RN from 7.8 with Gallery2?

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 11:45 pm

Two questions about upgrading to RN from 7.8 patched.

First, I can't seen to find the downgrader tool that the "HOWtoInstall" says I need from NukeScripts. I also checked the nukescrpts archive on SourceForge and could not seem to locate it.

Secondly, I have an integrated Gallery2 module that uses my nuke user table. Will switching to RN effect that module? I have over 7 gigs worth of pictures that I really don't want to manually add, but I will if I have to. FOr that matter, I'm not tied to Gallery2 if their is an easier photo gallery mod that uses the nuke users.

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:04 am

I use Gallery 2 with Ravennuke There are some posts on here about modifications to the integration scripts that are needed but beyond that it generally works okay. I haven't looked in the last month but NukedGallery.net where the integration software is supported (or not) has been mostly dead in the water for quite some time. I have posted my fixes to the integration software in a RN context there also.

I wasn't aware that Gallery actually uses the Nuke users table. I'm not sure that's true ... there is a step to import your Nuke users to Gallery but I don't know exactly what that does. I was assuming that Gallery uses its own table(s) but I have never looked to verify that.

Longer run and bigger picture I'm not sure that the current Gallery integration approach is the way to go. This is a similar issue to what we've experienced with PHPBB2 and 3. If I look at my Gallery running standalone versus the integrated version, the standalone "looks" much better because the appropriate stylesheets are automatically included whereas in the integrated version ... well it is a hack. Gallery is an enormously complicated and capable piece of software and unless you have someone who knows its internals and is also committed to supporting the integration the results are going to be less than completely satisfactory. As they are now.

Others can speak to alternative packages better than I.

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:20 am

Thanks for your insights. Actually, now that you mention it, you're right about the user tables. It imports them automatically after the initial set-up. You're also dead on about the stylesheets. I had to do some intensive modification and I've never been entirely satisfied with the result. So, maybe the answer for this time is to attempt to convert the current installation to RN and if the doesn't work, perhaps then look at an alternative.

As for my first question, reverting is still the way to start the RN conversion (upgrade), sense I can't find the downgrader tool mentioned in the "HowtoInstall", is this something I can do manually by undoing the DB changes that were in the upgrades 76-77 and 77-78?

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:54 am

The best way to tackle this would probably be to install RavenNuke (tm) in a seperate directory, take a dump of the final DB (structure only - not data) and then us a tool like mysqlDiff to compare the physically differences between the structure of your two database and it should give you a page of the changes you'll need to make or it can perform the changes for you.
** Remember to keep a back up **

If your database is really, really big, and your hosting providers control panel times out when performing a back-up, you can use a tool like BigDump.
Both these tools are easy to install and use, just take your time, don't cut corners and with a bit of patience, it is a relatively painless process - just takes a bit of time as it's not a 5 minute job.

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:27 pm

After all the script kiddies in Russia found my site Friday, I'm looking forward to the increased security. I put this site together several years ago and really neglected some of things I shouldn't have sence the magority of my users are tech handicapped (many of them by their own admission).

Somehow these kiddies have found a way actually make a legit email confirmation in order to post their spam... I've answered by banning entire Class C networks in eastern europe, but that isn't going to last forever and it too time consuming.

Thanks again for the help! I'm sure I'll have more questions once I get started on the path you have drawn out for me. worship

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:36 pm

I still can't seem to find the downgrader that is supposed to be on NukeScripts, but I was able to manually transfer some of the most important tables to my test installation (a task that wasn't much fun). Luckily, Gallery2 should integrate without much work from the look of it. The challenge will be getting the stylesheet just right.