[Digikam-devel] What do we want to store in the database?

[Marcel Wiesweg]

> I think you are raising the right question. I am not a specialist of
> databases.
> Currently, It seems to me that changing the database format is something
> the developpers do not want to do too often and they rather want to wait
> for major releases.
> That is why I proposed some field which may be useful only in a far
> future. I understand as Gilles said that some fields are currently hard
> to extract because in Makernote. But maybe one day these fields will be
> in new version of the exif standard...
> Should these fields already be on the database right now even if they
> are not filled  by Digikam and the corresponding features are not yet
> implemented ?
> Would it be easier to add some fields during minor release (10.1 ->
> 10.2) by adding  tables (picture_id, new_field) ?

Changing database schema will be easier in the future. I sent a mail to this 
list some time ago describing that we will have automatic upgrade like 
Amarok, and Amarok has had about 30 database schema changes, so things like 
this do work.

So I would vote that if we dont know really what we will do in the future, 
there is no value in creating empty table right now, rather wait what we need 
when the supporting code is written.

It's a matter of policy when schema changes happen; I would vote for major 
versions only (0.10 -> 0.11) but that is not a technical problem.


>
> My naive questions,
>
> Julien