[KPhotoAlbum] Breaking changes in file layout

[Robert Krawitz]

On Sun, 05 Apr 2020 21:48:30 +0200, Johannes Zarl-Zierl wrote:
> Hi everybody,
>
> I'm thinking about introducing some breaking changes in KPhotoAlbum 5.7 (or maybe 5.8) regarding the file layout.

As long as we're going there...

> Therefore, I plan on restructuring the file hierarchy like this:
> DBDIR/index.xml
> DBDIR/CategoryImages

What's CategoryImages?  I don't have such a directory.

One thing I'd like to think about is how kpa could work with multiple
users accessing a read-only collection of images.  That would mean at
least the ability to separate these files from the actual image
storage.

> XDG_CACHE_DIR/kphotoalbum/<db>/exif-info.db
> XDG_CACHE_DIR/kphotoalbum/<db>/.thumbnails/
> XDG_CACHE_DIR/kphotoalbum/<db>/.videoThumbnails/
> XDG_DATA_DIR/kxmlgui5/kphotoalbum/kphotoalbumui.rc
> XDG_DATA_DIR/kphotoalbum/<db>/layout.dat
> XDG_CONFIG_DIR/kphotoalbumrc
>
> The "<db>" part in these paths would be the md5 sum of
> DBDIR/index.xml (e.g. "echo -n /home/johannes/Pictures/index.xml |
> md5sum").

I hate hashes like that; it's impossible to reverse them to figure out
what they refer to.  I'd prefer some kind of fairly transparent
encoding of the path; maybe it could even be the path (which yes,
would mean the files might be nested somewhat deeply.  Or replace the
/ with a | (which isn't often used in paths).  It doesn't have to be
perfect, just good enough to be distinguished.

> As was previously pointed out, some settings in kphotoalbumrc may
> also be better moved directly into the index.xml file (e.g. the
> "untagged category" info). I would propose making these changes at
> the same time...

I definitely think that everything that refers to the collection of
images be in the index.xml file (and out of the preferences dialog).
-- 
Robert Krawitz                                     <rlk at alum.mit.edu>

***  MIT Engineers   A Proud Tradition   http://mitathletics.com  ***
Member of the League for Programming Freedom  --  http://ProgFree.org
Project lead for Gutenprint   --    http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net

"Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works."
--Eric Crampton