It seems that digikam is not compatible with mariadb version 11.7.2.

[Michael Miller]

Hi Fred,
How big is your collection?  SQLite can handle collections over 100,000 images, especially if you turn on Write Ahead Logging (WAL) on the database setup page.

As for moving from MariaDB to SQLite, we first need to get MariaDB working again so we can get the data out of the database.  Since you are using Homebrew, I’m going to build a special version of digiKam for you that will help.

I see you are using a Mac with an M series chip (ARM64), correct?

Cheers,
Mike

On Mar 16, 2025, at 9:56 AM, Fred Engst <fredengst at gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Mike,
Thanks for asking.
I thought mysql internal was better for large collection of photos on hard disks, as recommended by the documentation.
In the old days, I did use sqlit, but as my collection gets larger, it slowed down quite a bit. Once I converted to mysql internal, it worked much faster.
If in the future I can put my collection on SSD, sqlit might be better. My question then is how to convert back from mysql to sqlit.
Fred

On Mar 16, 2025, at 20:55, Michael Miller <michael_miller at msn.com> wrote:

Hi Fred,
I know this isn’t a “fix”, but what is the reason for using MySql/MariaDB instead of SQLite?

I used to think that MariaDB was somehow better, but after extensive testing and joining the dev team, I found out that SQLite is faster and mode stable than MySql/MariaDB for digiKam.  The only reasons to use MySql/MariaDB is if you are running the DB on a remote server for a multi-computer installation.

It sounds like you’re using a MariaDB install on the same computer as digiKam, correct?

Cheers,
Mike

On Mar 15, 2025, at 11:16 PM, Fred Engst <fredengst at gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Gilles or Maik,
It seems that digikam is not compatible with mariadb version 11.7.2 for mysql internal.

On my MacBook pro, I had mariadb 11.2.1 before, and it worked fine with digikam 8.5.

But when I tried to run digikam on my new Mac Mini M4 Pro with the only mariadb version 11.7.2 that I was able to install, it gives me an error message: "Could not start database initializer.”

I also donwloaded the latest
"digiKam-8.7.0-20250315T120428-Qt6-MacOS-arm64”, or
"digiKam-8.6.0-Qt6-MacOS-arm64”,
on the Mac Mini, and it gives the same error message.

I then upgraded mariadb on my MacBook Pro to 11.7.2 by mistake, and now I can’t make digikam work on my MacBook Pro with mysql internal running digikam 8.5 or 8.6! The same error message as in Mac Mini.


The error log from my Macbook Pro running digikam 8.6 is attached:

Fred

> On Mar 9, 2025, at 15:15, Maik Qualmann <metzpinguin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Please create a debug log from the start in the terminal, as described here
> for macOS:
>
> https://www.digikam.org/contribute/#macos-host
>
> Maik
>
> Am Sonntag, 9. März 2025, 06:23:22 Mitteleuropäische Normalzeit schrieb Fred
> Engst:
>> Dear digikam team,
>> I have just purchased a Mac Mini M4 Pro and download all file that are
>> needed for digikam, but I’m not able to start it.
>>
>> Here is the error I get using digitkam 8.5.0 at startup:
>> ————————————————————————————————————
>> An error occurred during the internal server start.
>> Details: Could not start database initializer.
>> Executable: /Applications/digiKam.org/digikam.app/Contents/lib/mariadb/
>> <http://digikam.app/Contents/lib/mariadb/> bin/mariadb-install-db
>> Arguments: --defaults-file=/Applications/digiKam.org/digikam.app/
>> <http://digikam.app/>Contents/Resources/digikam/database/mysql-global.conf,
>> --basedir=/ Applications/digiKam.org/digikam.app/Contents//lib/mariadb/
>> <http://digikam.app/Contents//lib/mariadb/>,
>> --datadir=/Users/chief/Pictures/.mysql.digikam/db_data Process error:
>> Unknown error
>> Please check the database settings in this dialog.
>> ————————————————————————————————————
>>
>> I then successively installing mariadb 11.7.2 with my admin account (chief),
>> and here is the log:
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------------------- Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or
>> \g.
>> Your MariaDB connection id is 75
>> Server version: 11.7.2-MariaDB Homebrew
>>
>> Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.
>>
>> Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input
>> statement.
>>
>> MariaDB [(none)]> quit
>> Bye
>> chief at 192 ~ % MySQL.server start
>> Starting MariaDB
>> /opt/homebrew/Cellar/mariadb/11.7.2/bin/mysqld_safe: Deprecated program
>> name. It will be removed in a future release, use 'mariadbd-safe' instead
>> 250308 08:34:43 mysqld_safe Logging to
>> '/opt/homebrew/var/mysql/192.168.0.109.err'. SUCCESS!  chief at 192 ~ % 250308
>> 08:34:43 mysqld_safe Starting mariadbd daemon with databases from
>> /opt/homebrew/var/mysql chief at 192 ~ %
>> ————————————————————————————————————
>>
>>
>> I then downloaded digikam 8.6.0, and here is the error I get:
>> ————————————————————————————————————
>> An error occurred during the internal server start.
>> Details: Could not start database initializer.
>> Executable: /opt/homebrew/Cellar/mariadb/11.7.2/scripts/mariadb-install-db
>> Arguments: --defaults-file=/Applications/digiKam-8.6.org/
>> <http://digikam-8.6.org/>digikam.app/Contents/Resources/digikam/database/my
>> sql-global.conf
>> <http://digikam.app/Contents/Resources/digikam/database/mysql-global.conf>,
>> --basedir= Applications/digiKam.org/digikam.app/<http://digikam.app/>
>> Contents//lib/mariadb/, --datadir=/Users/chief/
>> Pictures/.mysql.digikam/db_data
>> Process error: Unknown error
>> ————————————————————————————————————


<FredEngst'sMacbookPro_digikam8.6-ErrorLog.txt>



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