[Shotwell] Copying shotwell data to another platform

[Adam Dingle]

Peter,

On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 8:50 PM, Peter DO Smith <pdo.smith at gmail.com> wrote:

> I need to copy my photo library (now maintained in Shotwell) from Linux to
> MS Windows (yes, I know, heresy) so that other members of my family can
> enjoy my photo library.


We've never tried this, so we'll be curious to hear how this turns out.


> The documentation for Sqlite says that the database
> file is cross-platform.
> 1) does this mean I can simply copy the database file across to MS Windows
> and use as is?
>

You'll certainly need to copy the entire .shotwell directory, which includes
the database, thumbnails and other files.  The database file should work
cross-platform as mentioned in the Sqlite documentation.


> 2) if I created an identical path on the MS Windows system can I use the
> database file without further changes?
>

As far as we know, yes.


> 3) alternatively will I need to write a small program (Python is my
> preference) to adjust the path in PhotoTable.filename?
>

If you change the path then yes, you'll need do this.


> 4) if so, is an absolute path necessary or can I use a relative path?
>

You'll need to use an absolute path.


> 5) what other considerations should I keep in mind?
>

None that I can think of.  :)


>
> This raises the more general question of copying a Shotwell library to
> another machine in a different location. Do you plan to make provision for
> that?
>

Perhaps we could add a command to save the entire library plus Shotwell's
database to an archive which could be copied to another machine.  Feel free
to file a ticket if you'd like to see that.

Over time, I hope we can keep more of Shotwell's state (including, for
example, thumbnails) in the directories where photos live.  If we could ever
get to the point where *all* of Shotwell's state is stored in those
directories then you'd be able to copy to another machine simply by copying
the library directory itself, which would be nice.  I don't think that will
happen in the foreseeable future, though.

adam