[Digikam-users] DigiKam on windows instability

[David Kerber]

On 8/25/2010 2:28 AM, Gilles Caulier wrote:
> Peter has exactly resumed the right problem, but it's not because we
> don't have motifation to fix Windows port, it just a question of time.
>
> I has a computer with Windows and digiKam compiled and installed. this
> week, we have a meeting with team in France, we will take a look with
> some point as file deletion (i can reproduce it).

Thank you, Gilles!  I guess I hope the bug is in digiKam (where you can 
fix it), rather than in KDE (where you can't).  Have you been able to 
reproduce any of the instability issues with moving files around?

I think digiKam on windows has excellent potential to be popular once 
the issues are ironed out (I realize they may be KDE issues rather than 
digiKam ones).  I did a LOT of searching for photo management software 
before settling on digiKam.  There are some very good ones, but they are 
expensive, and some free or low-priced ones that have serious 
limitations compared to digiKam.  DigiKam seems to be the only one with 
its functionality at a great price.

Is there any way of getting a windows port without going through the 
winKDE stuff?  If I were to build from source, would that do it?

Dave


>
> Gilles Caulier
>
> 2010/8/25 Peter Shute<pshute at nuw.org.au>:
>> I also had similar issues. It's difficult being so many versions behind, because no one is interested in helping with problems that were solved long ago. The answer is always to get the latest version. You can't even help the situation by submitting bug reports until you do.
>>
>> In order to solve the problem of being unable to delete files, I spent a lot of time learning how to compile it under Windows. There were many problems with this (missing components, out of date components, bad make files, etc), and I needed a lot of help to solve each one. When I tried to compile it again not long after, and found yet another set of compiling problems that I couldn't solve on my own, I gave up on it and went back to Lightroom. A good decision if you're correct that there are no Windows releases since February.
>>
>> The only realistic alternative I could see was to create a Linux machine and learn Linux, but I share this Windows box, so it wasn't really an option.
>>
>> It's a pity, because there are many people out there who know how to compile the latest version, and have done so, yet it still isn't included in the latest KDE on Windows distribution. This is, apparently, out of the control of the digiKam developers.
>>
>> DigiKam is a wonderful program, with an unusually good set of documentation for an open source project, but to a large extent you're on your own with the Windows version. Until someone with some influence over the KDE on Windows team comes along to champion digiKam, this is how it's likely to remain.
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: David Kerber [mailto:dkerber at miner.mst.edu]
>>> Sent: Wednesday, 25 August 2010 10:51 AM
>>> To: digiKam - Home Manage your photographs as a professional
>>> with the power of open source
>>> Subject: Re: [Digikam-users] DigiKam on windows instability
>>>
>>> Paul Verizzo wrote:
>>>> I've all but given up using digiKam on Windows.  The path
>>> via KDE on
>>>> Windows is cumbersome, inefficient, and to this non-Linux guy,
>>>> completely inscrutable.  (Why MUST I download scientific games and
>>>> tools, for instance?)  Further, digiKam is now several
>>> Yeah, I was wondering the same thing.  Definitely not the
>>> philosophy I expected from a Linux-originated project.
>>>
>>>> releases along and as of a week or two ago, KDE for Win is just
>>>> snoozing.  Last update was in February.
>>>>
>>>> The problems I typically get are crashes with a "Runtime Error"
>>>> message, especially when trying to save a modified file.  I
>>> also can't
>>>> get thumbnails for 48 bit images that I make from film
>>> scans although
>>>> Picassa has no trouble making its own.  The scan system has caused
>>>> many crashes when I first set things up.  I eventually found that a
>>>> folder that contained some non jpg-tiff-etc files made it blow up.
>>> I've found that as long as I'm not trying to move files
>>> around, it seems to be pretty stable.  Today I was doing a
>>> bunch of tagging without moving the files, and it worked
>>> fine:  no crashes, and quick and responsive even on my
>>> middle-aged hardware.
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> But I do love digiKam when it works!  So much so, that I
>>> spent dozens
>>>> of hours trying to do things like install that Ubuntu program that
>>>> uses Windows (didn't work on two computers), tried it running live
>>>> CD's, and Virtual Box (head banging trying to get it to
>>> read the files
>>>> on the native Windows partition. I gave up on that, too.
>>> A partial Linux machine was going to be my next try.  I've
>>> got a new box coming in that will have the horsepower to
>>> either dual-boot Debian and Windows, or run one of them in a
>>> vm inside the other.  However, I still have to decide which I
>>> want to be the host and which the guest.
>>>>
>>>> So maybe in the next week I'll take an old Windows 2000 box I have,
>>>> install Ubuntu or other distro, and use my KBV switch for
>>> the monitor
>>>> and keyboard that I use on "The Mothership."  I'll still
>>> have to deal
>>>> with the image files remaining on the Windows box where they
>>>> automatically get backed up by Carbonite.   Does anyone know if
>>>> digiKam running on LInux can read and scan the files on Windows via
>>>> the usual ethernet?
>>> It will on wiindows with no trouble; I already tried that,
>>> but haven't tried it under Linux.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> digiKam is the best similar program out there, bar none.  And the
>>>> price is right!  I just wish it didn't have to run on KDE.
>>> Xnview, a
>>>> less capable but very nice "Irfanview with browser" level,
>>> can run on
>>>> Windows, Linux, or Mac.
>>> Thanks for the comments!
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> No&^#&*))$^^ KDE needed.
>>>>
>>>> Paul
>>>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>> Message: 1
>>>>> Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2010 09:15:39 -0400
>>>>> From: David Kerber<dkerber at miner.mst.edu>
>>>>> Subject: [Digikam-users] DigiKam on windows instability
>>>>> To: digiKam - Home Manage your photographs as a
>>> professional with the
>>>>>     power of        open source<digikam-users at kde.org>
>>>>> Message-ID:<4C7122FB.6020903 at miner.mst.edu>
>>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>>>>>
>>>>> I've got digikam 1.1.0 (through a kde on windows install) on a
>>>>> fully-patched win XP machine, and am having significant
>>> stability issues
>>>>> when trying to move my pictures around into different folders.
>>>>> Yesterday it probably hung or crashed 10 times over the
>>> course of the
>>>>> day, and I can't see any real pattern to it, except that
>>> it was usually
>>>>> when moving pictures from one folder to another.  However,
>>> it doesn't
>>>>> always crash when moving them, only sometimes.
>>>>>
>>>>> The symptoms are usually either that digikam just hangs
>>> for a minute or
>>>>> two using 80% cpu, and then just disappears with no notice, but
>>>>> sometimes gives me a vc library error (something about
>>> requesting an
>>>>> unusual way of shutting down), and sometimes I get a Dr
>>> Watson error.
>>>>>
>>>>> And the function to delete pictures simply doesn't work.
>>> The pictures
>>>>> don't disappear from either the album, nor from the HD.
>>>>>
>>>>> Are these file-management issues likely to have been fixed
>>> in a later
>>>>> release that hasn't been ported windows yet?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> D