Zgal Gallery Generator Version 1.8

What is Zgal ???

Zgal is a free perlscript that is able to generate a complete webpage with thumbnails from jpeg files. If you made some pictures with your digicam and want to publish them in the internet you need no longer to write endless boring html code and resize every thumbnail by hand.

What is Agal ???

Agal is a crappy php port of Zgal.
Take a look at http://agal.sourceforge.net !

Where to get the newest version ???

http://zgal.sourceforge.net
or search for "zgal" at www.freshmeat.net

System requirements

A linuxbox with perl ( www.perl.com )
Image-Magick, check for /usr/bin/convert ( ftp.simplesystems.org/pub/ImageMagick/ ) The Image::Size perl module ( http://www.perl.com/CPAN-local/modules/by-module/Image/RJRAY/ ) A graphical webbrowser

How to install zgal ???

tar xvfz zgal-1.8.tar.gz
cd zgal-1.8
become root ( " su root" )
./install-zgal.sh

Don't forget to install the perl module Image::Size

tar xvfz Image-Size-2.98.tar.gz
cd Image-Size-2.98

To build:

        perl Makefile.PL
        make && make test

If Image::Size passes all tests, then:

make install

Running zgal

Move into your picture_directory and type "zgal" zgal copies now the main configuration file "zgal.conf" in the current directory. "vi zgal.conf" and edit the gallery title, theme, Meta tags etc.. type "zgal" and you get the parameters. If you don't understand them, just type "zgal -start"

You want to add comments ?? No problem. "vi caption.txt"
and run afterwards "zgal -captions"
The old zgal_add_text.pl script does not work anymore.

options

-start

        Generates the complete webpage and creates thumbnails ( if they don't exist ).
        Java buttons are enabled.

-simple

        Creates thumbnails and the indexpage(s).
        Doesn't create a seperate html file for each picture.
        If you click on the thumbnail, it open the original picture in a new window.

-force Force thumbnail generation.

-nothumbs

The same like -start but it skips the thumbnail generation.

-notheme

Doesn't touch the theme files in theme/

-nojava

        Disables the javascript buttons.
        Not very usefull... but if you need it :o)

-captions

        Adds the captions from caption.txt to the html files.
        It doesn't touch the indexpage(s) and generates no webpages or thumbnails.

-nowget

        Disables the wget download script. This script is a simple URL list for
        the commandline download manager wget. Availiable for nearly every OS.

-rmbanners

        Shows a list of banner and popup-window blockers.
        Very usefull to remove advertisments from free webspace isps.

-fortune

        Banner blocker
        www.fortunecity.de  ( 100MB ) 
        Removes the popup-window by using a JavaScript.

-geo

        Banner blocker 
        www.geocities.com  ( 15MB )        
        Removes the advertisment by adding the following to the end of every html file: 
        <noscript><plaintext><table>

-vir

        Banner blocker
        www.virtualave.net ( 50MB, FTP-upload, CGI )
        Uses the <noscript><noscript><plaintext> trick.
        It works only with IE :-(

-prohost

        Banner blocker 
        www.free.prohosting.com ( 50MB, FTP-upload, CGI )
        Redefines the open() function.

-lycos

        Banner blocker
        www.lycos.de ( 50MB, FTP-upload, PHP4, MySQL )
        Uses the <noscript><noscript><plaintext> trick.
        It works only with IE :-(

-tripod

        Banner blocker
        www.tripod.com ( 50MB, CGI )
        Adds <noscript><body></body></noscript> after the <head> tag.

-noframe

        Banner blocker
        Frees your webpage from frames. Works with URL redirectors like www.dot.tk
        Useless for come.to and move.to
        Tip: www.dennis.de provides free redirections without ads.

-split

        Banner blocker
        Splits the gallery into 2 parts. You can store the html files on advertisment-free webspace
        and the Pictures, include the theme files on a sponsored webspace ( lycos,geocities etc.. ).
        Just add the URL of the "picture host" in zgal.conf
        Works with nearly every webspace.

FOUND BUGS ???

Please send me a short email with a description of your problem E-mail ::: znoopy2k [at] gmx dot net

KNOWN BUGS

Some older perlversions have problems with #/usr/bin/perl -X .
Some banner blockers work only with IE.
jpeg_resize.pl has problems with Mandrake. The Error msg is << "; file not found >>. Mail me if you know how to fix it !
Some perlversions can not handle "@" signs in the @rmbanner_vars. You can fix it by replacing it with "\@"

TODO

-learn to write english :-)
-more advertisment blockers for freewebspace providers -more themes ( Yes, you can help me ! )

TNX2

-Francesco Brisa ( Italy )
-Tom Messick
-John Todd