[digiKam-users] Multi-user digiKam setup?

[Leo Gaspard-2]

Hello world!

I have tried IRC to bother the fewest possible people, but it looks like
#[hidden email] is dead, so let's try here. Sorry for the
noise!

I am considering using digiKam, but as my use case is kind of peculiar,
I thought I would first ask whether you think I have chances of
succeeding at what I'm trying to do.

Context: I'm trying to setup a shared photo database with my family for
all our photographs. Photos will be shared over NextCloud, and hopefully
digiKam would be used to both tag them and synchronize the tags. Now,
the photo database is kind of huge, and not all computers are able to
download it in full. In addition, not everyone has the same taste for
photos, so I think it'd be better if everyone only had write access to
their own directory, and read access to others'.

My currently imagined solution:
 * Each user puts their pictures in their write-for-them read-for-all
   folder in Nextcloud
 * Everyone runs a digiKam instances. Tags are synchronized either
   through MySQL or by just adding the SQLite database to the Nextcloud
 * digiKam is setup to directly fetch the photos from WebDAV from the
   Nextcloud instance

So my questions are:
 1. Do you have advice on whether to pick MySQL or synchronize the
    SQLite database over Nextcloud? (I will have linux, windows and mac
    clients) Will sharing the database not risk sharing the WebDAV
    credentials?
 2. Does digiKam handle well-enough collections on read-only folders?
 3. What do you think about the overall idea?
 4. Bonus question: Ideally users could also have their own private
    databases that are not shared. Does digiKam handles properly
    switching between two databases, ideally  with one that includes the
    other?
 5. Trick question: If an answer is no, is there any project other than
    digiKam that could handle these requirements and that you would know
    about?

I've searched a bit the manual and didn't find much about these
questions, and I must say I'd rather request an opinion from someone
knowledgeable before starting the setup, that will likely be kind of
long and complex, especially if done with MySQL. Sorry if the questions
are already answered someplace I didn't find!

Cheers, and thank you for digiKam that looks like some nice piece of
software!
  Leo

[Leo Gaspard-2]

Hello,

Just upping this, as it's been a week. Does anyone around here share a
digiKam database with other people to make a shared souvenir photo
database? If any does, how? In a way similar to what I described below?

Cheers,
  Leo

Leo Gaspard <[hidden email]> writes:

> Hello world!
>
> I have tried IRC to bother the fewest possible people, but it looks like
> #[hidden email] is dead, so let's try here. Sorry for the
> noise!
>
> I am considering using digiKam, but as my use case is kind of peculiar,
> I thought I would first ask whether you think I have chances of
> succeeding at what I'm trying to do.
>
> Context: I'm trying to setup a shared photo database with my family for
> all our photographs. Photos will be shared over NextCloud, and hopefully
> digiKam would be used to both tag them and synchronize the tags. Now,
> the photo database is kind of huge, and not all computers are able to
> download it in full. In addition, not everyone has the same taste for
> photos, so I think it'd be better if everyone only had write access to
> their own directory, and read access to others'.
>
> My currently imagined solution:
>  * Each user puts their pictures in their write-for-them read-for-all
>    folder in Nextcloud
>  * Everyone runs a digiKam instances. Tags are synchronized either
>    through MySQL or by just adding the SQLite database to the Nextcloud
>  * digiKam is setup to directly fetch the photos from WebDAV from the
>    Nextcloud instance
>
> So my questions are:
>  1. Do you have advice on whether to pick MySQL or synchronize the
>     SQLite database over Nextcloud? (I will have linux, windows and mac
>     clients) Will sharing the database not risk sharing the WebDAV
>     credentials?
>  2. Does digiKam handle well-enough collections on read-only folders?
>  3. What do you think about the overall idea?
>  4. Bonus question: Ideally users could also have their own private
>     databases that are not shared. Does digiKam handles properly
>     switching between two databases, ideally  with one that includes the
>     other?
>  5. Trick question: If an answer is no, is there any project other than
>     digiKam that could handle these requirements and that you would know
>     about?
>
> I've searched a bit the manual and didn't find much about these
> questions, and I must say I'd rather request an opinion from someone
> knowledgeable before starting the setup, that will likely be kind of
> long and complex, especially if done with MySQL. Sorry if the questions
> are already answered someplace I didn't find!
>
> Cheers, and thank you for digiKam that looks like some nice piece of
> software!
>   Leo

[Leo Gaspard-2]

Hello,

I'll try asking just one last time, by decreasing order of importance:
 * Is digiKam not unbearably slow when the pictures are on a WebDAV and
   the database a remote MySQL?
 * Does putting the digiKam database in MySQL put the WebDAV password in
   the MySQL?
 * Does digiKam work properly with collections on read-only filesystems
   and especially read-only WebDAV?
 * Does anyone have any feedback about sharing a digiKam database with
   other people (and not only other computers from the same person)?

(more details in the quote below)

Cheers,
  Leo


Leo Gaspard <[hidden email]> writes:

> Hello world!
>
> I have tried IRC to bother the fewest possible people, but it looks like
> #[hidden email] is dead, so let's try here. Sorry for the
> noise!
>
> I am considering using digiKam, but as my use case is kind of peculiar,
> I thought I would first ask whether you think I have chances of
> succeeding at what I'm trying to do.
>
> Context: I'm trying to setup a shared photo database with my family for
> all our photographs. Photos will be shared over NextCloud, and hopefully
> digiKam would be used to both tag them and synchronize the tags. Now,
> the photo database is kind of huge, and not all computers are able to
> download it in full. In addition, not everyone has the same taste for
> photos, so I think it'd be better if everyone only had write access to
> their own directory, and read access to others'.
>
> My currently imagined solution:
>  * Each user puts their pictures in their write-for-them read-for-all
>    folder in Nextcloud
>  * Everyone runs a digiKam instances. Tags are synchronized either
>    through MySQL or by just adding the SQLite database to the Nextcloud
>  * digiKam is setup to directly fetch the photos from WebDAV from the
>    Nextcloud instance
>
> So my questions are:
>  1. Do you have advice on whether to pick MySQL or synchronize the
>     SQLite database over Nextcloud? (I will have linux, windows and mac
>     clients) Will sharing the database not risk sharing the WebDAV
>     credentials?
>  2. Does digiKam handle well-enough collections on read-only folders?
>  3. What do you think about the overall idea?
>  4. Bonus question: Ideally users could also have their own private
>     databases that are not shared. Does digiKam handles properly
>     switching between two databases, ideally  with one that includes the
>     other?
>  5. Trick question: If an answer is no, is there any project other than
>     digiKam that could handle these requirements and that you would know
>     about?
>
> I've searched a bit the manual and didn't find much about these
> questions, and I must say I'd rather request an opinion from someone
> knowledgeable before starting the setup, that will likely be kind of
> long and complex, especially if done with MySQL. Sorry if the questions
> are already answered someplace I didn't find!
>
> Cheers, and thank you for digiKam that looks like some nice piece of
> software!
>   Leo

[Gilles Caulier-4]

Le sam. 26 janv. 2019 à 02:13, Leo Gaspard <[hidden email]> a écrit :

Hello,

I'll try asking just one last time, by decreasing order of importance:
 * Is digiKam not unbearably slow when the pictures are on a WebDAV and
   the database a remote MySQL?

The Webdav storing was never tested here, at least be me.

The network is the bottleneck here. Mysql thumbnails storing is the part which use the network bandwidth a lots. With 6.0.0, Maik has optimized the network use with Mysql. 

 

 * Does putting the digiKam database in MySQL put the WebDAV password in
   the MySQL?

No idea...

 

 * Does digiKam work properly with collections on read-only filesystems
   and especially read-only WebDAV?

Read only is not a problem is you don't want to change the files data.

 

 * Does anyone have any feedback about sharing a digiKam database with
   other people (and not only other computers from the same person)?

This kind of workflow is not implemented yet... You can only sync the file metadata with database and sync back a remote storage. It's so far not optimal.

In all cases the database do not contains yet the guards for concurrent uses. 

Gilles Caulier

 

(more details in the quote below)

Cheers,
  Leo


Leo Gaspard <[hidden email]> writes:

> Hello world!
>
> I have tried IRC to bother the fewest possible people, but it looks like
> #[hidden email] is dead, so let's try here. Sorry for the
> noise!
>
> I am considering using digiKam, but as my use case is kind of peculiar,
> I thought I would first ask whether you think I have chances of
> succeeding at what I'm trying to do.
>
> Context: I'm trying to setup a shared photo database with my family for
> all our photographs. Photos will be shared over NextCloud, and hopefully
> digiKam would be used to both tag them and synchronize the tags. Now,
> the photo database is kind of huge, and not all computers are able to
> download it in full. In addition, not everyone has the same taste for
> photos, so I think it'd be better if everyone only had write access to
> their own directory, and read access to others'.
>
> My currently imagined solution:
>  * Each user puts their pictures in their write-for-them read-for-all
>    folder in Nextcloud
>  * Everyone runs a digiKam instances. Tags are synchronized either
>    through MySQL or by just adding the SQLite database to the Nextcloud
>  * digiKam is setup to directly fetch the photos from WebDAV from the
>    Nextcloud instance
>
> So my questions are:
>  1. Do you have advice on whether to pick MySQL or synchronize the
>     SQLite database over Nextcloud? (I will have linux, windows and mac
>     clients) Will sharing the database not risk sharing the WebDAV
>     credentials?
>  2. Does digiKam handle well-enough collections on read-only folders?
>  3. What do you think about the overall idea?
>  4. Bonus question: Ideally users could also have their own private
>     databases that are not shared. Does digiKam handles properly
>     switching between two databases, ideally  with one that includes the
>     other?
>  5. Trick question: If an answer is no, is there any project other than
>     digiKam that could handle these requirements and that you would know
>     about?
>
> I've searched a bit the manual and didn't find much about these
> questions, and I must say I'd rather request an opinion from someone
> knowledgeable before starting the setup, that will likely be kind of
> long and complex, especially if done with MySQL. Sorry if the questions
> are already answered someplace I didn't find!
>
> Cheers, and thank you for digiKam that looks like some nice piece of
> software!
>   Leo

[Leo Gaspard-2]

Oh. So even the MySQL database backend doesn't support concurrent use?
That'll make things harder…

Anyway, thank you for your comment! I haven't really found anything that
appears to handle this use case better than digiKam, so will report here
if/when I get something working! With chat-based end-user-level database
locking, for the time being :)

Cheers,
  Leo

Gilles Caulier <[hidden email]> writes:

> Le sam. 26 janv. 2019 à 02:13, Leo Gaspard <[hidden email]> a
> écrit :
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'll try asking just one last time, by decreasing order of importance:
>>  * Is digiKam not unbearably slow when the pictures are on a WebDAV and
>>    the database a remote MySQL?
>>
>
> The Webdav storing was never tested here, at least be me.
>
> The network is the bottleneck here. Mysql thumbnails storing is the part
> which use the network bandwidth a lots. With 6.0.0, Maik has optimized the
> network use with Mysql.
>
>
>>  * Does putting the digiKam database in MySQL put the WebDAV password in
>>    the MySQL?
>>
>
> No idea...
>
>
>>  * Does digiKam work properly with collections on read-only filesystems
>>    and especially read-only WebDAV?
>>
>
> Read only is not a problem is you don't want to change the files data.
>
>
>>  * Does anyone have any feedback about sharing a digiKam database with
>>    other people (and not only other computers from the same person)?
>>
>>
> This kind of workflow is not implemented yet... You can only sync the file
> metadata with database and sync back a remote storage. It's so far not
> optimal.
>
> In all cases the database do not contains yet the guards for concurrent
> uses.
>
> Gilles Caulier
>
>
>> (more details in the quote below)
>>
>> Cheers,
>>   Leo
>>
>>
>> Leo Gaspard <[hidden email]> writes:
>>
>> > Hello world!
>> >
>> > I have tried IRC to bother the fewest possible people, but it looks like
>> > #[hidden email] is dead, so let's try here. Sorry for the
>> > noise!
>> >
>> > I am considering using digiKam, but as my use case is kind of peculiar,
>> > I thought I would first ask whether you think I have chances of
>> > succeeding at what I'm trying to do.
>> >
>> > Context: I'm trying to setup a shared photo database with my family for
>> > all our photographs. Photos will be shared over NextCloud, and hopefully
>> > digiKam would be used to both tag them and synchronize the tags. Now,
>> > the photo database is kind of huge, and not all computers are able to
>> > download it in full. In addition, not everyone has the same taste for
>> > photos, so I think it'd be better if everyone only had write access to
>> > their own directory, and read access to others'.
>> >
>> > My currently imagined solution:
>> >  * Each user puts their pictures in their write-for-them read-for-all
>> >    folder in Nextcloud
>> >  * Everyone runs a digiKam instances. Tags are synchronized either
>> >    through MySQL or by just adding the SQLite database to the Nextcloud
>> >  * digiKam is setup to directly fetch the photos from WebDAV from the
>> >    Nextcloud instance
>> >
>> > So my questions are:
>> >  1. Do you have advice on whether to pick MySQL or synchronize the
>> >     SQLite database over Nextcloud? (I will have linux, windows and mac
>> >     clients) Will sharing the database not risk sharing the WebDAV
>> >     credentials?
>> >  2. Does digiKam handle well-enough collections on read-only folders?
>> >  3. What do you think about the overall idea?
>> >  4. Bonus question: Ideally users could also have their own private
>> >     databases that are not shared. Does digiKam handles properly
>> >     switching between two databases, ideally  with one that includes the
>> >     other?
>> >  5. Trick question: If an answer is no, is there any project other than
>> >     digiKam that could handle these requirements and that you would know
>> >     about?
>> >
>> > I've searched a bit the manual and didn't find much about these
>> > questions, and I must say I'd rather request an opinion from someone
>> > knowledgeable before starting the setup, that will likely be kind of
>> > long and complex, especially if done with MySQL. Sorry if the questions
>> > are already answered someplace I didn't find!
>> >
>> > Cheers, and thank you for digiKam that looks like some nice piece of
>> > software!
>> >   Leo
>>

[PackElend]

Hoi Leo,

are still following the original thread?
Your are not the only one who thinks about Multi-User environment, see digiKam Bug List Component: Database-Multiusers Product: digikam Status: REPORTED, CONFIRMED, ASSIGNED, REOPENED

I reckon those are the most recent discussion in this matter:

• Multi-user with mysql server
• [digiKam-users] Multi-user digiKam setup?
• [digiKam-users] Use digiKam with a NAS and MariaDB
• [digiKam-users] temporary port photos and metadata from MariaDB/network share for editing when offline / being on the move
• Wish 401622 - Simple multi-user, to start with
• Wish 254099: SCAN : refresh collection with a script in commandline

Does those ideas/approaches matches/supports your suggestions?

Stefan

Am 26.01.2019 um 23:31 schrieb Leo Gaspard:

Oh. So even the MySQL database backend doesn't support concurrent use?
That'll make things harder…

Anyway, thank you for your comment! I haven't really found anything that
appears to handle this use case better than digiKam, so will report here
if/when I get something working! With chat-based end-user-level database
locking, for the time being :)

Cheers,
  Leo

Gilles Caulier [hidden email] writes:

Le sam. 26 janv. 2019 à 02:13, Leo Gaspard [hidden email] a
écrit :

Hello,

I'll try asking just one last time, by decreasing order of importance:
 * Is digiKam not unbearably slow when the pictures are on a WebDAV and
   the database a remote MySQL?

The Webdav storing was never tested here, at least be me.

The network is the bottleneck here. Mysql thumbnails storing is the part
which use the network bandwidth a lots. With 6.0.0, Maik has optimized the
network use with Mysql.

 * Does putting the digiKam database in MySQL put the WebDAV password in
   the MySQL?

No idea...

 * Does digiKam work properly with collections on read-only filesystems
   and especially read-only WebDAV?

Read only is not a problem is you don't want to change the files data.

 * Does anyone have any feedback about sharing a digiKam database with
   other people (and not only other computers from the same person)?

This kind of workflow is not implemented yet... You can only sync the file
metadata with database and sync back a remote storage. It's so far not
optimal.

In all cases the database do not contains yet the guards for concurrent
uses.

Gilles Caulier

(more details in the quote below)

Cheers,
  Leo


Leo Gaspard [hidden email] writes:

Hello world!

I have tried IRC to bother the fewest possible people, but it looks like
#[hidden email] is dead, so let's try here. Sorry for the
noise!

I am considering using digiKam, but as my use case is kind of peculiar,
I thought I would first ask whether you think I have chances of
succeeding at what I'm trying to do.

Context: I'm trying to setup a shared photo database with my family for
all our photographs. Photos will be shared over NextCloud, and hopefully
digiKam would be used to both tag them and synchronize the tags. Now,
the photo database is kind of huge, and not all computers are able to
download it in full. In addition, not everyone has the same taste for
photos, so I think it'd be better if everyone only had write access to
their own directory, and read access to others'.

My currently imagined solution:
 * Each user puts their pictures in their write-for-them read-for-all
   folder in Nextcloud
 * Everyone runs a digiKam instances. Tags are synchronized either
   through MySQL or by just adding the SQLite database to the Nextcloud
 * digiKam is setup to directly fetch the photos from WebDAV from the
   Nextcloud instance

So my questions are:
 1. Do you have advice on whether to pick MySQL or synchronize the
    SQLite database over Nextcloud? (I will have linux, windows and mac
    clients) Will sharing the database not risk sharing the WebDAV
    credentials?
 2. Does digiKam handle well-enough collections on read-only folders?
 3. What do you think about the overall idea?
 4. Bonus question: Ideally users could also have their own private
    databases that are not shared. Does digiKam handles properly
    switching between two databases, ideally  with one that includes the
    other?
 5. Trick question: If an answer is no, is there any project other than
    digiKam that could handle these requirements and that you would know
    about?

I've searched a bit the manual and didn't find much about these
questions, and I must say I'd rather request an opinion from someone
knowledgeable before starting the setup, that will likely be kind of
long and complex, especially if done with MySQL. Sorry if the questions
are already answered someplace I didn't find!

Cheers, and thank you for digiKam that looks like some nice piece of
software!
  Leo

[Leo Gaspard-2]

Hey Stefan,

Thank you! Indeed, the idea of writing all metadata to files is, I
think, much better than what I had in mind! It'll both avoid the MySQL
roundtrip for the database (while still keeping it for the actual
pictures it'll at least allow to get fast thumbnails, even if the
full-quality picture takes more time to load) and digiKam
synchronization errors (though now to update other people's picture
databases one would need to do it manually, and it'll likely be slow
over WebDAV, but at least it'd work).

I'll be reporting here as soon as I get results, hopefully soon!
Cheers,
  Leo

"Stefan Müller" <[hidden email]> writes:

> Hoi Leo,
>
> are still following the original thread?
> Your are not the only one who thinks about Multi-User environment, see digiKam Bug List Component:
> Database-Multiusers Product: digikam Status: REPORTED, CONFIRMED, ASSIGNED, REOPENED
>
> I reckon those are the most recent discussion in this matter:
>
> * Multi-user with mysql server
> * [digiKam-users] Multi-user digiKam setup?
> * [digiKam-users] Use digiKam with a NAS and MariaDB
> * [digiKam-users] temporary port photos and metadata from MariaDB/network share for editing when offline /
>   being on the move
> * Wish 401622 - Simple multi-user, to start with
> * Wish 254099: SCAN : refresh collection with a script in commandline
>
> Does those ideas/approaches matches/supports your suggestions?
>
> Stefan
>
> Am 26.01.2019 um 23:31 schrieb Leo Gaspard:
>
>     Oh. So even the MySQL database backend doesn't support concurrent use?
> That'll make things harder…
>
> Anyway, thank you for your comment! I haven't really found anything that
> appears to handle this use case better than digiKam, so will report here
> if/when I get something working! With chat-based end-user-level database
> locking, for the time being :)
>
> Cheers,
>   Leo
>
> Gilles Caulier <[hidden email]> writes:
>
>         Le sam. 26 janv. 2019 à 02:13, Leo Gaspard <[hidden email]> a
> écrit :
>
>             Hello,
>
> I'll try asking just one last time, by decreasing order of importance:
>  * Is digiKam not unbearably slow when the pictures are on a WebDAV and
>    the database a remote MySQL?
>
>
> The Webdav storing was never tested here, at least be me.
>
> The network is the bottleneck here. Mysql thumbnails storing is the part
> which use the network bandwidth a lots. With 6.0.0, Maik has optimized the
> network use with Mysql.
>
>
>              * Does putting the digiKam database in MySQL put the WebDAV password in
>    the MySQL?
>
>
> No idea...
>
>
>              * Does digiKam work properly with collections on read-only filesystems
>    and especially read-only WebDAV?
>
>
> Read only is not a problem is you don't want to change the files data.
>
>
>              * Does anyone have any feedback about sharing a digiKam database with
>    other people (and not only other computers from the same person)?
>
>
> This kind of workflow is not implemented yet... You can only sync the file
> metadata with database and sync back a remote storage. It's so far not
> optimal.
>
> In all cases the database do not contains yet the guards for concurrent
> uses.
>
> Gilles Caulier
>
>
>             (more details in the quote below)
>
> Cheers,
>   Leo
>
>
> Leo Gaspard <[hidden email]> writes:
>
>                 Hello world!
>
> I have tried IRC to bother the fewest possible people, but it looks like
> #[hidden email] is dead, so let's try here. Sorry for the
> noise!
>
> I am considering using digiKam, but as my use case is kind of peculiar,
> I thought I would first ask whether you think I have chances of
> succeeding at what I'm trying to do.
>
> Context: I'm trying to setup a shared photo database with my family for
> all our photographs. Photos will be shared over NextCloud, and hopefully
> digiKam would be used to both tag them and synchronize the tags. Now,
> the photo database is kind of huge, and not all computers are able to
> download it in full. In addition, not everyone has the same taste for
> photos, so I think it'd be better if everyone only had write access to
> their own directory, and read access to others'.
>
> My currently imagined solution:
>  * Each user puts their pictures in their write-for-them read-for-all
>    folder in Nextcloud
>  * Everyone runs a digiKam instances. Tags are synchronized either
>    through MySQL or by just adding the SQLite database to the Nextcloud
>  * digiKam is setup to directly fetch the photos from WebDAV from the
>    Nextcloud instance
>
> So my questions are:
>  1. Do you have advice on whether to pick MySQL or synchronize the
>     SQLite database over Nextcloud? (I will have linux, windows and mac
>     clients) Will sharing the database not risk sharing the WebDAV
>     credentials?
>  2. Does digiKam handle well-enough collections on read-only folders?
>  3. What do you think about the overall idea?
>  4. Bonus question: Ideally users could also have their own private
>     databases that are not shared. Does digiKam handles properly
>     switching between two databases, ideally  with one that includes the
>     other?
>  5. Trick question: If an answer is no, is there any project other than
>     digiKam that could handle these requirements and that you would know
>     about?
>
> I've searched a bit the manual and didn't find much about these
> questions, and I must say I'd rather request an opinion from someone
> knowledgeable before starting the setup, that will likely be kind of
> long and complex, especially if done with MySQL. Sorry if the questions
> are already answered someplace I didn't find!
>
> Cheers, and thank you for digiKam that looks like some nice piece of
> software!
>   Leo

[PackElend]

Hi there,

based on the welcomed straight answers in regard of feature dev in [digiKam-users] either face recognition screen is buggy or I still don't understand it...

there are only two options:

1. get it added to GSoC/2019/Ideas - digiKam 
   
2. dev it yourself or find some support, respectively
   

   ...i'm always in favor to only use bugzilla as the main Agile project management tool. You have a file to create or already created, you build a patch against current implementation, and you attach file. It's simple, archived, and follow all QA requirement.

   @Gilles:
1.  is there any space where some idealist could find each other and try to do so under your supervision
2. could you tell where to there right spot in the source code for such enhancement?
   

here are the clarifying statement about the near future of digiKam

No. Personalty, i must for 6.1.0

1/ Finalize the internal plugins API for Genric, Editor, and BQM.

2/ Document the API

3/ Export the API for external contribution. Currently all plugins are inside digiKam project.

4/ Prepare the rooms for the new students.

Later 6.1.0 :

1/ Prepare new plugins interface as :

...

 * Database : We have already a tool named migration which can be a good candidate, but plenty of new ones can be written : backup, export, etc. Do not ask me to make the database engine as module yet, it's a tedious project.

Stefan

Am 27.01.2019 um 22:47 schrieb Leo Gaspard:

Hey Stefan,

Thank you! Indeed, the idea of writing all metadata to files is, I
think, much better than what I had in mind! It'll both avoid the MySQL
roundtrip for the database (while still keeping it for the actual
pictures it'll at least allow to get fast thumbnails, even if the
full-quality picture takes more time to load) and digiKam
synchronization errors (though now to update other people's picture
databases one would need to do it manually, and it'll likely be slow
over WebDAV, but at least it'd work).

I'll be reporting here as soon as I get results, hopefully soon!
Cheers,
  Leo

"Stefan Müller" [hidden email] writes:

Hoi Leo,

are still following the original thread?
Your are not the only one who thinks about Multi-User environment, see digiKam Bug List Component:
Database-Multiusers Product: digikam Status: REPORTED, CONFIRMED, ASSIGNED, REOPENED 

I reckon those are the most recent discussion in this matter:

* Multi-user with mysql server
* [digiKam-users] Multi-user digiKam setup?
* [digiKam-users] Use digiKam with a NAS and MariaDB
* [digiKam-users] temporary port photos and metadata from MariaDB/network share for editing when offline /
  being on the move
* Wish 401622 - Simple multi-user, to start with
* Wish 254099: SCAN : refresh collection with a script in commandline

Does those ideas/approaches matches/supports your suggestions?

Stefan

Am 26.01.2019 um 23:31 schrieb Leo Gaspard:

    Oh. So even the MySQL database backend doesn't support concurrent use?
That'll make things harder…

Anyway, thank you for your comment! I haven't really found anything that
appears to handle this use case better than digiKam, so will report here
if/when I get something working! With chat-based end-user-level database
locking, for the time being :)

Cheers,
  Leo

Gilles Caulier [hidden email] writes:

        Le sam. 26 janv. 2019 à 02:13, Leo Gaspard [hidden email] a
écrit :

            Hello,

I'll try asking just one last time, by decreasing order of importance:
 * Is digiKam not unbearably slow when the pictures are on a WebDAV and
   the database a remote MySQL?


The Webdav storing was never tested here, at least be me.

The network is the bottleneck here. Mysql thumbnails storing is the part
which use the network bandwidth a lots. With 6.0.0, Maik has optimized the
network use with Mysql.


             * Does putting the digiKam database in MySQL put the WebDAV password in
   the MySQL?


No idea...


             * Does digiKam work properly with collections on read-only filesystems
   and especially read-only WebDAV?


Read only is not a problem is you don't want to change the files data.


             * Does anyone have any feedback about sharing a digiKam database with
   other people (and not only other computers from the same person)?


This kind of workflow is not implemented yet... You can only sync the file
metadata with database and sync back a remote storage. It's so far not
optimal.

In all cases the database do not contains yet the guards for concurrent
uses.

Gilles Caulier


            (more details in the quote below)

Cheers,
  Leo


Leo Gaspard [hidden email] writes:

                Hello world!

I have tried IRC to bother the fewest possible people, but it looks like
#[hidden email] is dead, so let's try here. Sorry for the
noise!

I am considering using digiKam, but as my use case is kind of peculiar,
I thought I would first ask whether you think I have chances of
succeeding at what I'm trying to do.

Context: I'm trying to setup a shared photo database with my family for
all our photographs. Photos will be shared over NextCloud, and hopefully
digiKam would be used to both tag them and synchronize the tags. Now,
the photo database is kind of huge, and not all computers are able to
download it in full. In addition, not everyone has the same taste for
photos, so I think it'd be better if everyone only had write access to
their own directory, and read access to others'.

My currently imagined solution:
 * Each user puts their pictures in their write-for-them read-for-all
   folder in Nextcloud
 * Everyone runs a digiKam instances. Tags are synchronized either
   through MySQL or by just adding the SQLite database to the Nextcloud
 * digiKam is setup to directly fetch the photos from WebDAV from the
   Nextcloud instance

So my questions are:
 1. Do you have advice on whether to pick MySQL or synchronize the
    SQLite database over Nextcloud? (I will have linux, windows and mac
    clients) Will sharing the database not risk sharing the WebDAV
    credentials?
 2. Does digiKam handle well-enough collections on read-only folders?
 3. What do you think about the overall idea?
 4. Bonus question: Ideally users could also have their own private
    databases that are not shared. Does digiKam handles properly
    switching between two databases, ideally  with one that includes the
    other?
 5. Trick question: If an answer is no, is there any project other than
    digiKam that could handle these requirements and that you would know
    about?

I've searched a bit the manual and didn't find much about these
questions, and I must say I'd rather request an opinion from someone
knowledgeable before starting the setup, that will likely be kind of
long and complex, especially if done with MySQL. Sorry if the questions
are already answered someplace I didn't find!

Cheers, and thank you for digiKam that looks like some nice piece of
software!
  Leo

[Gilles Caulier-4]

Le sam. 2 févr. 2019 à 15:09, Stefan Müller <[hidden email]> a écrit :

Hi there,

based on the welcomed straight answers in regard of feature dev in [digiKam-users] either face recognition screen is buggy or I still don't understand it...

there are only two options:

1. get it added to GSoC/2019/Ideas - digiKam 
   

If you add new ideas, we need someone to follow and mentoring the student. Typically we work as double mentoring (main and alternative).

Following a student is time consuming, but can give good results if the student work well. It's not always the cases, and this is why a selection must be done well.

I'm already contacted by few students through Linkedin. I talk and try to judge the skills through few some junior jobs. It's a take a while, because a wrong selection can be catastrophic.

I already mentored a wrong selection, and at end, i re-write all the code because student do not listen all my recommendations or do not respond.

Don't forget : with GoSC event, students will be payed, if they do the engineering job. So, some people try to be connect to a project to at least checkout so money without to do a real project.

Now, back to the GoSC idea. Why not, but we need help as main mentoring. Time is limited for main mentors, don't forget this point.

 

2. dev it yourself or find some support, respectively
   

Find new contributors is fondamental to see a project alive in long time.

And there is not only c++ development to help in this project.

For ex, i personalty do this no developer task :

- Write and post release announcement with screenshots. It long and need English words review.

- Update weekly bundles for Windows, Linux, and Mac. This require to install compilation env. and to run/update/fix bash/cmake scripts that i write.

Mostly all is now automatized with scripts and well documented.

- Bugs triaging : I already create/sort/manage all digiKam bugzilla subsections, make a huge pass over all entry, identify the duplicates, etc... But this need to be done periodically, and while this time you cannot code.

- Write the doc : we have a huge documentation written in docbook format, a kind of XML stuff not to hard to understand. This need large updates, with new screenshots. I must admit that i don't touch the doc since a long time.

- Translate well the application and the documentation. It's not too hard, but long. There are delegate teams for translations jobs into KDE project. 

 

1. ...i'm always in favor to only use bugzilla as the main Agile project management tool. You have a file to create or already created, you build a patch against current implementation, and you attach file. It's simple, archived, and follow all QA requirement.

   @Gilles:
1.  is there any space where some idealist could find each other and try to do so under your supervision

- [hidden email] mailing list is a good start, but using a mailing list is limited (size attachement, moderating, history, etc.).

- Linkedin digiKam group can be used well.

Do not ask me to use IRC. I cannot do it while working hors, as IRC is closed due to security issue with FW. Linkedin message do the job well, and students are in this social network. I know that it's not perfect, but at least we can use it to work together. Remember that G+ social network will be closed in 2 April and we cannot use it instead (thanks google for the long time support). 

 

1. could you tell where to there right spot in the source code for such enhancement?
   

I already start to respond to this question in another post (this is the problem of mailing list for ex)

 

Best

Gilles Caulier

here are the clarifying statement about the near future of digiKam

No. Personalty, i must for 6.1.0

1/ Finalize the internal plugins API for Genric, Editor, and BQM.

2/ Document the API

3/ Export the API for external contribution. Currently all plugins are inside digiKam project.

4/ Prepare the rooms for the new students.

Later 6.1.0 :

1/ Prepare new plugins interface as :

...

 * Database : We have already a tool named migration which can be a good candidate, but plenty of new ones can be written : backup, export, etc. Do not ask me to make the database engine as module yet, it's a tedious project.

Stefan

Am 27.01.2019 um 22:47 schrieb Leo Gaspard:

Hey Stefan,

Thank you! Indeed, the idea of writing all metadata to files is, I
think, much better than what I had in mind! It'll both avoid the MySQL
roundtrip for the database (while still keeping it for the actual
pictures it'll at least allow to get fast thumbnails, even if the
full-quality picture takes more time to load) and digiKam
synchronization errors (though now to update other people's picture
databases one would need to do it manually, and it'll likely be slow
over WebDAV, but at least it'd work).

I'll be reporting here as soon as I get results, hopefully soon!
Cheers,
  Leo

"Stefan Müller" [hidden email] writes:

Hoi Leo,

are still following the original thread?
Your are not the only one who thinks about Multi-User environment, see digiKam Bug List Component:
Database-Multiusers Product: digikam Status: REPORTED, CONFIRMED, ASSIGNED, REOPENED 

I reckon those are the most recent discussion in this matter:

* Multi-user with mysql server
* [digiKam-users] Multi-user digiKam setup?
* [digiKam-users] Use digiKam with a NAS and MariaDB
* [digiKam-users] temporary port photos and metadata from MariaDB/network share for editing when offline /
  being on the move
* Wish 401622 - Simple multi-user, to start with
* Wish 254099: SCAN : refresh collection with a script in commandline

Does those ideas/approaches matches/supports your suggestions?

Stefan

Am 26.01.2019 um 23:31 schrieb Leo Gaspard:

    Oh. So even the MySQL database backend doesn't support concurrent use?
That'll make things harder…

Anyway, thank you for your comment! I haven't really found anything that
appears to handle this use case better than digiKam, so will report here
if/when I get something working! With chat-based end-user-level database
locking, for the time being :)

Cheers,
  Leo

Gilles Caulier [hidden email] writes:

        Le sam. 26 janv. 2019 à 02:13, Leo Gaspard [hidden email] a
écrit :

            Hello,

I'll try asking just one last time, by decreasing order of importance:
 * Is digiKam not unbearably slow when the pictures are on a WebDAV and
   the database a remote MySQL?


The Webdav storing was never tested here, at least be me.

The network is the bottleneck here. Mysql thumbnails storing is the part
which use the network bandwidth a lots. With 6.0.0, Maik has optimized the
network use with Mysql.


             * Does putting the digiKam database in MySQL put the WebDAV password in
   the MySQL?


No idea...


             * Does digiKam work properly with collections on read-only filesystems
   and especially read-only WebDAV?


Read only is not a problem is you don't want to change the files data.


             * Does anyone have any feedback about sharing a digiKam database with
   other people (and not only other computers from the same person)?


This kind of workflow is not implemented yet... You can only sync the file
metadata with database and sync back a remote storage. It's so far not
optimal.

In all cases the database do not contains yet the guards for concurrent
uses.

Gilles Caulier


            (more details in the quote below)

Cheers,
  Leo


Leo Gaspard [hidden email] writes:

                Hello world!

I have tried IRC to bother the fewest possible people, but it looks like
#[hidden email] is dead, so let's try here. Sorry for the
noise!

I am considering using digiKam, but as my use case is kind of peculiar,
I thought I would first ask whether you think I have chances of
succeeding at what I'm trying to do.

Context: I'm trying to setup a shared photo database with my family for
all our photographs. Photos will be shared over NextCloud, and hopefully
digiKam would be used to both tag them and synchronize the tags. Now,
the photo database is kind of huge, and not all computers are able to
download it in full. In addition, not everyone has the same taste for
photos, so I think it'd be better if everyone only had write access to
their own directory, and read access to others'.

My currently imagined solution:
 * Each user puts their pictures in their write-for-them read-for-all
   folder in Nextcloud
 * Everyone runs a digiKam instances. Tags are synchronized either
   through MySQL or by just adding the SQLite database to the Nextcloud
 * digiKam is setup to directly fetch the photos from WebDAV from the
   Nextcloud instance

So my questions are:
 1. Do you have advice on whether to pick MySQL or synchronize the
    SQLite database over Nextcloud? (I will have linux, windows and mac
    clients) Will sharing the database not risk sharing the WebDAV
    credentials?
 2. Does digiKam handle well-enough collections on read-only folders?
 3. What do you think about the overall idea?
 4. Bonus question: Ideally users could also have their own private
    databases that are not shared. Does digiKam handles properly
    switching between two databases, ideally  with one that includes the
    other?
 5. Trick question: If an answer is no, is there any project other than
    digiKam that could handle these requirements and that you would know
    about?

I've searched a bit the manual and didn't find much about these
questions, and I must say I'd rather request an opinion from someone
knowledgeable before starting the setup, that will likely be kind of
long and complex, especially if done with MySQL. Sorry if the questions
are already answered someplace I didn't find!

Cheers, and thank you for digiKam that looks like some nice piece of
software!
  Leo