Can't link inside my own site

[Evelyna]

I reset everything but it's the avatars people uploaded themselves that appear to be missing.  I left instructions on how to upload them on the front page (although that may just be me being over protective since they would have had to upload them the first time, but then again better more than less information:  as a rule!).

You guys have been great thanks.  I've checked out the portal thingie, it really is worth looking at.  Chalk Cat your aspie bubble is great, thanks for sharing it.

I have five domain names, so there may not be a problem right now, but I'm intrigued so I might just experiment with it.

[kat]

Have a look at Avatars>Settings. Check the paths, there.

The "Avatars directory" is often something weird, like /home/sitename/public_html/avatars

[Evelyna]

All the paths point to the directory avatars.  Everyone except one person has already uploaded a new one.  The one left looks like a valid one but the picture doesn't come up next to his name (only the white x in a black box).  I can't open the files though so I can't see what the pictures are.  They are stored in the attachment directory.

Can I look at them with a picture viewer?  So far nothing will open them.  I tried to look at mine, but it had no extension.  I name it .png, but it would have none of that.

So, at least some of the avatar files came with, they just can't be opened?

[Kindred]

hmmm....

http://godsloveandgraceforum.org/forum/index.php?topic=18.0
currently shows the avatars to me... for Jeff and VineBranch
http://godsloveandgraceforum.org/forum/index.php?topic=8.15
for Jeff and VineBranch and Randy

[Evelyna]

Yes, those guys redid their avatars after the move.  There was one guy who hasn't been there since the move and his avatar is listed, but not showing:  LongShadows.

thanks for checking.

[Chalky]

Thanks for your comments about AB 

Just a thought, did you use FileZilla to transfer your avatars and attachments at some point?  If you use FileZilla on its default setting it can corrupt those files, which would explain why you're only able to view avatars added after the move.  See here for more information http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=374178.0

[kat]

You can view the files, if you download them and open them with a program called "Irfanview". It'll even offer to put the correct extension, there, if you wanted to do that.

[Evelyna]

Thanks for your comments about AB 

Just a thought, did you use FileZilla to transfer your avatars and attachments at some point?  If you use FileZilla on its default setting it can corrupt those files, which would explain why you're only able to view avatars added after the move.  See here for more information http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=374178.0

Yes, I use FileZilla for all ftp jobs.  Do you think I should another one then?  But the transfer is complete now, so I guess it would be a waste of time.

[Evelyna]

You can view the files, if you download them and open them with a program called "Irfanview". It'll even offer to put the correct extension, there, if you wanted to do that.

That's a blast from the past.  I remember Iview from years ago.  Thanks.

I think I get your mantra:  backup, backup, backup, and then backup some more.  I think I got it.

[Chalky]

Filezilla is fine to use as long as you uncheck the box in transfer settings to "treat files without extensions as ASCII files".  If this box has been checked all along then your avatars and attachments were probably broken the first time you used FZ to move them.  Do you have an instance of these folders anywhere that wasn't passed through FZ?  If so you can salvage them from there, otherwise I'm afraid they are probably irreversibly corrupted and your members will need to re-upload their avatars.

[kat]

Some say that that Filezilla bug doesn't affect graphic files. But, it sure has, when I've used it.

You can fix it, as Chalky described, or go to the Transfers menu and set Transfer Type to "binary", not "auto", which is the default.

[Evelyna]

You can view the files, if you download them and open them with a program called "Irfanview". It'll even offer to put the correct extension, there, if you wanted to do that.

Not even Iview will view them.  I got an error message from it as well.

[Evelyna]

Filezilla is fine to use as long as you uncheck the box in transfer settings to "treat files without extensions as ASCII files".  If this box has been checked all along then your avatars and attachments were probably broken the first time you used FZ to move them.  Do you have an instance of these folders anywhere that wasn't passed through FZ?  If so you can salvage them from there, otherwise I'm afraid they are probably irreversibly corrupted and your members will need to re-upload their avatars.

I don't unfortunately.  I thought I was protecting the files by putting them through FZ instead of just moving them.  I was afraid I would loose or corrupt the files if I didn't go through and ftp program.  (Insert comment about naïve newbies here)

[Evelyna]

Some say that that Filezilla bug doesn't affect graphic files. But, it sure has, when I've used it.

You can fix it, as Chalky described, or go to the Transfers menu and set Transfer Type to "binary", not "auto", which is the default.

Thank you; I checked binary.  I fear this is a case of closing the barn door after horse has fled however.

Oh well, next time.

[kat]

I really can't understand why the Filezilla guys haven't fixed this. I remember reading, somewhere, that they don't even consider it to BE a bug.

Weird.

[Arantor]

They don't consider it to be a bug. They feel it is appropriate behaviour - apparently SMF's in the wrong for doing what it does.

[kat]

**Blank look**

Surely, this affects all files, for all applications, not just SMF?

I've seen a lot of discussion, about this, on the Filezilla forum, with regard to all sorts of things.

Educate me, here, can you? If "binary" was the default setting, surely ALL files would transfer accurately and consistently, wouldn't they?

[Arantor]

Nope, most applications don't bother to obfuscate filenames the way SMF does.

If binary was the default setting, all files would transfer accurately. Slower, too, due to the way binary mode.

The argument made is that it's a convenience thing for the most part, because most of the time when you're dealing with FTP, most files that are on remote servers that you're actually touching via FTP will actually be text files (it is, for example, long since convention in Linux circles to have packages with README and LICENSE files without any extension, and all uppercase names)

And in that situation you do actually want the end of line shifting from 'whatever the server has' to 'whatever's locally in use', though that's far less of an issue with editors like Notepad++ that can just handle whatever the file is.

I can see their argument for it not being a bug, weaksauce as it is.

[kat]

So, it's one of those "You're buggered, if you do-You're buggered, if you don't" things.

I get it. **Shock! Horror!**

[Arantor]

Well, if SMF were to actually include a default extension that isn't on the standard list of 'should generally be ASCII files', this wouldn't be a problem.