[Digikam-users] How to use versioning?

[Marcel Wiesweg]

I'm not happy with your and Andrew's explanation of "Save as new version" 
which seems to imply "disconnection" or "new instance separate from the 
original."

What do we do traditionally?
Open xy.jpg, edit, 
	1) "Save" -> overwrite xy.jpg
		Further editing: Only the edited version is available
	2) "Save As" -> xy-2.jpg is written as a second image
	       Further editing: Can start from xy.jpg or xy-2.jpg

Further editing: 

Now with versioning, we will never ever overwrite the original on disk. As a 
consequence of technical decisions we made, it is necessary that under the 
hood, any save operation including simple "save" will create a new file. (this 
is a purely technical decision. We could simply store the actions and replay 
them when needed and never store a file on disk, but there's a million reasons 
to avoid this).

So with versioning, as seen from digikam
Open selected image, 
	1) "Save changes" -> image is overwritten
		Further editing: Edited version is available
	2) "Save As new Version" -> a second image is shown
		Further editing: Can start from first or second image

Note: I really dont care for filenames here.

The image history of both possible results is completely identical with the 
exception of one flag at a certain location. Whichever you choose, you will 
not become disconnected from any previous history. The versioning sidebar will 
always show all related images (if you are on branch 1, it will show all 
images on branch 2 within the limits of a categorized flat list)


> 
> - "save" will write a new file that is *connected* to the last file
> (considered as a step further that can be undone later). Usually only
> this last saved version will be visible in the album (you can change
> that in the settings).
> 
> "Save as new version" will write a new file that is *not* connected with
> the last file. You will see both, the last version and the new version
> in the album. The new file is considered like an original and you can
> start versioning with this new file (later using "save" only)
> independent of the "original-original"-file and its versions...
> 
> Anything UN-cleared? :-)