack/files/pictures/picture-2.jpg on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

I remember having similar issues when first using drupal.
try these steps:

- check the file dir on your server (/digitalBlack/files/pictures/) to see if the image actually exists there. if not, adjust your paths until the upload works.
- check the permissions on the pictures directory to make sure it's readable.

hope this helps!

ur2mybud’s picture

ur2mybud commented

My permissions are set at 755, and the picture is indeed there (at when I look at it through my FTP extention), however I, too, got the same Forbidden script when I tried http://mandrakesociety.com/digitalBlack/files/pictures/picture-2.jpg

What so funny about this, is that I know, like most things, there is gonna be something so simple to trigger these pictures to come up that I'll smack myself that I didn't see it sooner.

Thanks again for your help in sorting this out.

thinkinkless’s picture

thinkinkless commented

hmmmm....
next thing i'd check is the setting on public (vs) private for download method in /admin/settings

someone please correct me if i'm wrong but my understanding of this is:

-public download method means the files dir is inside the web dir
-private means it's outside (usually at root for a shared server)

since your files appear to be in the web directory check to make sure your download method is not set to private.

i remember something like this happening to me on my first install.

you can also chmod files and pictures to 777 and see if that makes a difference.

venkat-rk’s picture

venkat-rk commented

someone please correct me if i'm wrong but my understanding of this is:

-public download method means the files dir is inside the web dir
-private means it's outside (usually at root for a shared server)

Well, Styro has spent a lot of time on these forums educating drupal users about this, but an understanding still eludes me.

My download method is set to private, but the 'files' folder is at www.domain.com/drupal-install/files and not www.domain.com/files. Wish someone could explain why.

By 'root' do you mean the users home directory on a shared server or the root of the server itself? I don't think hosting companies gives access to the latter.

wellsy’s picture

wellsy commented

that the image is in the location yet?

If the image is not there that will be the problem....I just got the same thing now.

Try to ftp to the files/pictures directory and see if the image is actually there.....double check the file name as well. It may be spelt slightly differently.

wellsy

orchidsonline.com.au

ur2mybud’s picture

ur2mybud commented

Thanks, thinkinkless. My setting are public. I'm cautious of 777 for security reasons, but I'll try it.

Thanks also to wellsy. In FTP files/pictures, all is spelled correctly.

Keeping my head down in the keyboard,

ur2mybud

wellsy’s picture

wellsy commented

I think you will find that is the problem. If the image cannot be viewed using the correct url it has to be a permissions issue.

From other discussions here you may find that 777 is not so dangerous as others would have you believe. (especially hosting techs)

Mind you I am not a linux guru...just read some stuff here on the forums recently.

wellsy

orchidsonline.com.au

ur2mybud’s picture

ur2mybud commented

Unfortunately, chmod to 777 did not work either, and I did log in as well--just make sure the pictures weren't tied to whether or not you're logged in.

Like I said, I know there's gotta be something simple to this. I can feel it.

wellsy’s picture

wellsy commented

uploading a new image to the files/pictures location via ftp and then try to access that image via the url

http://mandrakesociety.com/digitalBlack/files/pictures/your_image.jpg

If you cannot access that image....well it has me stuffed but it surely must be a permissions issue. If you can access the new image then try deleting the (picture-2.jpg) image and manually uploading it (picture-2.jpg)

See if that is able to be displayed via the url http://mandrakesociety.com/digitalBlack/files/pictures/picture-2.jpg

If it is the upload module must be the problem.

wellsy

orchidsonline.com.au

ur2mybud’s picture

ur2mybud commented

the extension is: http://mandrakesociety.com/digitaldrums now

wellsy’s picture

wellsy commented

page not found now....have you changed anything?

Did you try another image upload?

wellsy

orchidsonline.com.au

thinkinkless’s picture

thinkinkless commented

I know how frustrating this can be!
Good for you for hanging in there.

I just thought of something else - i hope this will fix it.

Your install is not at root (eg digitaldrums.com) so you have to set your file paths differently. If i remember correctly you need to use the full server path.
example on linux /usr/www/usr/mysite/digitaldrums/files/
vs
digitaldrums/files/

A good way to test this is by setting a custom logo in your theme and getting that to show up first.
-> admin/themes/settings/bluemarine

ur2mybud’s picture

ur2mybud commented

So, thinkinkless, just to make sure I understand you correctly...should my path be set at something like my ftp this:

http://mandrakesociety.com/digitaldrums/files/pictures/picture-2.jpg

Here's how my ftp states it, here without the inclusion of my ip address:

ftp://(ip-address)/public_html/digitaldrums/files/pictures/picture-2.jpg

Ftp wise, it points right to the pic. The first link does not. Hmm.

Still scratching and trying :-)

thinkinkless’s picture

thinkinkless commented

it's most likely not the same as the ftp path.

i did a whois on your domain and your hosting company's knowledgebase says this:

Problem: What is the absolute path to my folder?
Solution: The path to your folder on the server would be:
/home/username/
Where "username" would be your username assigned when you signed up with Bluehost.

...so in admin/settings
try: /home/username/digitaldrums/files
for your File system path (replacing names as necessary)

ur2mybud’s picture

ur2mybud commented

thinkinkless and wellsy, thanks immensely for helping me work this out. What I did was to take the same path that Drupal images were in; misc. So instead of 'files/pictures', for me--it's 'misc/picture-2'

I really appreciate all your time in helping me in this.

Be well.

http://www.digitaldrums.net

venkat-rk’s picture

venkat-rk commented

What I did was to take the same path that Drupal images were in; misc. So instead of 'files/pictures', for me--it's 'misc/picture-2'

Glad you were able to work it out, but it's strange that the path is misc/picture-2. In my 4.6 install, the 'images' and 'pictures' folders are both under files. Is your download method set to public or private?

Just trying to understand.

ur2mybud’s picture

ur2mybud commented

My download is set to public, however when I went to 'files/pictures', it (user image) just wasn't working, period. You see, I installed my Drupal with Fantastico (it's in my Cpanel) and while that does make things easy, I believe that bits of the software are clipped for some reason. Thus, you have to find (or create) work-arounds.

Clear? Or clear as mud?

venkat-rk’s picture

venkat-rk commented

Clear!

I think it has something to do with the fantastico install, as you pointed out.

keesee’s picture

keesee commented

I installed 4.6.5 and am having the same problem. Looking for a work around. :)

mightypile’s picture

mightypile commented

I want to add my experience in hopes of helping others.

I had trouble with my Drupal installation (Fantastico-based) where I would select an avatar, upload it, and everything went well, but I never saw the avatar. I always just got the text "ALT" tag instead. I verified the files were there, exactly where I thought they were. I noticed that every time I tried to bring up a user's page, I'd get a 403 error, indicating that it may be a permission problem. After ensuring that the folders "/files" and "/pictures" were both readable to the world, I tried again, but with the same results. Still no avatars. Everything worked flawlessly all along the process, but in the end the pictures never showed.

In admin/settings, I changed Download Method from public to private, and that did the trick. Letting Drupal fetch the files rather than apache seemed to fix the problem.

I previously assumed that I could enter the direct url of the picture and just get the picture to show up by itself in my browser. But I was wrong. I now assume that with url rewriting on, apache defers to drupal or something to find the files. With url rewriting off, public may work again, but I haven't tested this. I noticed in testing that by creating a new folder at the root of my site called "/somepics" and putting the same avatar files there, I could refer to them all over my site and have the pictures show up with no problem. This, too, points to the possibility that url rewriting may hijack apache's file lookup for particular folders.

Good luck,
-Mike

aoegamers.com’s picture

aoegamers.com commented

I had this same problem and changed from public to private and it worked. Interesting.

keesee’s picture

keesee commented

My issue was that for some reason seever permission for images/files folder were reseting, pulling public access rights.

Reset perms by hand on /files and the containg images folder and we are good to go.

Jimmy R. Keesee [CorpX]

aburda’s picture

aburda commented

I just want to add that I lost a whole day addressing this F&$#ing problem and that this solved it. Thus far I like the way drupal is setup in comparison to Joomla, but this has already made those positive things leave a slightly sour taste in my mouth.....well thats that, I'll keep plugging at drupal, if its good enough for the onion....it sure must be better than Joomla.

Aaron

josie’s picture

josie commented

omg!!!!!! wow. I was seriously going to cry over this.. lol after hours of searching i find this thread and you are a life savor!!!!.. but it's so weird. my animiated icons dont animate.......weird.

Darknesss’s picture

Darknesss commented

I was getting a similar issue here...

Avatars were not showing, only the alternate text and link to the user profile.
Trying to access the picture directly gave me an internal server error (500).

I tried changing the permissions but they were not being applied for some reason.

Then I noticed that when I removed the .htaccess from the files directory (containing the pictures directory) it suddenly worked, so it looked like something unsupported in the .htaccess file

when commenting out this line in .htaccess:
Options None

It also started working without having to remove the .htaccess file in the files directory