[KPhotoAlbum] Can't load a file named something other than index.xml?

Robert Krawitz rlk at alum.mit.edu
Sun Mar 8 22:15:16 GMT 2020


On Sun, 08 Mar 2020 22:36:01 +0100, Johannes Zarl-Zierl wrote:
> Hi Robert,
>
> Am Sonntag, 8. März 2020, 16:22:55 CET schrieb Robert Krawitz:
>> I'm trying to load an image file named idx2.xml via
>> 
>> kphotoalbum --db ./idx2.xml
>> 
>> and it won't load (it loads the index.xml file from the same
>> directory).  Is this intended?
>
> I don't know if it is intended, but it has been like that forever (even back when the argument was named "-c").

It was very, very confusing.

In this case I was trying to use an _existing_ file (named idx2.xml)
because I wanted to compare behavior.  I was at my wit's end trying to
figure out what was going on; finally when I chmod 0'd index.xml it
became clear.

> Reading the source, the current behaviour seems to be a conscious design choice, and KPhotoAlbum asks the user whether to create an index.xml file when one doesn't exist. The exaxt current behaviour is:
>
> 1. If the directory containing $dbFile doesn't exist, bail out
> 2. If and index.xml file exists in the directory containing $dbFile, open it
> 3. Otherwise, prompt the user whether they want to create an index.xml file
>
> I guess a less confusing way to do it, while still conserving most of the behaviour would be to:
> 1. If $dbFile exists and it looks like an index.xml file, open it
> 2. If $dbFile exists and is a directory, prompt the user whether they want to create an index.xml file.
> 3. otherwise bail out.
>
> One important thing to note: I did not check whether any other places assume that the database is called index.xml. A simple grep tells me that this is *very* likely the case...

That does appear to be the case.  I've filed bug 418647 against this
so we're aware of it.

Coincidentally, koffice had something similar (56834).
-- 
Robert Krawitz                                     <rlk at alum.mit.edu>

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