[digiKam-users] Migrating from Digikam 4 to 6

[Rob Dueckman]

There are many ways to skin a cat when it comes to upgrading your copy
of Digikam.

As you are upgrading from a pretty old version, these are the steps >I<
would do things in:

1) make sure you have a current backup of your photos.  From your
earlier messages, it appears you don't like to write the metadata to
your photos as it messes with your backups, so I imagine you are doing
incremental backups.  Just make sure everything is up do date with your
backup first

2)  configure Digikam to write all metadata into sidecar files (.xmp)
 Once done, sync the metadata for all your photos to disk.  This will
take a bit of time, and will write a .xmp file for every photo

3)  MOVE your digikam database files and digikam settings folder to a
safe place.  You want these to be re-created when you run digikam the
next time

4) download the appimage for the current 7.2 release candidate for
Digikam and mark it executable (either command line or viewing the
properties from the desktop) 
     You can find the latest release candidate at
  https://files.kde.org/digikam/    You will want the X86-64 file as
you are running a current linux distribution

5) Run the appimage (double click on the appimage icon from your file
browser on the desktop) and perform the first run configuration
pointing digikam at your photo library.  Once it starts scanning
photos, take a break. It might take a while

6) if everything looks good, uninstall your old copy of digikam, and
remove the old database files and settings folder.

7) In case things don't work, restore your original database files and
digikam settings folder and appimage file  to revert back to the old
version.  

8) configure Digikam settings and update for your preferred metadata
settings.  As .xmp files are quite small, it might be acceptable to
write to .xmp files in addition to the database in the future as it
won't affect your backup size too dramatically.

9) for bonus points and if you're bored enduring a COVID lockdown, scan
your entire collecton for faces and be prepared to name a lot of
people.


Again, this is how I would upgrade my digikam as it gives the ability
to roll back at any point until you remove the old database and
configuration files. 

Rob


On Sat, 2021-01-16 at 15:25 +0200, J D wrote:
> Hi, and thanks for quick reply,
> 
> I got Digikam 6.4 along with a Linux distro, so updating it may not
> be that simple.
> 
> Do I have any options in addition to using the migration tool?
> 
> What would be the preferred (hopefully future-proof) solution for
> this case?
> 
> BR,
> angrdtsk
> 
> la 16. tammik. 2021 klo 15.13 Gilles Caulier
> (caulier.gilles at gmail.com) kirjoitti:
> > Le sam. 16 janv. 2021 à 14:01, J D <angrdtsk at gmail.com> a écrit :
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I lately installed a new Linux distribution, and along with that
> > change, got new version of Digikam (4 -> 6.4). How can I import the
> > meta-data created using the old one to the new one?
> > >
> > > The meta-data is in a database file. I don't like the idea of
> > embedding it into the picture files because that way, changes in
> > meta-data would mean changes in picture files, and that would
> > complicate making back ups.
> > 
> > If you use XMP sidecar files (See option in DK/Setup/Metadata
> > panel),
> > you will not touch image files as well.
> > 
> > >
> > > I found a dialog for migration in the new Digikam, but got
> > immediately confused, as it seems to require me to move (or copy,
> > that was unclear) the pictures from a directory to another along
> > with the migration. There are roughly 35000 pictures taking 475 GB
> > of space so proceeding with that dialog is not something I will try
> > before I know better what is going happen and why.
> > 
> > In all cases, if you use database migration tool, do not migrate to
> > 6.4 release, but to 7.2. release candidate available here :
> > 
> > https://files.kde.org/digikam/
> > 
> > Best
> > 
> > Gilles Caulier
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