[digiKam-users] digikam 6.0.0 release

Fri Dec 21 07:50:35 GMT 2018

Having noticed that the release of digiKam 6.0.0 is imminent according to
the Release Plan <https://www.digikam.org/documentation/releaseplan/>  I
thought I'd pen a few words on the upgrade from a user viewpoint.

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.

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

mysqldump --add-drop-table -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD}
digikam_core | bzip2 -c >~/backups/digikam_core.sql.bz2

mysqldump --add-drop-table -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD}
digikam_thumbs | bzip2 -c >~/backups/digikam_thumbs.sql.bz2

mysqldump --add-drop-table -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD}
digikam_faces | bzip2 -c >~/backups/digikam_faces.sql.bz2

mysqldump --add-drop-table -h 127.0.0.1 -u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD}
digikam_similarity | bzip2 -c >~/backups/digikam_similarity.sql.bz2

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).

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.

bunzip2 -c <~digikam/backups/digikam_core.sql.bz2 | mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u
${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam6_core

bunzip2 -c <~digikam/backups/digikam_thumbs.sql.bz2 | mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u
${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam6_thumbs

bunzip2 -c <~digikam/backups/digikam_faces.sql.bz2 | mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u
${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam6_faces

bunzip2 -c <~digikam/backups/digikam_similarity.sql.bz2 | mysql -h 127.0.0.1
-u ${USER} -p${DB_PASSWORD} digikam6_similarity

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.

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.

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.

If you're not wanting to test the beta releases, life is a little simpler so
..

1.	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
2.	Install the digiKam 6.0.0 software package and run it
3.	Go for a tea/coffee and check it's finished. Then go for lunch and
check it's really finished.
4.	Configure the new 'Similarity Db'
5.	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.

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.

And finally, thanks to all the hard work by the digiKam team in producing an
excellent product, Respect earned!

PhilTheHill

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/digikam-users/attachments/20181221/1723b20e/attachment.html>