[digiKam-users] How to easily maintain multiple databases on one machine?

Hey, I'm a graphics designer in the personal and professional field. I am currently maintaining multiple data sets, image libraries, with dozens if not hundreds of gigabytes of data. I recently started using digiKam to maintain one of my texture libraries, and have really grown to like it thanks to tagging and duplicate filtering. However this is only one set, which i use for my work, and thus need to keep separate from my personal libraries. Especially since it employs a different, non compatible, tagging style.

Now the solution for doing this with digiKam appears to be to create another database by changing the path in the options. However this is very inconvenient when needing to rapidly switch between several libraries a day/hour. It also does not cover the differences in tag configurations that i need. (Being able to tag via hotkey is great, but not feasible when switching databases.)

What is the solution for this? My initial thought was to pass a startup param with the path to an alternative config, which seems to (have been)/ be possible on Linux. But I've found no clear documentation on how to do it. I've also found no way of doing this on Windows, which is important to me since my workstation is required to run it.

Any ideas? Did i miss something?



[Maik Qualmann]

The use of different configuration files and databases also works without
problems in Windows. You can then create different desktop shortcuts and start
the digiKam with another config file. I'll describe in more detail tonight how
it's done.

Maik

Am Sonntag, 2. Juni 2019, 21:08:25 CEST schrieb [hidden email]:

> Hey, I'm a graphics designer in the personal and professional field. I am
> currently maintaining multiple data sets, image libraries, with dozens if
> not hundreds of gigabytes of data. I recently started using digiKam to
> maintain one of my texture libraries, and have really grown to like it
> thanks to tagging and duplicate filtering. However this is only one set,
> which i use for my work, and thus need to keep separate from my personal
> libraries. Especially since it employs a different, non compatible, tagging
> style.
>
> Now the solution for doing this with digiKam appears to be to create
> another database by changing the path in the options. However this is very
> inconvenient when needing to rapidly switch between several libraries a
> day/hour. It also does not cover the differences in tag configurations that
> i need. (Being able to tag via hotkey is great, but not feasible when
> switching databases.)
>
> What is the solution for this? My initial thought was to pass a startup
> param with the path to an alternative config, which seems to (have been)/
> be possible on Linux. But I've found no clear documentation on how to do
> it. I've also found no way of doing this on Windows, which is important to
> me since my workstation is required to run it.
>
> Any ideas? Did i miss something?
> 

*Friendly wave*


> Datum: 2019-06-03T08:11:20+0200
> The use of different configuration files and databases also works without
> problems in Windows. You can then create different desktop shortcuts and start
> the digiKam with another config file. I'll describe in more detail tonight how
> it's done.
>
> Maik

> >Am Sonntag, 2. Juni 2019, 21:08:25 CEST schrieb [hidden email]:
> > Hey, I'm a graphics designer in the personal and professional field. I am
> > currently maintaining multiple data sets, image libraries, with dozens if
> > not hundreds of gigabytes of data. I recently started using digiKam to
> > maintain one of my texture libraries, and have really grown to like it
> > thanks to tagging and duplicate filtering. However this is only one set,
> > which i use for my work, and thus need to keep separate from my personal
> > libraries. Especially since it employs a different, non compatible, tagging
> > style.
> >  
> > Now the solution for doing this with digiKam appears to be to create
> > another database by changing the path in the options. However this is very
> > inconvenient when needing to rapidly switch between several libraries a
> > day/hour. It also does not cover the differences in tag configurations that
> > i need. (Being able to tag via hotkey is great, but not feasible when
> > switching databases.)
> >  
> > What is the solution for this? My initial thought was to pass a startup
> > param with the path to an alternative config, which seems to (have been)/
> > be possible on Linux. But I've found no clear documentation on how to do
> > it. I've also found no way of doing this on Windows, which is important to
> > me since my workstation is required to run it.
> >
> > Any ideas? Did i miss something?
>>  



[Maik Qualmann]

Here at openSUSE Tumbleweed VirtualBox is broken at the moment. I wanted to
take screenshots. I try to explain it.

The original configuration file is located at:
C:\Users\%USER%\AppData\Local\digikamrc

You can copy them and save them under a different name (for example,
digikam1rc). You can also start with an empty file, it is important that the
file already exists.

You create a desktop shortcut from digiKam to the desktop or copy it from the
Start menu. Under Properties you can see the program path:

"C:\Program Files\digikam\digikam.exe"

The following option is attached to the command line:

"C:\Program Files\digikam\digikam.exe" --config C:\Users\%USER%
\AppData\Local\digikam1rc

Of course, replace the placeholder %USER% with the real username. If you start
this link now and you have used a copy of the original configuration file,
everything should be as it was before. You can now choose a different database
path in the settings and add or remove other collections. Of course you can
also save the configuration somewhere else, as a user you should have all file
rights there. Hope it helps first.

Maik

Am Dienstag, 4. Juni 2019, 13:50:48 CEST schrieb [hidden email]:

> *Friendly wave*
>
> > Datum: 2019-06-03T08:11:20+0200
> > The use of different configuration files and databases also works without
> > problems in Windows. You can then create different desktop shortcuts and
> > start the digiKam with another config file. I'll describe in more detail
> > tonight how it's done.
> >
> > Maik
> >
> > >Am Sonntag, 2. Juni 2019, 21:08:25 CEST schrieb [hidden email]:
> > > Hey, I'm a graphics designer in the personal and professional field. I
> > > am
> > > currently maintaining multiple data sets, image libraries, with dozens
> > > if
> > > not hundreds of gigabytes of data. I recently started using digiKam to
> > > maintain one of my texture libraries, and have really grown to like it
> > > thanks to tagging and duplicate filtering. However this is only one set,
> > > which i use for my work, and thus need to keep separate from my personal
> > > libraries. Especially since it employs a different, non compatible,
> > > tagging
> > > style.
> > >
> > > Now the solution for doing this with digiKam appears to be to create
> > > another database by changing the path in the options. However this is
> > > very
> > > inconvenient when needing to rapidly switch between several libraries a
> > > day/hour. It also does not cover the differences in tag configurations
> > > that
> > > i need. (Being able to tag via hotkey is great, but not feasible when
> > > switching databases.)
> > >
> > > What is the solution for this? My initial thought was to pass a startup
> > > param with the path to an alternative config, which seems to (have
> > > been)/
> > > be possible on Linux. But I've found no clear documentation on how to do
> > > it. I've also found no way of doing this on Windows, which is important
> > > to
> > > me since my workstation is required to run it.
> > >
> > > Any ideas? Did i miss something?
>
> 

Thanks. It seems to be working flawlessly now!



Datum: 2019-06-04T20:45:48+0200

>
>Here at openSUSE Tumbleweed VirtualBox is broken at the moment. I wanted to
>take screenshots. I try to explain it.
>
>The original configuration file is located at:
>C:\Users\%USER%\AppData\Local\digikamrc
>
>You can copy them and save them under a different name (for example,
>digikam1rc). You can also start with an empty file, it is important that the
>file already exists.
>
>You create a desktop shortcut from digiKam to the desktop or copy it from the
>Start menu. Under Properties you can see the program path:
>
>"C:\Program Files\digikam\digikam.exe"
>
>The following option is attached to the command line:
>
>"C:\Program Files\digikam\digikam.exe" --config C:\Users\%USER%
>\AppData\Local\digikam1rc
>
>Of course, replace the placeholder %USER% with the real username. If you start
>this link now and you have used a copy of the original configuration file,
>everything should be as it was before. You can now choose a different database
>path in the settings and add or remove other collections. Of course you can
>also save the configuration somewhere else, as a user you should have all file
>rights there. Hope it helps first.
>
>Maik

Am Dienstag, 4. Juni 2019, 13:50:48 CEST schrieb [hidden email]:

> *Friendly wave*
>
> > Datum: 2019-06-03T08:11:20+0200
> > The use of different configuration files and databases also works without
> > problems in Windows. You can then create different desktop shortcuts and
> > start the digiKam with another config file. I'll describe in more detail
> > tonight how it's done.
> >
> > Maik
> >
> > >Am Sonntag, 2. Juni 2019, 21:08:25 CEST schrieb [hidden email]:
> > > Hey, I'm a graphics designer in the personal and professional field. I
> > > am
> > > currently maintaining multiple data sets, image libraries, with dozens
> > > if
> > > not hundreds of gigabytes of data. I recently started using digiKam to
> > > maintain one of my texture libraries, and have really grown to like it
> > > thanks to tagging and duplicate filtering. However this is only one set,
> > > which i use for my work, and thus need to keep separate from my personal
> > > libraries. Especially since it employs a different, non compatible,
> > > tagging
> > > style.
> > >
> > > Now the solution for doing this with digiKam appears to be to create
> > > another database by changing the path in the options. However this is
> > > very
> > > inconvenient when needing to rapidly switch between several libraries a
> > > day/hour. It also does not cover the differences in tag configurations
> > > that
> > > i need. (Being able to tag via hotkey is great, but not feasible when
> > > switching databases.)
> > >
> > > What is the solution for this? My initial thought was to pass a startup
> > > param with the path to an alternative config, which seems to (have
> > > been)/
> > > be possible on Linux. But I've found no clear documentation on how to do
> > > it. I've also found no way of doing this on Windows, which is important
> > > to
> > > me since my workstation is required to run it.
> > >
> > > Any ideas? Did i miss something?
>
>