On 08/08/07, Nadav Har'El <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > So basically, I'm looking for a photo management application for Linux. > Something like Picassa would have been a good start, but not good enough, > as you'll see below in my wish-list. I also tried f-spot and it's not good > enough. So I was wondering, maybe the wise people of this list can > recommend > a good photo management application for Linux?
I use Digikam for a few years now and am very satisfied with it. 1. I don't want any sort of vendor lock-in, forcing me to stay with a > certain > application once I choose it. Therefore: > > a. The photo manager should be able to work on a normal filesystem > hierarchy of photos, neither ruining it nor making a complete copy. > > b. Whichever metadata the photo manager wants to save (like tags - see > below) it should save in an open, simple and potentially-standard > file > format. > Not in an uber-complex database, and not (given 1a) to the photo > files > themselves. Picasa and f-spot both fail in this regard - I didn't > manage > to extract the meta-data I save in them to any readable format. It uses SQLite to store its own meta data and I think it can also store tags in standard EXIF format if you wish (or at least there were discussions of such an option on the Digikam mailing list). Basically having the data in a documented SQLite database means that you are not locked in and can add your own stuff. Also it has support for plug-ins (with many plug ins already available) so you should have a way to add your own stuff. 2. The application should allow me to easily and quickly browse all my > photos > in different sizes (like in picassa). Check (don't remember what Picasa looks like but you can change "thumbnail" sizes). 3. The application should allow me to add textual descriptions and "tags" > to pictures, and have a full-featured text search engine to search > these. Digikam is king in this regard. For example, I can add to each picture tags specifying the persons in the > picture, location of the picture, and so on, and then, for example, > search > for all pictures containing a specific person. F-spot's tags are a good That's exactly why I like Digikam so much - being able to search on tags. start, while Picassa's folders are a worthless disaster. But remember 1b > - > these tags need to be saved in a simple format, not in a propriatary > database. I don't want to spend hours to type tags in, and then be > unable > to use them if I switch software. I don't loose my C code if I switch > from > VI to Emacs! > > 4. Bonus points for some automatically-generated "tags" based on dates, > camera, colors, and other information obtainable from the picture > files. If there isn't a plug-in that does this already then you can probably add your own. 5. I want a digital photo manager, not a digital camera manager, and not a > sophisticated photo editor - for which separate applications are > available. Check. I just mount my camera's card through the card reader, import to Digikam using "import folder" and manually erase the photos from the card. I think it can manipulate media connected through USB directly (e.g. connect your camera through USB cable and use the special communications mode to talk to it) but I like the "manual" "mount + copy" approach, not the least because it saves on camera batteries and I think it's also faster as I'm not sure my camera (Canon EOS 350D) supports USB 2 at all. 6. Bonus points for an application that doubles as (or is only) a Web- > application - allowing others to "log in" to the application over the > web, > and see my pictures according to access controls I specify (e.g., I can > say that a specific person can only see pictures with some specific > tag). That's one thing I miss in Digikam. I currently use Gallery2 which imports photos from the Digikam folders. Gallery has an option to link to existing files so it doesn't keep another copy of the image. It can manage multiple users with different levels of access defined per image or per folder. Extra bonus points for a Web application that can host picture collection > uploaded by several users, allow them to manage their own photos and > others > so see only some (as above), and perhaps help with the tagging task. > I'm > looking for something small, though, not something capable of running a > huge site like as flickr.com. That's Gallery2, not Digikam. Digikam's developers are pretty responsive and supportive. --Amos
