[Digikam-users] How does one use digikam source for casual testing?

[Lawrence Plug]

Hi Paul,

On Thu, May 08, 2008 at 12:22:12PM -0400, Paul Waldo wrote:
> Thanks for the reply, Lawrence. 
> 
> There are two main scenarios that I'm concerned about.  The first is immediate
> and obvious image trashing.  I do maintain backups; I have bacula write backups
> to a separate server every night.  So, if the new software immediately trashes
> all my photos, I *could* restore them.  I would certainly prefer to avoid that
> situation, though.
> 
> The second scenario is much more insidious.  Let's say that a bug causes image
> corruption that is not immediately obvious.  Your image thumbnails look fine
> but, unbeknown to you, the bug has truncated your original image file.  Imagine
> the feeling of dread when, seven months from now, you go to print that
> priceless image of your child as an infant, only to find out that image has a
> file size of zero.  My backups only live for six months, so I'm out of luck.

I understand the concerns. As I noted I've had not problems, but 
before switching to svn (and any new version) I do a full 
_additional_ backup (thank goodness for cheap disks), which I 
don't touch until I've used the new version for a while, poked 
around with files and monitored the results. Its not a perfect 
solution as it is an incomplete and informal process, granted. In 
addition I have the DVDs of originals.
 

> I know that with digital images, there is a certain amount of faith in both the
> hardware and software used to store and manipulate images.  I've been in this
> business too long to have blind faith, though :-) 

Crap happens :-) In a previous life I maintained tape backups for 
a multiuser system using appropriate incrementals etc. I sure do 
prefer the ease and informality of multiple external disks, 
unison, and a remote server, for my personal use!

> What I would like to be able to do is take a subset of my images, make copies
> in separate location, and test the new software with those images.  I'm afraid
> though that if I just fire up new software, it will look for the existing
> configuration, and start processing my real (not test) images.  Is there any
> way to have "non-production" digikam use a different album root?

And here is the simple question for which I do not have a simple 
answer.. how to tell the svn digikam to use a different root. 

someone here should know?

A workaround would be to run the svn digikam as a different user.

cheers
L


> Paul
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lawrence Plug" <ljp at dal.ca>
> To: "digiKam - Digital Photo Management for the masses" <digikam-users at kde.org>
> Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2008 11:48:11 AM (GMT-0500) America/New_York
> Subject: Re: [Digikam-users] How does one use digikam source for
> casual        testing?
> 
> Hi Paul,
> 
> I'm using the latest beta of 0.9.4 and find it very stable. It
> hasn't done anything nasty :-). I kept 0.9.3 which comes in my
> linux distribution's repositories, but never use it now
> that I have 0.9.4. Your mileage may vary of course.
> 
> I wouldn't do it without backups (but of course we should have
> those anyway, beta program or not).  I have about 400GB
> of photos managed by digikam, and mainly use unison (very handy
> backup utility) to maintain a local mirror of my image tree on a
> USB hard drive, and also a mirror on my server at work. In
> addition, DVD backups sporadically.
> 
> cheers
> L
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, May 08, 2008 at 11:26:53AM -0400, Paul Waldo wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I have finally gotten digikam to compile from source, but I am hesitating
> > before running it.  I would like to check out the bleeding edge features, but
> I
> > certainly don't want an obscure bug walking through my image tree deleting
> > every image in sight. :-O  I also want to maintain a stable version for
> > day-to-day use.
> >
> > So, for those who have their feet in both the stable and beta worlds, how do
> > you do it without worrying about bugs permanently removing your priceless
> > photos?  Thanks for any tips!
> >
> > Paul
> 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Digikam-users mailing list
> > Digikam-users at kde.org
> > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users
> 
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-- 
   | Lawrence Plug         Earth Sciences, Dalhousie Univ |    
   |  ljp at dal.ca           t:902.494.1200  f:902.494.6889 |    

...
You are as I am with You.