Replace Shotwell (was F-Spot) with Solang?

[Danny Piccirillo]

I'm forwarding this to the ubuntu-desktop list to see if they can
point out why Shotwell was chosen over Solang, and whether it is too
late to change this decision or postpone the change until Maverick+1

On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 17:28, Laco Gubík <lacogubik at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I would like to see this discussion by myself, but I cannot find.
> Maybe it will appear here [1] in following days.
> In terms off holding it until Maverick+1, I think that Canonical
> considers non-LTS releases more like development releases, where they
> do not mind if something is suboptimal. So they prefer to do changes
> striaght after LTS release, so there is time to polish it until next
> LTS. (On the other hand we have seen changes with significant impact
> also in LTS, so one never know.).
>
> Regards
>
> Laco
>
On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 13:28, Danny Piccirillo
<danny.piccirillo at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> 2010/5/15 Marco Laverdière <marco.laverdiere at gmail.com>:
>>
>>> Also, there were specific reasons as to why Shotwell isn't ready, but
>>> for Solang it was just, yeah this isn't ready either. What
>>> specifically would you like to see in Solang for it to be considered
>>> ready?
>>
>>
>>  For me, wheher it is Solang (hypothetically) or Shotwell (as announced), a
>> decent replacement for F-Spot should provide the following:
>>
>> - continuity for the regular Ubuntu/F-Spot user, i.e. ability to import
>> F-Spot tags easily, whether from F-Spot database or from pictures XMP
>> embedded metadata (ideally, F-Spot tag hierarchy should also be preserved,
>> i.e. for people, place, event. etc.);
>
> This would be ideal, but i don't see this happning in time for
> Maverick. If people see this as a requirement it might be better to
> hold off until Maverick +1
>
>> -beign able to embed tags in file, preferably in XMP or otherwise, in IPTC;
>
> I believe this is possible, but someone should verify
>
>> - same (or almost) set of basic editing functions than F-Spot;
>
> F-Spot needed editing capabilities added if i remember correctly,
> while this has been part of the solang vision from the beginning.
>
>> - same level of integration with other graphics/imaging  Ubuntu/Gnome apps,
>> like with Gimp and Eye of GNOME (F-Spot allows the user to switch nicely to
>> Gimp for advanced editing; EOG allows the user to open the viewed picture
>> with F-Spot, etc.).
>
> For starters, Solang uses Tracker. From amano on
> https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-maverick-desktop-application-selection
>
> "Solang is a C++ photo editor that does't use a complicated Database
> for importing and exporting and should be more intuitive for new
> users. I might try to create a discspace vs. RAM usage vs. feature vs.
> usability overview by the weekend. I hate the tendency of F-Spot to
> duplicate pictures on your harddisk (original location, ~/Photo folder
> and inside the database as well). If there are thousands of pictures
> to be imported, you might easily run out of disk space. And database
> corruptions/confusions are not impossible as well.
>
> For now I can offer this video review of the Vala based Shotwell:
> http://linuxfilesystem.com/uncategorized/shotwell-photo-manager-for-gnome-linux-mint-8.
> It is database driven and doesn't recognize if you added new files to
> one of your photo folders (same for F-Spot). Thus new photos have to
> imported manually which can be tiresome. The C++ based Solang uses
> Tracker 0.8 to check the photo folders and SPARQL is used to gain
> access to the meta information about the photos. This approach looks
> perfectly sane but with its current version 0.4.1 it lacks the option
> to crop and resize files
> (http://git.gnome.org/browse/solang/tree/TODO?id=SOLANG_0_4_1) which
> is rather a "must have" since the removal of the GIMP (given that the
> simple-image-management blueprint doesn't bring to life a 'simple
> scan' for image editing). On the other hand it is developed at a rapid
> pace and those options might be included by the maverick feature
> freeze. To get a sensible decision in favor of Solang the authors
> should be contaced first. Shotwell on the other hand is not too
> different from F-Spot but is developed faster and performs better than
> the current default."
>
>> In other words, let's avoid a regression here...
>
> Agreed. I say we should hold off the change until Maverick +1 and plan
> on working to make Solang a good fit.
>
> --
> .danny
>
> ☮♥Ⓐ - http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.piccirillo
> Every (in)decision matters.
>



-- 
.danny

☮♥Ⓐ - http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.piccirillo
Every (in)decision matters.