Instructions for installing ImageMagick for use with VBulletin. I used these steps to successfully install ImageMagick 6 on a Fedora 7 dedicated server with PHP 5.x and VBulletin 3.7 Gold.
ImageMagick is free software available from http://www.imagemagick.org – It will automatically create thumbnails and downsize uploads that exceed designated limits. I consider this a “must have” if you have a community that is active with uploads.
The other option in VBulletin 3.7 is GD – but my understanding is that GD does not work with PHP 5.x – so ImageMagick it is.
You will need:
- A dedicated server with root access
- Latest tar.gz file of ImageMagick from http://www.imagemagick.org
From Root Control Panel:
- Type: mkdir /home/directorynameofchoice
- Type: cd /home/directoryyoujustmade
- Most instructions tell you to use the “get” command but I don’t recommend it. I ended up with an outdated version of ImageMagick. Had to uninstall and start all over. Get the tar.gz file directly from the ImageMagick.org website, upload it to the folder you created and untar it. If you don’t have a handy untar command you can Type: tar xvzf ImageMagick-yourversionnumber.tar.gz
- Type: cd ImageMagick-versionnumberyoujustuntarred
- Type: ./configure
- Type: make
- Type: make install
- Type: cd PerlMagick
- Type: perl Makefile.PL
- Type: make
- Type: make install
FOR VBULLETIN USERS
- Go to ACP – VBulletin Options -Image Settings. Change to Image Magick and set location of bin. Should be same as instruction in VBulletin panel.
- Go to Maintenance – Counters. Update counters of all three image sections (avatars, custom avatars, thumbnails).
This worked perfect for me. Thumbnails are now created on the fly and oversized images are scaled down.
Let me know how this works for you.