Media Gallery has many options to control the behavior, look and feel and integration with Geeklog. Most configuration options are available directly through the Media Gallery administration screens. There are a few options that are only available through Media Gallery's config.php configuration file.

This section will cover the required settings, for a detailed review of all the configuration options, see Media Gallery Administration.

Media Gallery must be told which graphics package to use and where the executable files are stored. Also, Media Gallery needs to know where it can create temporary files that are used during image upload and other image manipulation processes.

Media Gallery supports three different graphics packages:

• GD Libraries
• ImageMagick
• NetPBM

How you determine which package to use depends on your hosting environment and what type of media you plan to use in Media Gallery. Most hosting providers will have at least one of the supported packages installed. You may need to check with your provider's technical support to find which packages they support.

What image formats Media Gallery will support is dependent upon the graphics package that you. Here is a quick overview of the three supported image processing packages and their format support:

¹TIFF, TGA, and PSD images are converted to JPG format for the thumbnail and display images. The source (original) image is maintained in the native format and will be downloaded to the user upon selection since the browser cannot display these formats.

GD Libraries are compiled into PHP and do not require any additional path configuration. GD Libraries offer good performance and good graphic quality. This library supports a wide range of image types and is a good overall choice if available.

ImageMagick is an external set of programs. To use ImageMagick, you must know the directory where the executable programs are stored. Generally on a Unix/Linux based host, they are either in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin. Contact your host's technical support if you cannot locate the package in the standard location.

ImageMagick offers good performance and a wide range of image types. If you plan on support PSD (PhotoShop) files, or TGA (Targa) files, ImageMagick will be required for these media types.

NetPBM is another external set of programs. You must know the directory where the executable programs are stored to use NetPBM. NetPBM offers very good image quality, but it is generally much more memory intensive and slow to process.

Media Gallery needs to know where certain things are stored or where it can create temporary files. The most important paths are the Graphics Package Path and the Path to temporary directory.

Graphics Package path is required if you are using ImageMagick or NetPBM as your graphics package. If you are unsure of where these programs are stored, contact your host's technical support.

Path to Temporary Directory is where Media Gallery will create temporary files when processing uploads and performing other maintenance operations. This directory must exist and must be writable by the web server. By default, Media Gallery will try to use a temporary directory that was created when you installed Media Gallery. There should be no need to change this value.