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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-GB link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Having noticed that the release of digiKam 6.0.0 is imminent according to the <a href="https://www.digikam.org/documentation/releaseplan/">Release Plan</a> I thought I’d pen a few words on the upgrade from a user viewpoint.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I’ve been quietly testing the 5.9.0 to 6.0.0 betas for some time now and as recent emails have pointed out, there is a database upgrade involved.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>For a major release, this should be expected and if you’re intending to use digiKam seriously, you should already be backing up your database regularly but especially before any upgrade, major or minor!!! I’m using digiKam on Windows 10 with MariaDB on Centos 7 for the database so this means running something like<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>mysqldump --add-drop-table -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam_core | bzip2 -c >~/backups/digikam_core.sql.bz2<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>mysqldump --add-drop-table -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam_thumbs | bzip2 -c >~/backups/digikam_thumbs.sql.bz2<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>mysqldump --add-drop-table -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam_faces | bzip2 -c >~/backups/digikam_faces.sql.bz2<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>mysqldump --add-drop-table -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam_similarity | bzip2 -c >~/backups/digikam_similarity.sql.bz2<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>You should note that there is a fourth digicam_similarity database which is introduced with 6.0.0. I would recommend creating an empty database on your 5.9.0 server which 5.9.0 will ignore but 6.0.0 will use (and it will already be included in your backup scripts).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>If you’re planning to test digiKam seriously, create a digikam6 database owned by a different user with a different password (which helps to minimise ‘accessing the wrong database’ problems) and restore the 5.9.0 databases for use by digiKam 6.0.0.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>bunzip2 -c <~digikam/backups/digikam_core.sql.bz2 | mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam6_core<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>bunzip2 -c <~digikam/backups/digikam_thumbs.sql.bz2 | mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam6_thumbs<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>bunzip2 -c <~digikam/backups/digikam_faces.sql.bz2 | mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam6_faces<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>bunzip2 -c <~digikam/backups/digikam_similarity.sql.bz2 | mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam6_similarity<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>For testing digiKam itself, use a second system, either a physical system or a virtual machine and NOT your live digiKam install!!! All software has bugs or ‘unexpected features’ and beta software often has even more; expect problems and plan accordingly. On your test system, install digKam 5.9.0 (or whatever version you’re currently using), copy over digikamrc from your working installation and edit it to refer to the 6.0.0 database. You’ve now ‘cloned’ your 5.9.0 install and database so test it works and fix any problems before proceeding. You can then upgrade your test 5.9.0 install to 6.0.0. as this tests the software upgrade process for your setup.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>After upgrading your test install to 6.0.0 you can finally try it. What can you expect? Your anti-virus software may object to unsigned programs so be prepared to deal with this. From my observations, the first time digKam 6.0.0 runs against a 5.9.0 database, it takes a loooooooong time to startup which, given that there’s a database upgrade, should be expected. Go and have a cup of tea/coffee and give it time to finish! In addition, even when digicam 6.0.0 appears ‘ready to use’ there are background activities still in running so check both digicam itself (task manager on Windows) and the database server (top on Linux) are idle before trying to use digicam seriously. Depending on your hardware and database size, this may take a couple of hours.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I’ve used this process to test all the recent betas without impacting my working 5.9.0 setup and, encouragingly, have not encountered any major problems.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>If you’re not wanting to test the beta releases, life is a little simpler so ….<o:p></o:p></p><ol style='margin-top:0cm' start=1 type=1><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>Backup your current database, pictures and digikamrc to two different places e.g. NAS and offline disk – anything important should be stored in three different places<o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>Install the digiKam 6.0.0 software package and run it<o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>Go for a tea/coffee and check it’s finished. Then go for lunch and check it’s really finished.<o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>Configure the new ‘Similarity Db’<o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>Test it! Thrash it!!! Run though all database maintenance activities, check critical workflow functions as expected, try new functionality and consider if performance is OK.<o:p></o:p></li></ol><p class=MsoNormal>Until you actually start using it for new work, you can still revert to 5.9.0 (software and database) and all you’ve lost is some time.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And finally, thanks to all the hard work by the digiKam team in producing an excellent product, Respect earned!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>PhilTheHill<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>